Unit
10 Notes – Southeast Asia
Chapter 30 Objective: Identify key features of physical geography, climate
and vegetation, and human-environment interaction in Southeast Asia, Oceania,
and Antarctica.
Chapter 30, Section 1 – Landforms and Resources in Southeast Asia
Chapter 30, Section 2 – Climate and Vegetation in Southeast Asia
1. The monsoons and the ITCZ make Southeast Asia one of the wettest places
on earth. The periodic El Nino brings droughts to the entire area. Ocean
temperatures are cooler than usual in the western Pacific near Southeast
Asia. Instead of warm, wet air rising and condensing as rainfall, cool,
dry air sits at the ocean surface.
2. The soils in Southeast Asia are not fertile (typical of tropical soils).
In the rainforests, the high temperatures and damp conditions promote the
rapid decay of detritus (dead plant material and insects) and the rapid
release of useful minerals. These minerals are taken up directly by the
living forest rather than enriching the soil. The forests are being cleared
at record rates by logging companies and for farmland. The burning of the
forest materials leads to pollution.
Chapter 30, Section 3 – Human-Environment Interaction
Human Patterns Over Time in Southeast Asia
3. Southeast Asia’s position as a group of islands and peninsulas
surrounded by seas has made it easily accessible to ocean trade and to outside
cultural influences. First settled by migrants from the Eurasian continent,
it later was influenced by Arab, Indian, and Chinese traders. Later, it
was colonized by Europe and Japan. China was especially influential on Vietnam
as it was part of the Chinese Empire for about a thousand years.
4. The blending of cultures by the fact that in Singapore and Malaysia,
Buddhist, Taoist, Confucian, and Hindu temples exist side by side. Burma,
Thailand, and Laos are largely Buddhist. Indonesia is mostly Muslim.
5. Southeast Asia flourished and was controlled by several empires. Early
Southeast Asian states did not have set borders. Instead, they were mandalas,
states organized as rings of power around a central court. The Khmer Empire
was a powerful mandala that lasted roughly from the 9th to the 15th centuries
in what is now Cambodia.
6. Colonies were established by European countries (Portugal – Malacca
in 1511 and East Timor; Spain – Philippines; Dutch – Indonesia;
British – Malaysia, Burma; French – Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos).
Thailand remained independent by pitting the British against the French
and becoming a buffer zone, a territory separating adversaries.
a. The Portuguese’ anti-Islamic and pro-Catholic policies provoked
strong resistance.
b. The Spanish had less resistance because of their tolerance of non-Christians.
Because of Spanish rule, the Philippines is the most deeply Westernized
and the most Catholic part of Southeast Asia.
c. The Dutch were the most economically successful of the colonizers in
Southeast Asia. The Dutch were less interested in territory than in profits,
and they avoided direct administrative rule by placing local leaders in
charge. Resistance to the Dutch took the form of Islamic religious movements,
and the rise of these movements hastened the spread of Islam throughout
Indonesia.
d. The British were also commercially motivated. Part of Britain’s
control of the Malay Peninsula was to protect the Strait of Malacca, through
which the British moved goods from India. The British felt that all “Orientals”
were incapable of governing themselves effectively and needed a “benevolent”
European power to rule over them (“white man’s burden”,
“noble savage”). By controlling Burma, Britain controlled access
to trade routes to China and to extensive stands of tropical hardwoods.
e. France joined in, partly because of its rivalry with Britain, for access
to markets.
7. The Japanese would take advantage of the fact that the Europeans were
busy fighting WWII to take over many of the countries in Southeast Asia.
The U.S. had controlled the Philippines since 1898.
8. Even though Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia technically gained their independence
in 1949, France still retained political and economic power. Those who fought
against French control accepted assistance from communist China and the
Soviet Union. In 1954, the French lost their war against the Vietnamese.
The U.S., increasingly worried about the spread of communism, began supporting
the South Vietnamese government in their fight against the communist North
Vietnamese. Support escalated into war. Public opinion forced the U.S. to
withdraw from Vietnam in 1973. The war finally ended in 1975. The war spilled
over into Cambodia and led to violent rule by the Khmer Rouge.
