• Civilisation in Southeast Asia begun at c.6000 BCE in different parts of the region.

• Southeast asia consists of two distinct areas.

1) First is main land southeast Asia which has several great rivers such as the Irrawaddy and
Mekong. It also have many jungles and mountains.

2)Second is island southeast which consists of thousands of islands separated by

seas. Such Environment made travel and large - scale farming difficult.

• At that time people lived in small villages near the sea. They lived by catching fish and hunting
animals and gathering food in the jungles.

• The first few Southeast Asian villages were transformed into cities. This led to the rise of
maritime kingdoms or kingdoms near the sea. Rice and trade were the main factors that led to the rise of
these kingdoms.

• People of Southeast Asia were the first among the world to grow rice. They were also first to
domesticate the water buffalo and use it to plough rice fields.

• As rice is a source of food rice farmers made profits by selling their rice. The growing of rice
allowed ancient Southeast Asia to prosper and the villages to grow into cities

• By c.200 BCE the people of ancient Southeast Asia master building boat. Which allowed them
to sail across large stretches of ocean to trade with one another and sail from one village to another
where their goods would be unloaded for trading. The villages on the coast acted as small ports. Goods
that were traded were included ivory, coconut , rice , bronze tools , bracelets and big ceremonial drums.

• The coastal villages developed rapidly as maritime trade or sea trade between India and China
increased. China and India made the coastal villages their resting places. These villages offered unique
Southeast Asian products such as coral and dried fish which traders could bring back to China or India
this way some of the coastal villages developed into port cities.

• The two major maritime kingdoms in Southeast Asia were Funan and Srivijaya.

1. Funan

period - 1st Century to 6th Century CE

Capital- Oc-eo

2. Srivijaya

period - 7th century CE to 13th century CE

Capital - Palembang

Features

• Government - Religious Buildings(made of stone), Kings palaces, houses of officials , rich

traders and common people. (made of wood)

• Different Occupations- Craftsmen, fishermen, sailors, traders , priests , people who built and
repaired ship.

• Writings- Jawi Script