Term Paper on "Culture Realms of Southeast Asian"

Term Paper 11 pages (3053 words) Sources: 6

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Culture Realms of Southeast Asia

Discuss different culture realms in this region

Discuss what the paper is going to be about

Brunei

Region

People

Economy

Religion

Burma

Region

People

Economy

Religion

Cambodia

Region

People

Economy

Religion

Indonesia

Region

People

Economy

Religion

Laos

Region

People

Economy

Religion

Malaysia

Region

People

Economy

Religion

Philippines

Region

People

Economy

Religion

Summarize main points

Outline similarities and differences

CULTURE REALMS of SOUTHEAST ASIA

In the past few decades, the study of different culture realms across Southeast Asia has increased, bringing a wealth of information to historians and anthropologists. Southeast Asia can be described as an area of about 4,100,000 square kilometers that contains the countries of Brunei,

Burma,

Cambodia,

Indonesia,

Laos,

Malaysia, and the Philippines. This part of Asia is home to many different peoples, including Thais, Karen, Shan, Hmong, Lao, Khmer, Chinese, and Vietnamese. Roads pass through green, terraced rice fields fringed with palm trees, forests with waterfalls and monkeys, and villages of thatched wooden houses. Southeast Asia represents a clash of the past and the present, a combination of the traditional and the modern. While Southeast Asia contains vast areas of remote forest, it also includes centers of international business, with soaring skyscrapers, such as Kuala Lumpur (capital of Malaysia) and the port of Singapore, a city that is an independent state in its own right. This paper will identify the area that comprises Southeast Asia, and will discuss the differences in religion, land, demographics and economy in each of the countries that makes up the Southeast Asia region.

Brunei

Brunei is located in Southeast Asia on the northern coast of Borneo almost completely surrounded by Malaysia; Brunei is a small, oil-rich state. It occupies a total area of 5,770 sq km of which 5,270 sq km is land. The country has a 381 km long land border and 161 km of coastline, and is close to vital sea lanes through South China Sea linking Indian and Pacific Oceans. Brunei has a tropical climate, generally hot, humid and rainy, with terrain that consists of flat costal plains rising up to mountains in the east and hilly lowlands in the west. Natural resources include petroleum, natural gas and timber; typhoons, earthquakes and severe flooding are rare. The country consists primarily of Malays (64%) and Chinese (20%). The predominant religion is Sunni Muslim, and Malay is the official language spoken in Brunei.

The official currency used is the dollar under Brunei's constitutional sultanate form of government. Brunei gained independence in January of 1984 from the United Kingdom; the national holiday celebrating this event is February 23rd. The Brunei flag is yellow with two diagonal bands of white (top, almost double width) and black starting from the upper hoist side; the national emblem in red is superimposed at the center; the emblem includes a swallow-tailed flag on top of a winged column within an upturned crescent above a scroll and flanked by two upraised hands. Brunei's economy is a mixture of foreign and domestic entrepreneurship, government regulation and welfare measures, and village tradition. It is almost totally supported by exports of crude oil and natural gas, with revenues from the petroleum sector accounting for more than 50% of GDP. This makes Brunei one of the highest per capita countries in the Third World, and it is also supported by substantial income from overseas investment in addition to domestic production. The government provides for all medical services and subsidizes food and housing.

Burma (Myanmar)

Burma, also known as Myanmar, is located in south-east Asia, bordering the Bay of Bengal between Bangladesh and Thailand. The Irrawaddy River flows north to south through the country and forms a broad delta where it meets the sea. This is a strategic location near major Indian Ocean shipping lanes. The Irrawaddy River is an important trading route, used to transport logs, petroleum, rice and crops. The cargo vessels are made out of wood, and display square sails. Burma consists of wooden houses built on stilts above the water. Rice, sugarcane, and rubber trees in the warm wet region of Burma. Forests cover the northern part of the country where it is cooler, which consists of many hills. The country occupies a total of 678,500 sq km of which 657,740 sq km is land. 1,930 km of Burma is coastline, and as a result, the climate is a tropical monsoon climate. This means that the climate is cloudy, rainy, and hot, with humid summers (south-west monsoon from June to September), and less cloudy, scant rainfall, mild temperatures, lower humidity during winter (north-east monsoon from December to April). The terrain is marked by steep rugged highlands surrounding central lowlands.

