DELTA STATE UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF ARTS
HISTORY AND INTERNATIONAL
STUDIES

ASSIGNMENT

ON
HIS 216
COURSE TITLE: SOUTH EAST ASIA SINCE 1900

BY

IMENE SATURDAY OGHENEKEVWE

FOA/21/22/276057

JUNE,2023.
 Discuss South East Asia before the twentieth
century
The history of South East Asia since 1900 which is our period of
study will be more significance and will receive more light of
understanding when we have able to unveil how the region has
been before the emergence of the 20th century. In studying
history, the past gives light to the present. In this work, the
geographical features, people, culture, religion, and many others
even down to the colonization of the region in the nineteenth
century.
Writing the history of South East Asia will be incomplete
without talking about the geographical features and ecology of
the region and how the inhabitants were able to adapt to the
environment even to the present time. The region had been
surrounded by different water bodies and also border with some
of the south and east Africa. It is a vast sub region situated in the
east of Indian subcontinent, south of the China mainland and
northwest of Australian mainland which from my own view
would have made the Chinese and Indians had influence on this
region before the coming of the Europeans. The region is being
bordered to the north by the East Asia, moving to the west by
the South Asia and the Bay of Bengal, to the east by the Oceania
and Pacific Ocean and to the south by th Australia and the
Indian ocean. The South East Asian comprises of eleven
countries which are: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos,
Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippine, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-
Leste and Vietnam. This region has geographically be divided
into two which are the Mainland Southeast Asia and the
Maritime Southeast Asia and each of the eleven countries
belongs to any of these region. The mainland comprises of
Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. The
mainland is also seen as Indochina. The mainland had long
rivers in the highland and an extensive lowland plains separated
by hills and mountain ranges. The mountain ranges in Myanmar,
Thailand, peninsula Malaysia and Indonesian islands of
Sumatra, Java, Bali and Timor. These were fertile plains
producing rice. These ethnic groups were the Thais, the
Burmese and Vietnamese. The maritime also called island had
Singapore, Indonesia, Philippine, Brunei and Malaysia. The
region had similarities in climate, plants and animals life
regarding to how it is being divided. Overtimes, it had warm
temperature, only for sometimes the highland becomes cooler.
The fact that it was been bordered by different water bodies and
is a tropical region, most of the products of the region came
from the sea and forest which has attracted international trader
from the earlier times. Southeast Asia became trading point for
and between China and India.
The Southeast Asian region was the home of different cultural
diversities and ethnicities just like some other parts of the world.
It has been unveiled that about hundreds of languages are in the
region by different ethnic groups. Some of these groups were
migrants migrating from southern China into the interior of the
mainland. The indigenous ethnic groups were the Austronesian,
Austroasiatic, Negrito, Sino-Tibetan and Tai people. Some of
these groups were nomadic who lived in boats while those in the
forest area, the jungle became their abode. With much
observation, the culture of the people began to change as the
region began to have contact with China which led to the
domination and colonization of Vietnam. Their culture was later
in time been influenced greatly by the Indians, Chinese, the
Muslims and in the later time the Europeans.
Before the coming of the Europeans, the region had been
divided into two cultural areas, one was dominated by the Indian
influences and the other which consist of Tongking, Anman and
Cochi China was dominated by the Chinese influence after the
fall of the kingdom of Champa in the fifteenth century. It is
clear to note that the region had the strong culture, art and
architecture that were different from that of Hindu and Buddhist
India. The region could preserved their civilization despised
being under external domination in their region. For instance,
the Vietnamese being under the Chinese run could develop a
culture and preserve its own identity tracing its root back to the
past before the coming of China. It is very clear to say that the
Southeast Asia has been overshadowed by India and China both
politically and culturally with their established civilization