9. Since the 1960s, the economies of Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia,
and the Philippines have grown.
Population Patterns in Southeast Asia
10. Today, more than half a billion people occupy Southeast Asia. Relatively
few people live in the upland areas of Myanmar (Burma), Thailand, and northern
Laos—land is rugged and difficult to travel. Much of Cambodia is lightly
settled. Some areas of forests are isolated and populated by small groups
of indigenous people. Densely populated areas follow coastlines and rivers.
The most populated cities are Jakarta, Manila, and Bangkok.
11. Fertility rates have declined since the 1960s. Singapore, an unusually
wealthy city-state, had a fertility rate of 1.4 in 2003. Singapore’s
population grows because of immigration. Thailand’s fertility rate
is 1.7. Even though Thailand is poor, the Thai understand that having a
large number of children is a burden. Other areas have high fertility rates
and high infant mortality rates.
Chapter 31 Objective: Identify features of human geography in Southeast
Asia, Oceania, and Antarctica.
Chapter 31, Section 1 – Southeast Asia
12. The northern parts of Thailand and Myanmar are somewhat isolated. The
area is populated by indigenous peoples that practice animism. The valleys,
lowlands, and plains are urbanized.
a. Burma’s resources include: teakwood, oil, tin, antimony, zinc,
copper, tungsten, limestone, marble, precious stones, and natural gas. Corruption
in Burma affects their progress. It is one of the world’s poorest
countries. Opium is one of its export crops.
b. Thailand is one of the economic tigers. Thailand’s government provided
incentives for multinational companies. These companies benefit from a literate
(even though higher education is not necessarily available), yet low-wage
workforce, Thailand’s lenient environmental laws, and other laws affecting
manufacturing and trade. However, rapid industrialization has created some
problems: farmers are forced off their land for the building of infrastructure;
farmers suffer from food and prices controls, so that low priced foods help
keep the city people happy; and layoffs occur when companies move to even
cheaper labor countries. At least protest is allowed in Thailand.
13. Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia were once known as French Indochina. Rather
that work together, there has been conflict between the countries. They
are, today, still somewhat communistic with some free-market capitalism.
Most of the subregion’s population is in the Mekong River delta and
coastal zones of Vietnam. Throughout the region, 75% of the people support
themselves as subsistence farmers. The Mekong River is the subregion’s
major transport artery.
a. Vietnam is the most populated of the three countries and the most developed.
After the communist government took control of the entire country, they
began to invest in health care, basic nutrition, and basic education. 63%
of the Vietnamese are farmers. Many of Vietnam’s forests are gone,
much of it destroyed by defoliants (chemicals that cause the leaves of plants
and trees to die and fall) used by the U.S. military. In the 1980s, the
communist began implementing elements of a market economy. Wages, however,
are very low because of an oversupply of workers. 30% of Vietnam’s
population is under the ages of 15, which means that more than a million
new workers enter the labor force every year. They are joined by several
hundred thousand displaced agricultural workers.
14. Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei are the most economically successful
countries in Southeast Asia.
a. Malaysia is very ethnically diverse. The British maintain control of
Malaysia by promoting ethnic, religious, and economic rivalries. As economic
disparities widened, antagonisms between the groups increased. After independence,
animosities exploded with the onset of widespread rioting by the poor in
1969. Political rights were suspended, and it took two years for the situation
to calm down. The violence so shocked and frightened the Malaysians that
they agreed to address some of the fundamental social and economic causes.
Part of the plan was a new economic policy that required Chinese business
owners to have Malay partners. It set quotas that increased Malay access
to schools and universities and public jobs. The economy has expanded and
Malays now celebrate their diversity. There is still a huge income gap with
the separation by ethnicity. Because of the crowded conditions some of the
poor live on rafts.
b. Singapore is an island at the tip of the Malay Peninsula with 4.2 million
in population. Population density is 17,528 people per square mile. Even
so, it is one of the wealthiest countries on earth derived from: pharmaceuticals,
biomedical products, electronics, financial services, oil refining, petrochemical
products, and shipping. Singapore is ethnically diverse with Chinese making
up 76% of the population. The government encourages unity among this diversity.
