History of Southeast Asia: Encyclopedia II - History of Southeast Asia - Ancient kingdoms

History of Southeast Asia - Ancient kingdoms

Southeast Asia has been inhabited since pre-historic times. The communities in the region evolved to form complex cultures with varying degrees of influence from India and China.

The ancient kingdoms can be grouped into two distinct categories. The first is agrarian kingdoms. Agrarian kingdoms had agriculture as the main economic activity. Most agrarian states were located in mainland Southeast Asia. Examples are Ayutthaya, based on the Chao Phraya River delta and the Khmer Empire on the Tonle Sap. The second type is maritime states. Maritime states were dependent on sea trade. Malacca and Srivijaya were maritime states.

A succession of trading systems dominated the trade between China and India. First goods were shipped through Funan to the Isthmus of Kra, portaged across the narrow land, and then transhipped for India and points west. Around the sixth century CE merchants began sailing to Srivijaya where goods were transhipped drectly. The limits of technoogy and contrary winds made it impossible for the ships of the time to proceed directly from the Indian Ocean to the South China Sea. The third system involved direct trade between the Indian and Chinese coasts.

Very little is known about Southeast Asian religious beliefs and practices before the advent of Indian merchants and religious influences from the second century BCE onwards. Prior to the 13th century, Buddhism and Hinduism were the main religions in Southeast Asia.

Several kingdoms developed on the mainland, initially in modern-day Myanmar, Cambodia and Vietnam.

The first dominant power to arise In the archipelago was Srivijaya in Sumatra. From the fifth century CE, the capital, Palembang, became a major seaport and functioned as an entrepot on the Spice Route between India and China. Srivijaya was also a notable centre of Vajrayana Buddhist learning and influence. Srivijaya's wealth and influence faded when changes in nautical technology in the tenth century CE enabled Chinese and Indian merchants to ship cargo directly between their countries and also enabled the Chola state in southern India to carry out a series of destructive attacks on Srivijaya's possessions, ending Palembang's entrepot function.

Java was dominated by a kaleidoscope of competing agrarian kingdoms including the Sailendras, Mataram and finally Majapahit.

Muslim traders started to visit Southeast Asia in the Twelfth Century CE. Pasai was the first Muslim state. Srivijaya finally collapsed after internal strife. The Sultanate of Malacca, founded by a Srivijayan prince, rose to prominence under Chinese patronage and assumed Srivijaya’s role. Islam spread throughout the archipelago in the 13th and 14th century at the expense of Hinduism with Malacca functioning (after its rulers converted) as the center of Islam in the region.

Other sultanates, such as Brunei in Borneo and Sulu in the modern day Philippines experienced relatively few contacts with other kingdoms.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Ancient kingdoms", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki