Southeast Asian Colonization Religion Animism Belief that spirits

Southeast Asian Colonization

Religion • Animism: Belief that spirits lived in nature. Aspects have blended with other religions. • Hinduism: Earliest religion of influence. Rejected caste system but accepted reincarnation. • Buddhism: Theravada (Buddha was a God)Buddhism influenced mainland SE Asia while Mahayana (Buddha was a teacher) influenced Vietnam • Islam: Spread in 10 th century and is most practiced religion in Malaysia and Indonesia • Christianity: Spain colonized Philippines in 16 th century leading to Catholicism being majority religion today

Early Europeans • In 1511 Portuguese captured Malacca and built trading posts throughout SE Asia • In 1596 Dutch set up trading posts in Java and took Malacca f/ Portuguese in 1641 • Dutch controlled much of modern day Indonesia and other parts of SE Asia for next 200 years

European Influence • Culture System: Dutch system that forced locals to set aside 1/5 of their land • 1/3 of income of Dutch economy came from this • In 1795 Britain took Malacca from Dutch • In 1824 Britain bought Singapore and eventually est. Federated Malay States • British produced tin and rubber (imported trees) and caused Singapore to be the busiest port in SE Asia

Southeast Scramble • Britain and France began to race for colonies near China We are Siamese if you please… • Britain took over Burma in 1890 • French Indochina: Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos • France absorbed Vietnam after much resistance in 1858 • Siam (Thailand) remained independent by signing treaties w/ both France and Britain

Philippines • In 1521 Ferdinand Magellan claimed the Philippines for Spain • Encomienda: Allowed Spaniards to demand taxes or labor… by late 1600’s the King of Spain abandoned this system and ruled directly • US took control of Philippines after Spanish-American War in 1898 • Americans did little to help and led to a revolt