The emphasis is on shared values, community consensus rather than conflict,
and racial and religious harmony. Singapore is a very controlled society.
Law and order is strict and permits are required for many activities. Crime
is very low. Singapore has the second highest per capita income in Asia.
c. Indonesia is a collection of islands. Not all of the islands are happy
being part of Indonesia. Java and Sumatra are the most economically productive.
The volcanic soil of the islands is very rich. Much of the rainforest area
has been cleared and suffers as farming land.
15. The Philippines encompasses more than 7000 islands. The two largest
islands are Luzon and Mindanao. The Philippine islands are volcanic which
gives them rich soil and minerals. Urban densities exceed 50,000 people
per square mile. Possibly 28-40% of the urban population are extremely poor.
The masses of poor and the diversity of the country cause problems. Wealth
is dispersed based on ethnicity and religion (Chinese and Spanish/Filipino).
Under the government of the Marcos’, the Philippines’ economy
floundered. It is still a poor undereducated country.
Economic and Political Issues in Southeast Asia
16. Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is a trade organization
to strengthen regional cooperation.
17. Undemocratic socialist regimes control Laos and Vietnam and a military
dictatorship runs Myanmar.
18. Some Southeast Asian leaders argue that Asian values are grounded on
the Confucian view that individuals should be submissive to authority. Hence,
Asian countries should avoid the highly contentious public discourse of
electoral politics. This view overlooks the Confucian expectation that governments
rule with justice and the needs of all society in mind and that citizens
act against corruption and misuse of power to restore the ideal social order.
Some have rebelled.
19. Thailand and Malaysia have moved to more democratic governments. In
Myanmar Aung San Suu Kyi was elected to lead a civilian reform government
in 1990. The military government refused to step aside and Kyi has been
under arrest since then.
20. Terrorism and piracy plague the region.
Oceania: Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific
Chapter 31, Section 2 – Oceania
Chapter 31, Section 3 – Australia, New Zealand, and Antarctica
Landforms, Climate and Vegetation in Oceania
21. The continent of Australia is partially composed of some of he oldest
rock on earth and has been a fairly stable landmass for 200 million years,
with very little volcanic activity and only occasional mild earthquakes.
It is the larges and flattest continent on the earth. The impact of the
Indo-Australian plate with the Eurasian plate created the mountainous island
of New Guinea; downwarping caused the lowland between New Guinea and Australia
that is now filled with ocean water.
a. Australia is roughly shaped like a dinner plate with 2 chunks missing;
in the north the Gulf of Carpentaria and in the south the Great Australian
Bight. The Great Barrier Reef, off the east coast, is the longest coral
reef in the world. Coral cannot live in water that is too cold, too sediment
filled, or polluted. The giant reef interrupts the westward-flowing ocean
currents in the mid-South Pacific circulation pattern, shunting warm water
to the south, where it warms the southeastern coast of Australia.
22. The islands of the Pacific were created (and are still being created)
by a variety of processes related to tectonic plate movement. High islands
are usually volcanoes that rise above the sea into mountainous, rock formations
that contain a variety of environments (New Zealand, the Hawaiian Islands,
Tahiti, the Samoa Islands, and Easter Island). An atoll is a low-lying island
formed of coral reefs that have built up on the circular or oval rim of
a submerged volcano. These islands tend to have a small range of environments,
a limited supply of fresh water, and a low elevation. Some coral formations
have been uplifted.
23. With the exception of the interior of Australia, Oceania is warm and
humid caused by a warm ocean current. The dryness of most of Australia is
the result of mountains in the east which block moist air blowing from the
east. New Zealand deals with prevailing westerlies. The monsoons bring rain
to northern Australia. Many of the mountainous islands exhibit orographic
rainfall (rain shadow) with a wet windward side and a dry leeward side.
