Settlement Patterns in

Southeast Asia
 River-valley settlements
• Accessibility as a
trade route and
abundance of water
resources
necessary for
human survival.

• Rice cultivation in
SEA come from
settlements along
Green rice fields of the
rivers. upper Mekong river valley
 River-valley settlements

• Rice cultivation in
permanent fields

• Farmers dug canals

and holding dams to
channel water to
their fields

• Fisheries Old man in Tonle Sap

 Water dwelling on the lake of Tonle Sap
The area is home to many ethnic Vietnamese and numerous
Cham communities, living in floating villages around the lake.
Coastal settlements

Sitangkai, Tawi-Tawi

Southeast Asia has been described as „the

region uniquely favorable to maritime activity‟.
 Coastal settlements
Ports and Trade
• inter-
connectivity
among and
within countries
• living in coasts
is more
convenient
because of
trade
 Coastal settlements
Fish
• staple in SEA
as complement
to rice
• no more need
for
domestication,
"just catch it"
 Coastal settlements

For them, tanah air is there „homeland‟.

Isolated settlements

A remote place that is separated physically or socially

Isolated settlements
“a great variety of peoples, who spoke many
languanges and whose customs and histories linked
them loosely in extended family alliances and chains
of economic exchange.”

Rice terraces in Lào Cai, Vietnam

Multi-centered Settlements
• Each village can supply for itself
• Each village on itself is a political and
economic center. Village politics is
greatly democratic with all the family
head being equal when it comes to
administration of the village.
Multi-centered Settlements
• SEA‟s geography is highly
fragmented,
• Promotes diffused centers of power
• Insular SEA had to depend on wind,
currents and weather patterns to
determine cultural interaction.
• Even in mainland SEA there is
fragmentation. This is due to the
rugged mountain chains and
impenetrable tropical forests.
Multi-centered Settlements
Multi-centered Settlements
Multi-centered Settlements