1. Physical Environment, Geography,
and History of SE Asia*
Dr. Mark A. McGinley
Honors College and Department of
Biological Sciences
Texas Tech University

2. Global Precipitation Pattern

3. Global Temperature Pattern

4. Physical Environment
• Wet and warm so highly productive
environments
– Rainforests
• Very different from environments in
temperate Asia, Arab world, and Europe
– Thus, plant products available in SE Asia different
from those in temperate environments
• E.g., spices, rubber

5. Global Wind Patterns

7. History- Arrival of First Humans

8. Humans in Malaysia
• First evidence of humans in Malaysia dates
back 40,000 years ago

9. Indigenous Peoples of Peninsular
Malaysia- Orang Asli

11. Monsoon Winds
• Monsoons are regional-scale wind systems that predictably
change direction with the passing of the seasons.
• Like land/sea breezes, these wind systems are created by
the temperature contrasts that exist between the surfaces
of land and ocean.
• However, monsoons are different from land/sea breezes
both spatially and temporally. Monsoons occur over
distances of thousands of kilometers, and their two
dominant patterns of wind flow act over an annual time
scale
• EoE- Local and Regional Wind Systems

12. Monsoon Winds
• During the summer, monsoon winds blow from
the cooler ocean surfaces onto the warmer
continents. In the summer, the continents
become much warmer than the oceans because
of a number of factors.
• These factors include:
– Specific heat differences between land and water.
– Greater evaporation over water surfaces.
– Subsurface mixing in ocean basins which
redistributes heat energy through a deeper layer.

13. Summer Monsoons
• Precipitation is normally associated with the
summer monsoons.
• Onshore winds blowing inland from the warm
ocean are very high in humidity, and slight
cooling of these air masses causes condensation
and rain.
• In some cases, this precipitation can be greatly
intensified by orographic uplift.
– Some highland areas in Asia receive more than
10 meters of rain during the summer months.

14. Winter Monsoon
• In the winter, the wind patterns reverse as the
ocean surfaces are now warmer.
• With little solar energy available, the continents
begin cooling rapidly as longwave radiation is
emitted to space.
• The ocean surface retains its heat energy longer
because of water's high specific heat and
subsurface mixing.
• The winter monsoons bring clear dry weather
and winds that flow from land to sea.

15. Monsoon Pattern

16. Arrival of Indians and Chinese

17. Srivijaya Empire
• Based in Sumatra
• 7th to 13th century

18. Srivijaya Empire

19. Srivijaya Empire
• Included peninsular Malaysia
– Mostly limited to coastal regions
– Orang Asli and other hunter/gatherer idigenous
tribes in the rainforest

20. Trade Routes Between China and
Arab/Europe

21. Sea Route- Arab Chinese Trade

22. SE Asian Trade Routes

23. Settlement of Malacca
• In the early 15th century, Parameswara, a
prince of the former Srivijayan empire,
founded the Malacca Sultanate, commonly
considered the first independent state in the
peninsula.

24. Malacca

25. Founding of Malacca

26. Parameswara

27. Malacca
• Malacca was an important commercial center
during this time, attracting trade from around
the region.
– People stayed waiting for the monsoon winds to
switch so there was lots of intermingling between
cultures
• Parameswara became a Muslim, accelerating
the spread of Islam.

28. Spread of Islam to SE Asia

29. Style of Government Established in Malacca
Served as Model for Other Malay Sultanates
• Ruled by the Sultan
– Had almost unlimited power
– Benefited those that gained his favor
“Although Sultan Mahmud was known for his cruelty, his
weakness for women, his quick temper, his vindictive and
impetuous nature, his impulsive behavior which allowed his
passions to dominate his judgments, his show of favoritism,
his squandering habits, and his jealousy, he also had certain
good qualities as a human being that must be respected.”
- Muhammad Yussof Hashim, The Malay Sultanate of
Malacca, 1992