before emergence of the Southeast civilization. The region
civilization began to develop due to the impact of the new
culture. The earlier religious ideas and practices of the region
were influence by the introduction of Hinduism and Buddhism.
The region felt the impact of Indian culture, it possessed a
civilization of its own. There was the civilization of irrigated
rice fields, the domestication of the ox and buffalo, a
rudimentary metal in dealing with the material side. On the
social side, there was the importance of woman and of descent
by maternal line. On the side of religion, there was animism, the
worship of ancestors and of the god of the soil, shrines were
located on high places. But according to Heine-Goldern, the
western China was seen as the original home of the Indonesian
culture which was also that of early Indian culture.
Coming to the mainlands were the Chams in present day Central
and Southern Annam, the Khmers in the Mekong delta,
Cambodia and the middle Mekong region, the Mons, closely
related to the Khmers.
With much observation, the Indian cultural influence, the term
“Hinduization” used by scholars shows the impacts of Indian
culture upon South East Asia. But at the end of the European
middle ages, Hinduism had disappeared before Islam in the
Malay Peninsula and Indonesia, and Buddhism which has earlier
been continued to receive allegiance of the countries it had
conquered. Before the introduction of cultural influences, the
Indian had first contact with the South East Asia through
commercial trade as they visit both ports at respective times. For
instance, the Indonesians were sea-going people who must have
gone to India and as well Indians to South East Asia. After this
contact and introduction of the culture, kingdoms began to
emerge on the Peninsula and in the Archipelago, practising
Indian religions, arts and customs, and with Sanskrits as their
sacred language. This change was due to the coming of the
priests who spread the Indian culture.
Over the centuries, different kingdoms had rose up which
shaped the region South East Asia. Some of these kingdoms
were Khmers in Cambodia from the ninth to the thirteenth
century and the Champa kingdom which is the present day
Vietnam which lasted to the nineteenth century. Trade,
migration and warfare may have led to the rise of many empires
or kingdoms.
The khmer empire was know to be a powerful state in the
mainland of South East Asia from the ninth to the fifteenth
century. The Majapahit empire became the empire of the
Javanese Hindu-Buddhist from the thirteenth to the nineteenth
century which dominated Maritime Southeast Asia. The
Srivijaya empire was also on the Maritime region controlling the
trade routes between East Asia and the Indian subcontinent from
the seventh to the thirteenth century. The Champa kingdom was
also a Hindu-Buddhist kingdom in the Central and Southern
Vietnam from the second to the nineteenth century. The
kingdom of Ayutthaya was a Siamese kingdom that existed from
the fourteenth to the eighteenth century. It also had major
trading power. The Malay Archipelago was a vast region of
island that stretches from Sumatra in the west to New Guinea in
the east. It is the home to different varieties of cultures and
languages which include the Malays of Malaysia, the Javanese
of Indonesia and the Filipinos of the Philippines. Vietnam has a
rich cultural heritage that includes the ancient Dong Son
civilization, the Confucian tradition, and the influence of French
colonialism.
The Spread of Islam
The Islamization in the South East Asia was that of a process.
Trading was one way used to spread Islam in the region. Many
of those Muslims traders settled in Indonesia, Singapore and
Malaysia. The ruling class embraced Islam and it help spread
Islam throughout the region. During the fifteenth and sixteenth
centuries, the region began to take a new shape as Islam began
to spread which had great impact on the region. The teaching of
had begun to spread in the thirteenth century as the Qur’an was
taught. It has earlier been said that Muslims were among the
foreigners trading in the South East Asia. Due to this contact,
some of those Chinese Muslims were able to mingle with the
natives and reside with them in Central Vietnam Borneo, the
Southern Philippines and the Javanese coast Muslim traders
from various parts of India also came into the region in large
numbers which triggered the spread of Islam in the region. For
instance, the ruler of Melaka, on the west coast of the Malay
Peninsula adopted Islam around 1430. Islam success was
achieved in a way that they had to avoid major conflicts with
existing attitudes and customs. There was similarities noticed
between some aspects of Islam and pre-Islamic belief, most
