History Of Southeast Asia

With this episode the podcast introduces the fourth Western empire to acquire colonies in Southeast Asia, the British Empire. Although Britain was a late participant in the imperial game, by the nineteenth century they were outperforming every other imperial power. Here you will hear how the British gained control over Malaya, Singapore, and part of Borneo. This episode calls the Indian Ocean a "British lake." Here you can see what I meant by that; Britain ruled all the purple territories in 1914. Do you think you would like to become a podcaster on Blubrry? Click here for the details on joining. Enter my promo code, HSEASIA, to let them know I sent you, and you will get the first month's hosting for free! Support this podcast!

After taking a bit of a break last month, we are now ready to resume the narrative, with the first episode covering events in the nineteenth century. This time we will see how the Dutch conquered all of Indonesia, or as they called it after they took over, the Dutch East Indies. Do you think you would like to become a podcaster on Blubrry? Click here for the details on joining. Enter my promo code, HSEASIA, to let them know I sent you, and you will get the first month's hosting for free! Support this podcast!

This is a special mini-episode, because if you have been listening to the narrative, we have finished the early modern era (1500 to 1800) and are now about to begin the colonial era (1800 to 1965) in Southeast Asian history. This episode will explain what has changed in the relationship between Europe and Southeast Asia, and what made it possible for the Western nations to step in and take over, rather than just sit on the periphery like they did for the previous three hundred years. Do you think you would like to become a podcaster on Blubrry? Click here for the details on joining. Enter my promo code, HSEASIA, to let them know I sent you, and you will get the first month's hosting for free! Support this podcast!

This episode covers the latest round in the ongoing conflict between Myanmar and Thailand, or as they were called before the twentieth century, Burma and Siam. At the height of the fighting, the Burmese utterly destroyed Ayutthaya, the capital of Siam. But this wasn't the end of Siam; the Siamese kings move first to Thonburi, then to Bangkok, and the kingdom recovered with amazing speed. Do you think you would like to become a podcaster on Blubrry? Click here for the details on joining. Enter my promo code, HSEASIA, to let them know I sent you, and you will get the first month's hosting for free! Support this podcast!

This episode covers Vietnam in the early modern era, from 1471 to 1819. Twice during this period, Vietnam was divided between rival factions, from 1527 to 1592, and then from 1592 to 1802. We will also see Champa, Vietnam's rival in Episodes 4 and 8, for the last time. Finally, one French clergyman will invent today's Vietnamese alphabet, and another will help Vietnam pull itself together again; that marks the beginning of French involvement in Vietnam, which we will see much more in future episodes. This map from Wikipedia shows Vietnam around 1650, in the middle of the second division. The lands belonging to all the players mentioned in this episode are shown here. The Bau Lords are not mentioned because they were the least important faction; all they did was keep their district in the northwest independent of the other families, from 1527 until 1699. Do you think you would like to become a podcaster on Blubrry? Click here for the details on joining. Enter my promo code, HSEASIA, to let them know I

Today's episode wraps up coverage of seventeenth-century events in Burma, Siam and Laos, with some really obscure stories about two kingdoms that no longer exist: Arakan and Lan Xang. We will cover the peak years and decline of both kingdoms. And that's not all; we will also see another European try to gain control over a Southeast Asian state, this time Siam. Here is the map that was originally posted in Episode 5, showing where Arakan/Rakhine is, in relation to the rest of Burma/Myanmar and Bangladesh. This picture is from the March 1971 issue of National Geographic Magazine, and it shows a lacquer panel painting, made in Siam during the eighteenth century. Here is a scene from a Buddhist legend, which shows the enemies of the Buddha attacking. Note the European in the middle of the crowd, taking aim with a musket. Listen to the episode to get an idea on why the artist thought Europeans were the bad guys. Do you think you would like to become a podcaster on Blubrry? Click here for the details on jo

In recent episodes we have met two European nations that explored and exploited parts of Southeast Asia, Portugal and Spain. Now this episode introduces the Dutch and tells how they got involved in Indonesia. Because the Dutch used a corporation, the Dutch East India Company (also called the V.O.C.), this will be a very different story from that of the Portuguese and Spanish empires. Do you think you would like to become a podcaster on Blubrry? Click here for the details on joining. Enter my promo code, HSEASIA, to let them know I sent you, and you will get the first month's hosting for free! Support this podcast!