Natural resources include petroleum, timber, tin, antimony, zinc, copper, tungsten, lead, coal, some marble, limestone, precious stones and natural gas. Burma exports oil, natural gas and gemstones, and is subject to destructive earthquakes and cyclones, flooding and landslides common during rainy season, and deforestation. The population in this country is 48,081,302, with the predominant religion being Buddhist. The language spoken by the people is Burmese, and the majority of the population are Burmese. However, minority people there include the Chin, Kachin, Shan and Karen. In Burma, the oldest people live to be is generally about 55 years old, and.01 percentage of people there own cars. Burma is a military regime; the Burmese flag consists of a red with a blue rectangle in the upper hoist-side corner bearing, all in white, 14 five-pointed stars encircling a cogwheel containing a stalk of rice; the 14 stars represent the 14 administrative divisions.

Just outside of Burma, the Brahmaputra and Ganges rivers form the world's largest delta region, occupying about 29,000 square miles. Every five days on a lake in Burma, farmers, craftworkers, and other peoples gather in boats, trading rice cakes, farm tools, silk, fish, fruits and vegetables. Tropical storms called cyclones rage across the Bay of Bengal, and large areas of land are often flooded. The golden-roofed Shwe Dagon pagoda in Yangon is one of the holiest temples in the Buddhist faith.

Cambodia

Cambodia is located in south-east Asia bordering the Gulf of Thailand, between Thailand and Vietnam. It occupies a total area of 181,040 sq km of which 176,520 sq km is on land; the country has a 2,572 km long land boundary and 443 km of coastline. Cambodia has a population of 10,750,000 that speak the Khmer language. The religion is Theravada Buddhist, and the life expectancy is 48 years of age. In Cambodia, less than.1% of people own cars. Cambodia has a tropical climate that consists of rain and monsoons from May to October, with a dry season from December to March. The terrain is mostly low, flat plains with mountains in the south-west and north. Natural resources include timber, gemstones, manganese, phosphates and hydropower potential. Even with these natural resources, Cambodia is a desperately poor country whose economic recovery is held hostage to continued political unrest and factional hostilities. The country's immediate economic challenge is an acute financial crisis that is undermining monetary stability and preventing disbursement of foreign development assistance. This is due to the fact that Cambodia is still recovering from an abrupt shift in 1990 to free-market economic mechanisms and a cutoff in aid from former Soviet bloc countries.

After this aid to Cambodia was stopped, the country faced severe economic crises. As a result, Cambodia's infrastructure of roads, bridges, and power plants has been severely degraded, now having only 40-50% of prewar capacity. Telecommunication services are barely adequate for government requirements and virtually nonexistent for the general public. A review of the literature on Cambodia indicates that the statistical data on its economy remains sparse and unreliable. However, the available literature also indicates that many tourists now come to Cambodia to view the ancient ruins of Cambodia's Khmer civilization as well as the turquoise seas and limestone rocks that form part of the Thai coast. Tourists also come to visit the many temples located in Cambodia. Situated to the northwest of the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh, the temple of Angkor Wat is one of many temples that dates back to the thousand year old Khmer civilization.

Indonesia

Indonesia is an archipelago of 13,500 islands located in south-east Asia between Malaysia and Australia, occupying a total area of 1,919,400 sq km of which 1,826,440 sq km is on land. The Indonesian archipelago is the biggest on earth, and is made up of more than 17,000 islands. Indonesia has a tropical climate that is hot and humid, but more moderate in the highlands. The terrain is mostly coastal lowlands while larger islands have interior mountains. Natural resources include petroleum, tin, natural gas, nickel, timber, bauxite, copper, fertile soils, coal, gold and silver. Craft workers carve wood or produce beautiful textiles, woven with dyed yarns or dyed with a wax method called batik. Indonesia has occasional floods, severe droughts, tsunamis and deforestation.

Indonesia is a republic, and the Indonesian flag consists of two equal horizontal bands of red (top) and white;… READ MORE

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