especially in Java, though the religion (Islam) condemned
polytheism. There were law code made by Islam to fit in the
local customs. There was a lot of changes in region. Pork was
forbidden to Muslims. This is one development they brought to
places like Indonesia and Southern Philippines where it has been
a ritual food. There were buildings of Islamic schools to teach
the Qur’an which became the focus of the religion.
During the thirteenth century, the Polos visited Sumatra, got the
Ferlec port at Perlak where the Muslim traders converted the
natives. From Perlak, the Islam spread to Samudra, reaching as
far as Gujerat after the conquest of Mohammed of Gbor in north
India and the Ganges valley. Though the ruling class and the
court became Muslims, but the majority of Gujerati remained
Hindu. Through trade contact with the Arab and Persian,
Indonesia was also converted.
The coming of the Europeans
At the end of the middle age in Europe, the beginning of
renaissance and age of discovery, the Portuguese were the first
set to lead in navigation. They were ahead of other powers. They
opened the road to explorations and discoveries. Vasco da Gama
and his team made their appearance in Indian ocean and had
series of exploration. With these, they were determined to end
the spread of Islam with great national instinct. The Portuguese
had to faced strong opposition from the Arabs and other Muslim
traders which made them (Portuguese) to rapidly expand their
power influence.
The Portuguese were looking forward to gain commercial
control over the Indian ocean so as to remain irresistible. Don
Affonse de Albuquerque, the Portuguese explorer was able to
capture Goa in 1510 which gave a room to take over the Indian
trade, but the Muslim vessels were still carrying products from
Bengal, Burma, Sumatra, the spice islands, Siam and China.
They Portuguese saw the ruler of Malacca as a strong Muslim
ruler and to put up a strategy to conquer the place which was
successfully achieved in 1514. Malacca was the chief
distribution centre for spices like Nutmeg and mace and they
received their supplies from Javanese traders (also Muslims)
who collected them from the island themselves. The supplies
were in abundant and cheap that the Portuguese could even
place a price high in Europe to establish a monopoly and restrict
export. This was going to make the Javanese traders lost control
over the sea-routes between Indonesia and Arabia. Before the
coming of the Portuguese, these spices islands were already
converted to Islam, so this made the Portuguese to be on the
defensive side. With much struggles and heavy fight the
Portuguese successfully defeated even the Bintang.
More situations began to arise as the Spanish ship landed on the
region in 1521. The Portuguese saw this arrival as an intrusion
and tried to strengthen their position in the spices islands. They
went on to sign and complete their treaty with the Ternate giving
them the monopoly of its clove trade. Portugal protested to
Spain that her presence in the spice island is an infringement of
the treaty of Tordesillas both signed in 1494. Not long after was
the Spanish welcomed by Tidore in the island. This became a
struggle between the Portuguese allied with Ternate and the
Spanish allied with Tidore. Fortune fell on the side of the
Portuguese as the help which the Spanish were expecting from
Cortez in Mexico did not come at the point in time. In 1530, was
another treaty signed by the Spanish to stop their exploration
staying a distance far from Moluccas but did not stop them from
sailing to the Philippines and Manila in 1570.
The rapid spread of Islam was becoming a serious problem for
the Portuguese as it was bringing setback to their plans. For
instance, the Bandanese and Amboinese maintained close
connections with the Muslim sultans of Java. This made
Portuguese failed to obtain permission to build forts on the
Banda islands or even to monopolize the nutmeg trade. Their
efforts was now to convert those places that were not Muslim
still holding on to Hinduism like the East part of Java.
Missionaries were sent there and the Catholic missionaries gain
foothold in some parts of Amboina and the northern part of
Halmahera. Though the Portuguese signed treaty with Ternate,
the sultan was a strong enemy of Christianity. So, for
commercial reason, the ally did not support the missionaries
against him.
The spread of Christianity was going to depend on the military
strength of the Portuguese. At this time, most of the converts
could not endure as they faced threats from the Muslims. In fact
the Sultan of Ternate, Hairun became a determined enemy. He
was so powerful that he defied them and attacked the Christian
communities and by 1565 had ruined the whole mission. A fleet