This episode finishes what we started covering last time, the wars on the Southeast Asian mainland in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Whereas we mainly looked at two Burmese kings last time, here we will concentrate our attention on Naresuan, whom modern-day Thais consider their greatest king. Also, we will see a strange adventure in which two Europeans, a Portuguese and a Spaniard, try to turn Cambodia into a pro-Spanish puppet state. Here is the scene from "The Legend of King Naresuan" movie series where Naresuan shoots a Burmese general at long range, something you shouldn't be able to do with a sixteenth-century musket. An army officer, Wanchana Sawatdee, was picked to play the king, so Thai audiences would not get distracted by seeing a famous actor. Do you think you would like to become a podcaster on Blubrry? Click here for the details on joining. Enter my promo code, HSEASIA, to let them know I sent you, and you will get the first month's hosting for free! Support this podcast

The last four episodes have mainly talked about events on Southeast Asia's islands, so now we will return to the mainland and the conflict that we started to cover at the end of Episode 10. Special attention is given to the two most important Burmese kings of the sixteenth century, Tabinshwehti and Bayinnaung. I call this episode and the next one "The Elephant Wars" because most of the fighting was either on elephants, or over elephants. Here is the map from Wikipedia showing the second Burmese Empire in 1580, at the height of Bayinnaung's power. Unfortunately it has a few misspelled names, but I have not found a better map anywhere else. Do you think you would like to become a podcaster on Blubrry? Click here for the details on joining. Enter my promo code, HSEASIA, to let them know I sent you, and you will get the first month's hosting for free! Support this podcast!

In the previous episode we learned how Spain discovered the Philippines, so in this episode Spain will name and conquer the Philippine islands, making them a colony for more than three hundred years. (Note: A remastered edition of this episode was uploaded on March 24, 2017, with better sound quality than the original.) Here is a map of the Philippines so listeners can keep track of all the places mentioned in this episode, from Manila to Mindanao. Do you think you would like to become a podcaster on Blubrry? Click here for the details on joining. Enter my promo code, HSEASIA, to let them know I sent you, and you will get the first month's hosting for free! Support this podcast!

In this episode, a second European nation, Spain, gets involved in Southeast Asia by discovering the Philippines, a part of Southeast Asia that had not gotten much attention previously. Then we will see Spain's attempts to take Indonesia and its valuable spice trade from Portugal. This map explains the Portuguese-Spanish dispute in Southeast Asia. It shows three ideas on where to put the "Tordesillas antimeridian," the line between the Portuguese and Spanish claims. Only the line on the right is in the correct place. The dotted line is where Ferdinand Magellan thought the Southeast Asian mainland was. Source: Stalemate at Bajadoz. Do you think you would like to become a podcaster on Blubrry? Click here for the details on joining. Enter my promo code, HSEASIA, to let them know I sent you, and you will get the first month's hosting for free! Support this podcast!  

This is the first episode of 2017, and the first episode covering events in the modern era. Here we will meet the Portuguese, the first Europeans to sail across the oceans in large numbers, see how they found Southeast Asia, and learn what they did in the region. With the European arrival, the rules of the game will change! Do you think you would like to become a podcaster on Blubrry? Click here for the details on joining. Enter my promo code, HSEASIA, to let them know I sent you, and you will get the first month's hosting for free! Support this podcast!  

There is one more major player in Southeast Asia to introduce before the Europeans arrive, and that player is Islam. This episode will focus on how Islam came to this part of the world, with special emphasis on Malacca, the first important Southeast Asian state that converted to the new religion. And here is a map showing how Islam spread across Southeast Asia, starting with Aceh (also spelled Acheh or Atjeh), from 1240 to 1600. Do you think you would like to become a podcaster on Blubrry? Click here for the details on joining. Enter my promo code, HSEASIA, to let them know I sent you, and you will get the first month's hosting for free! Support this podcast!  

We're almost finished looking at Southeast Asia in the Middle Ages. This episode tells how Siam (modern Thailand) and Lan Xang (Laos) got started. And you will get to hear me mangle more names that were never meant to be pronounced by English speakers! Here is a map of the Southeast Asian mainland, around 1530. All of the nations mentioned in this episode are shown, with arrows indicating the main conflicts. Vieng Chan is another name for Vientiane. Source: Angkor-planet.com. Thai kings got along well in the thirteenth century, so today in Chiangmai, Thailand, you can see the statues of three kings together. From left to right, these statues represent Ngam Muang (the ruler of a minor muang or city-state), Mangrai of Lan Na, and Ramkhamhaeng of Sukhothai. In 1287 these kings formed a friendship pact. The Ramkhamhaeng stela. Click here for an English translation. And here is one of the stone urns on the Plain of Jars. Do you think you would like to become a podcaster on Blubrry? Click here fo

