The Geography & Culture of Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia truly is one of the most fascinating regions of the world. It's a place of tremendous contrasts, where huge modern cities, with their bustling streets and crowded shops, often lie just a short distance away from tiny villages where people follow a slower, more traditional way of life. Southeast Asia is located to the south of China, to the east of India, and to the north of Australia. Most of the region has a tropical or subtropical climate because the equator passes right through it. That's why it's such a perfect place for raising rice, for collecting milky latex sap from rubber trees, and for watching specially trained elephants at work in the jungle. Southeast Asia is a part of our planet noted for its many islands, which are surrounded by warm saltwater seas and bays, where coral reefs and beautiful fish abound. It is also a place with many diverse cultures, where many different languages are spoken, and where many different religions are practiced. So it's not surprising that Hindu temples, Muslim mosques, Taoist temples, Christian churches, and Buddhist temples are all fairly commonplace here. Unfortunately, the Southeast Asia region faces some serious problems too. Poverty is quite severe in several of its nations, and people really have to struggle to survive. Also, huge tracts of forest are being torn up and burned to create new farms and tree plantations to supply the region's growing population. The smoke produced from burning the forests and farm fields causes severe air pollution at certain times of the year that often affects far distant parts of the world. And of course, the ongoing destruction of large areas of natural habitat is endangering many of the region's native species, such as orangutans and proboscis monkeys. In addition, overfishing and water pollution have harmed many of the area's aquatic ecosystems too. But in spite of its numerous problems, these days Southeast Asia is a place that's changing quite rapidly in ways that make it a very important part of the world to understand. Altogether, more than 600 million people, roughly about 8% of the Earth's total population, live in the Southeast Asia region, nearly twice the number of people that live in the United States. There are nine main countries in Southeast Asia. The first is Vietnam, a long narrow country that lies along the Pacific Ocean, just to the south of China. Vietnam has a population of 89 million people and has a communist government. The second nation is Laos, which lies just to the west of Vietnam. It is a nation noted for its rugged mountain ranges. Laos has a population of 7 million people and is the only country in Southeast Asia that lacks a sea coast. Laos is a communist country too, and people's incomes here are quite low. The third country is the Kingdom of Cambodia. It is a poor nation that lies directly south of Laos that is famous for its many ancient temples. Cambodia has a population of 13 million people. At one time, Cambodia along with Laos and Vietnam were united in a single colony called French Indochina. The fourth nation in Southeast Asia is the Kingdom of Thailand, which lies to the west of both Cambodia and Laos. Thailand has one coast on the Pacific Ocean and another on the Indian Ocean. Thailand is home to 68 million people and is the only nation in Southeast Asia that was never colonized by Europeans. The fifth nation in the region is Myanmar, a country previously known as Burma, which lies along the Indian Ocean to the west and north of Thailand. Myanmar is home to 54 million people, and like Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia, is a primarily Buddhist nation. Myanmar was once a British colony. Today, it is a military dictatorship and has the highest level of poverty in Southeast Asia. The sixth country is Malaysia, which is divided between the southernmost portion of the Asian continent known as the Malay Peninsula and the northern part of the large island of Borneo. Malaysia has a population of 26 million people and is officially a Muslim country. Malaysia was once ruled by Great Britain as well as the Netherlands, and today, it is a fairly prosperous country. The seventh main country in the Southeast Asia region is the Republic of the Philippines, a nation made up of numerous islands located about 1,000 miles to the east of Vietnam. Ninety-four million people live in the Philippines. Most of them are Christians, and most are rather poor. The eighth country is Indonesia. It consists of around 18,000 islands that extend all the way from one side of the region to the other. Indonesia is the most populous nation in Southeast Asia and is home to 230 million people. It is also the world's largest Muslim country. For many centuries, Indonesia was a colony of the Netherlands called the Dutch East Indies. Last but not least, the ninth major country is Singapore, a tiny city-state on an island just 15 miles across that is located off the tip of the Malay Peninsula. Singapore was also once a British colony. Today, Singapore's five million citizens are some of the wealthiest and best educated people in the world. The Mekong River is undoubtedly one of the most important geographical features of the Southeast Asian region. It is the 11th largest river in the world, and the lives of millions of people depend on it. This mighty river begins in the high plateaus of Tibet in China and flows nearly 3,000 miles into the South China Sea, which is part of the Pacific Ocean. After leaving China, the Mekong passes through five Southeast Asian countries. Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam. Many of these countries lack good highway and railroad systems, so naturally the river is used extensively for transporting both goods and people. That's why it is quite common to see riverboats and barges piled high with all sorts of goods, as well as numerous water taxis that carry passengers to the towns and villages along the river. A lot of the families that live on the Mekong River own small boats, which are their main form of transportation. Some are powered by engines, but many depend on muscle power and are simply robed to get from place to place. The Mekong is even home to a number of floating markets like this one in Vietnam, where people come by boat to buy or sell a wide variety of fruits and vegetables. Some people live in the larger boats and rarely set foot on land. Others live in floating villages, and many live in houses along the riverbanks that are built on stilts that rise above the water line. Fish are a mainstay of the diet in Southeast Asia, and that's why on the Mekong River you'll see people fishing almost everywhere you look. The Mekong River is home to hundreds of species of fish, some of which can grow to be quite large. Fish farming is a popular business among some of the river dwellers. They build pens under their floating houses to hold the fish. They make food for them from scrap fish parts and flour. The fish are fed through a trap door in the floor and are harvested through the same door once they have grown to be a large enough size. Today, the Mekong River is under a lot of strain. The untreated sewage and farm runoff that pour into the river at many points spread waterborne diseases. The nutrients they contain also encourage the growth of algae, which in turn leads to a loss of oxygen in the water, and low oxygen levels kill fish. Another problem facing the Mekong River is that large dams in China are impeding its flow and interfering with migration routes of several fish species, making it difficult for them to spawn. Lower water levels have also disrupted river transportation and limited the amount of irrigation water available to raise crops. Nearly all of the people that live in the Southeast Asian country's borderland