was sent from Goa to restore the situation, a fortress was built
on Amboina and Christianity began to revive. There after did
Hairun had an issue with the Portuguese as he accused them of
depriving him of his legal share of the spice profits. He was
treacherously murdered in 1570 after a solemn agreement with
him.
The death of Hairun brought more problem. The Ternate rose in
revolt with its new Sultan. They besieged the Portuguese fortress
on the island for nearly five years. The Goa and Malacca could
not send help to the Portuguese and in 1574 the fortress finally
fell and the christian communities were destroyed.
On the other side, the Spanish power in the Philippines were
looking for opportunity to expand southward since the
foundation of Manila in 1570. But, despite the constant threats
to the Portuguese position in Malacca and in Moluccas, the
extension of their commercial activities in South East Asia was a
remarkable one. They were able to obtain share in the trade of
Bantam which had become the chief pepper port for the supply
of India and China.
There were places that the Portuguese mercenaries and
adventurers were more in evidence than missionaries and traders
like Burma and Arakans. In Siam, the Portuguese never attempt
to gain territorial possession because the king was too powerful.
But before the coming of the English and Dutch, the Portuguese
power had begun to decline in the region already. The Dutch and
the English had developed their sea power during the century
before coming into the East to fight with the Portuguese as they
could both sail and fight with their ships better than their
opponents.
The English had no intention of intruding into the Portuguese
preserve given the respect to the papal award of 1492.; In the
first half of the sixteenth century, the English lacked knowledge
concerning the trade and navigation of the Indian ocean. The
Portuguese had to make their operations in the East as secret.
During the second half of the sixteenth century, the English
geographical knowledge began to improve. It was assumed and
argued that the England’s best plan to obtain access to the trade
of the Indian ocean would be by helping Portugal to gain
independence. It was further argued that she was going to expect
her share in the Portuguese monopoly.
The merchants from London did a direct attack on the monopoly
which was favourable to them after the defeat of Armada in
1588. At some point, the English were having many difficulties
to overcome. The Elizabeth’s government was having financial
issues, the Irish on the other side were rebelling and they were
also in combat with Spain. The queen had to look up to make
negotiation with Spain. During this period, they set up the East
India Company with the assurance of the royal charter. This
granted a monopoly of trade in the region between the Cape of
Good Hope and Magellan Straits for a period of fifteen years.
The Dutch also had been well established in the East Indian
trade and was seen as no opposition to the English. The English
led by Lancaster had to build their first factory in Bantam as it
was a flourishing centre for local commerce. It became the
headquarters of English trade in Archipelago until 1682.
When Lancaster founded the first English factory in East Indies,
the Dutch had already put in four years to capture the markets
that was being dominated by the Portuguese. Though, there was
a decree by Philip II in 1594 to close the port of Lisbon to Dutch
and English traders, but this brought a serious intrusion on the
Portuguese domain. Scholars had said that the Dutch before
1594 were not satisfied of being middlemen between Lisbon and
the rest of Europe, but desire to make their way straight to the
East for their own profits. The competing task assumed by the
Dutch especially with the Portuguese over the spice trade set
them far ahead of the English or any other competitors. Their
fluid capital from the beginning gave them much advantage over
English East India Company.
The English and Dutch continued their struggle for the spice
trade. The English had be following the Dutch around the
Archipelago, pursuing them like flies. Wherever the Dutch
company founded a trading post, the English were sure to follow
in places like Patani, Djambi, Jacatra and many other places.
The Dutch fought their way to have a monopoly of the spice
trade. They had to overcome all resistance. They forced the local
chiefs to sign treaties granting them a monopoly of the spice
trade.

References
D.G.E. HALL (1955), A History of South-East Asia. London
Macmillan & Co LTD, St Martin’s Press New York.
Southeast Asia. (2023,June 15). In Wikipedia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southeast_Asia