This episode covers Burma (also called Myanmar) in the Middle Ages, with special emphasis on the Bagan Empire. Visit a city with more than 2,000 pagodas!  Learn what makes Theravada Buddhism different from the other Buddhist sects.  Meet a king who ruled for 95 years, and another king who ate 300 dishes of curry every day!  Hear me mispronounce their names! It's all here for your listening pleasure! Here is part of the Bagan skyline, showing a few of its ruined pagodas. And here is Bagan's most spectacular building, the Ananda Temple. Finally, this graph shows how much land, workers and silver supported Burma's Buddhist clergy. Do you think you would like to become a podcaster on Blubrry? Click here for the details on joining. Enter my promo code, HSEASIA, to let them know I sent you, and you will get the first month's hosting for free! Support this podcast!  

This episode covers Vietnam from 939 to 1471. During this time two nations existed in the territory of present-day Vietnam (three if you count the Khmers ruling the Mekong delta). Those nations were the Vietnamese state, currently called Dai Viet, and the Indianized state of Champa. The Vietnamese and Chams fought on and off for most of this period, hence the episode name. Who won? Listen to find out! (Note:  A remastered edition of this episode was uploaded on February 1, 2017, to replace nearly three minutes of content that somehow had been cut out of the original.) The main artifacts left to us by the Chams are Hindu temples made of bricks. Of these, the one in best shape is Po Klong Garai, built around 1300 by Jaya Sinhavarman III, near Phan Rang in southern Vietnam. Here it is. And here is a map of the area covered by this episode, around the year 1200. The Vietnamese kingdom is colored yellow, and Champa is colored green. Most of Champa’s cities are marked with two names: the original Sanskr

We're now up to the most spectacular civilization in ancient/medieval Southeast Asia. This episode covers Cambodia from 550 to 1431, the golden age of the Khmers, ancestors of today's Cambodians. Here are some maps and pictures to give you a better idea of what I am talking about: First, a map of mainland Southeast Asia, around 750 A.D. The violet-colored nation at the bottom is Srivijaya (see Episode 6). And here is Jayavarman II in the Devaraja (god-king) ceremony. The priest is annointing a lingam, a phallus-shaped stone representing Shiva; that was the most important image in the temple. From the April 1960 issue of National Geographic. The Khmer Empire in the twelfth century. The striped area was ruled by the Burmese, but also claimed by the Khmers. From Angkorvat.net. One of Angkor's gateways, with four faces of Jayavarman VII looking in different directions. In Ankgor, the phrase "Big Brother is watching you" was carved in stone! Do you think you would like to become a podcaster on Blubrry?

This episode covers Indonesia from the year 600 to 1500, the years when historical records become available, but before most Indonesians converted to Islam (that will be a topic for a future episode). Five major kingdoms dominated the islands during this time: Srivijaya, Mataram, Kediri, Singosari, and Majapahit.  Also, we will take a detailed look at Borobudur, Indonesia's greatest monument. Here is a picture of Borobudur from the air, in case you want something to look at while following the description given in the episode. On September 20, 2016, this podcast was accepted on Acast, the big Swedish podcasting host. I am happy about this because they said no three months earlier, when I applied before recording the first episode. For those keeping track, there are now five places where you can listen: Blubrry, iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, and now Acast. Do you think you would like to become a podcaster on Blubrry? Click here for the details on joining. Enter my promo code, HSEASIA, to let them know

For this episode, the main topic is how the nation of Burma, also called Myanmar, got started. We will see the Burmese and tribes related to them settle the north, and we will take a special look at Arakan, a province that often went its own way (see the map below). Also in this episode, we will see the Mons, a tribe we met previously, move the capital of their state in southern Burma, from Thaton to Bago. Finally, we will meet Nanzhao, Burma's northern neighbor from the eighth to the thirteenth century. And here is the website I recommended if you want to look at artifacts from the Pyu civilization: https://www.pyukingdom.com On September 7, 2016, this podcast was accepted on Google Play, probably the best download site on the World Wide Web. Now you have four places online where you can listen: Blubrry, iTunes, Stitcher, and Google Play. Support this podcast!  

This episode will focus on the east coast of the Southeast Asian mainland, going up to 938 A.D. This timeframe covers the beginning of two nations: Vietnam and Champa. Only one of them is around today; guess which one it is. On August 30, 2016, this podcast was added to the programs available on Stitcher. Now if you have the Stitcher app on a mobile device, you have another way to listen! http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/berosus/history-of-southeast-asia-podcast?refid=stpr Support this podcast!