24. Normally the water in the equatorial western Pacific is warmer than
the water in the eastern Pacific. As an El Nino develops water temperatures,
and the temperatures of the air above the water, are cooler than usual in
the west and warmer than usual in the east. The result is less cloud cover
and less rainfall in the west, but more in the east.
Human Patterns Over Time in Oceania
25. The Aborigines first came to Australia as migrants from Southeast Asia
possibly 60,000 years ago. Related groups settled nearby islands and are
designated Melanesians because of their dark-pigmented skin. About 5000
to 6000 years ago another wave of settlers (Austronesians—related
languages) migrated out of Southeast Asia.
26. Geographers divide Oceania into three regions, defined both by physical
geography and culture. The regions are Micronesia (tiny islands), Melanesia
(black islands), and Polynesia (many islands).
27. The first Europeans to contact Oceania peoples was Magellan in 1521.
By the 1560s, Spain had set up trade in the Philippines. The Pacific was
not formally divided among the colonial powers until the 19th century (U.S.,
France, Britain, Germany, Japan).
28. During this time, Europeans debated whether or not civilization actually
improves the quality of life for human beings. Some Europeans argued that
civilization corrupts and debases people. This idea grew partly out of news
filtering home to Europe about the negative effects of colonization and
partly out of their experience with industrialization in Europe, where crowded,
dirty, impersonal, often crime-ridden cities were growing. Romanticists
glorified what they termed “primitive” people living in distant
places supposedly untouched by corrupting influences; they coined the term
“noble savage” to describe them. When the “noble savages”
attacked the Europeans, the Europeans quickly revised their ideas.
29. In Australia and New Guinea and other larger islands of Melanesia, a
relatively plentiful resource base made it possible for people to live in
small, simple societies, less subject to the stratification and class tensions
of much of the world. Generally, where resources were scarce, many societies
were hierarchical, with layers of ruling elites at the top and commoners
at the bottom. Although warfare occurred, hostilities were often settled
ritualistically and by means of annual tribute-paying ceremonies, rather
than by resorting to mortal violence.
30. Women in Polynesia quite often had power or became rulers. Men were
the farmers and cooks. Women were the craftspeople, gathered foods, and
fished. Some areas were matrilineal—lineage is established through
the women.
31. After the American Revolution, the British needed somewhere to send
their convicts. Australia was established as a penal colony. Many convicts
chose to stay once their sentences were served. Many voluntary immigrants
went to Australia because of cheap land. New Zealand was settled somewhat
later by voluntary immigrants from the British Isles. Native peoples were
moved, killed, or died of diseases. New Zealand and Australia are very much
like North America.
Geographic Issues in Oceania
32. The prevailing idea was that Australia and New Zealand should preserve
European culture by pushing away Aboriginal, Asian, and Pacific culture.
In the 1920s, migrants from Asia, Africa, and the Pacific were barred. After
World War II, the two countries began encouraging migrants from southern
and eastern Europe, and thus, a shift toward a more multi-cultural society.
In the 1960s, the whites-only immigration policies were abandoned. Australia
is now one of the most ethnically diverse countries on the earth.
33. Before Europeans arrived, at the end of the 19th century, the sole inhabitants
of Australia were about 750,000 Aborigines. The Maori were the indigenous
people of New Zealand. For about 200 years, aborigines and Maori were limited
in their rights. During European settlement, the British decided all Australian
lands were available for British use because the Aborigines were thought
to be too primitive to have concepts of land tenure, since their nomadic
cultures had “no fixed abodes, fields, or flocks, nor any internal
hierarchical differentiation. The British government decided it had the
right to take land without making treaties with Aboriginal leaders, Terra
Nullius or empty land. Some Aboriginal people were forced to live on reserves,
that is, tracts of less productive land set aside for them. Others lived
on the edges of settlements and adopted some European ways, such as working
on ranches.