30. Malacca
• Malacca became a profitable port
• Ships sailed down the Straits of Malacca
– Resting and exchange point between traders from
the West (Arab and Indian) and the east (Chinese)
– West side of Malay peninsula protected from
effects of Monsoon
– Significant Chinese population
• Mid 1400s China tried to invade Malacca, but
were denied

31. Portuguese Invade Malacca
1511
• Malay Sultans fled and established elsewhere
• Sultans eventually established across the
Malay peninsula
• Portugal tried to dominate the trade in the
region, but were poor administrators
– Trade became decentralized throughout the
region

32. Portuguese Malacca

33. Dutch Displaced Portuguese in 1641
• The Dutch ruled Malacca from 1641 to 1798
but they were not interested in developing it
as a trading center, placing greater importance
to Jakarta on Java as their administrative
center.

34. Dutch Malacca

35. Arrival of the British
• The British established Singapore on the Malaya
Peninsula in 1819
– Sir Stamford Raffles
• Caused conflict between the Dutch and the
British over trading rights
• The Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824 gave Malacca to
the English
– Basically gave the British control of the peninsula in
exchange for some land in Sumatra
• British focused on Straits Settlements
– Singapore, Malacca, and Penang

36. Early 20th Century

37. Early 20th Century
• The Philippines was colonized by the Spanish
in the mid 1500s
– Spanish came over from the Mexico
– Philippines became a US colony in late 1890s
following the Spanish American War
• Indochina (Vietnam, Laos) French colony
• Burma (now Myanmar) British colony
• Siam/Thailand independent

39. Early 20th Century
Peninsular Malaysia
• Malays spread across the peninsula
– Several Sultanates
• Orang Asli still inhabited the inland rainforests
• Chinese and Indian workers brought in by
British
• Chinese population concentrated on the West
Coast of peninsula

40. Chinese in SE Asia

41. SE Asia in WW II
• Japanese attacked most of SE Asia on December
8th, 1941
• Quickly conquered most of SE Asia
– SE Asian rubber
• Defeated the British in their stronghold of
Singapore
– British guns faced to sea, not towards Malay peninsula
• Japanese came down peninsula through the rainforest and
attacked Singapore from the other side

42. SE Asia in WW II
• All SE Asian
countries except
Thailand were
conquered by Japan
• Greater East Asia Co-
Prosperity Sphere

43. After the Defeat of the Japanese
Independence Came Relatively Quickly
• Indonesia declared independence in 1945
• the Philippines was granted independence by the
United States in 1946
• Burma secured their independence from Britain in
1948
• French were driven from Indochina in 1954 after a
bitterly fought war
• Britain granted independence to Malaya in 1957 and in
1963 added Singapore, Sabah, and Sarawak to form
Malaysia
– Singapore later left and formed its own country

44. SE Asia Since Independence
• Vietnam War
– Vietnam remains a socialist country, but is moving
towards free market economy
• Cambodia
– Pol Pot became leader of Cambodia in 1975.
• Khmer Rouge imposed agrarian socialism forcing urban
dwellers to relocate to the countryside to work in collective
farms and forced labor projects.
• The combined effects of forced labor, malnutrition, poor
medical care, and executions resulted in the deaths of
estimated 800,000 to three million people
• Pol Pot displaced when Vietnam invaded in 1979

45. SE Asia Post Independence
• The Philippines and
Indonesia have had
dictators, but have
established democratic
governments now
• Myanmar has been ruled
by military dictatorship
since 1989
– Recent reforms allowed
long time oppossition
leader Aung San Suu Kyi
to be released from
house arrest

46. SE Asia Post Independence
• Thailand
– King
– Some conflict between
opposition political
parties recently
• Singapore
– Highly developed
city/state
• Brunei
– Small Muslim country in
Borneo
– Oil wealth

47. Lingering Issues
• Many of the SE Asian countries were put
together by colonial powers rather than based
on historical and cultural similarities
• Great ethnic and religious diversity
– Source of conflict
• Indigenous Issues