34. The Aboriginal people lost something even more precious than land. Between
1909 and 1969, the Australian government took about 100,000 mixed race children
and gave them to white families to promote assimilation. Assimilation occurs
when a minority group gives up its culture and adopts the majority group’s
culture. They are called the “stolen generation”. Many Aboriginal
people are fighting assimilation by passing their culture on to their children
and one reason they are seeking to regain land is to preserve their way
of life.
35. The Land Rights Act of 1976 gave Aboriginal people the right to claim
land in the Northern Territory. As a result, Aboriginal people gained ownership
of the ________________ where they were living and some unoccupied land
that the government had owned.
36. In the Wik Case, the court ruled that Aboriginal people could claim
land held under a pastoral lease. As a result, many white Australians feared
having to pay Aboriginal people for land use or even losing access to some
land altogether. So the national government amended the Wik decision to
wipe out many Aboriginal land claims.
37. In New Zealand, relations between the majority European-derived population
and the indigenous Maori have proceeded somewhat more peacefully. The Maori
considered the land as spiritual and the British as something to be owned.
In 1996, New Zealand agreed to settle several long-standing Maori claims
to land and fishery rights. Similar issues exist on many of the Pacific
islands.
38. The “Pacific Way” is a term used since 1970 to convey the
idea the Pacific Islanders and their governments have a regional identity
growing out of their particular social experience. The South Pacific Regional
Environmental Program (SPREP) emphasizes regional cooperation and environmental
education.
Economic and Political Issues in Oceania
39. Australia and New Zealand have very diverse, modern economies. Subsistence
agriculture and tourism supports most the population in the Pacific Islands.
Economic growth in the small islands is inhibited by small resource bases,
small populations and remote locations.
Environmental Issues in Oceania
40. Australia’s issue related to critter control, erosion, chemical
overuse, pollution.
a. Rabbits were brought to Australia by early British settlers who enjoyed
hunting and eating them. With no natural predators, the rabbits multiplied
quickly; eating plants that indigenous animals survived on. The holes they
dug led to erosions. The introduction of foxes and cats to help kill the
rabbit population only led to other problems. Australians tried introducing
a disease in the rabbit population and that worked for a while and then
the foxes and cats became a problem. The rabbit population is rebounding
because some rabbits are resistant to the disease.
b. By trying to raise sheep and cattle in arid infertile areas, ranchers
have resorted to irrigation, herbicides and pesticides to extend grazing
crops. Underground water reserves are being depleted and rivers and lakes
are being polluted.
c. Urban populations contribute to greenhouse gas emissions.
d. Water scarcity is also an issue.
Chapter 32 Objective: Examine regional issues of land claims, industrialization,
and global warming, and the implications for the world community.
Chapter 32, Case Study on Pollution
41. The burning of fossil fuels releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere traps the sun’s heat. Greenhouse
gases serve the useful function of preventing the escape of all the sun’s
energy into space. Without them, the earth would be cold and lifeless. Some
scientists fear that the atmosphere now has too many greenhouse gases and
that the temperature of the earth is rising (global warming). Some scientists
say this is a natural phenomenon, while others say that the temperatures
fall within a normal range.
42. Another change is the thinning of the ozone layer. This layer absorbs
most of the sun’s damaging ultraviolet rays. Ultraviolet rays are
linked to such problems as skin cancer, eye damage, and crop damage. Chemicals
such as the chlorine found in CFC’s react with ozone and destroy it.
Many governments have restricted the use of such chemicals. New Zealand
is at greater risk from the thinning ozone layer because of its proximity
to the “hole” over Antarctica.
43. One fear about global warming is that the world’s ice caps might
melt causing a rise in sea levels that might swamp coast cities and islands.
Some people predict that global warming might change patterns of evaporation
and precipitation. The location of climate zones and agricultural regions
might shift, upsetting the world’s economy. In 1997, The UN held a
convention in Kyoto, Japan, to discuss climate change and set guidelines
(Kyoto Protocol) for developing countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The U.S. Senate did not ratify this treaty.
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