The Philippines is the only country in Southeast Asia that was subjected to Western colonization before it had the opportunity to develop either a centralized government ruling over a large territory or a dominant culture. In ancient times the inhabitants of the Philippines were a diverse agglomeration of peoples who arrived in various waves of immigration from the Asian mainland and who maintained little contact with each other. Contact with Chinese traders was recorded in 982, and some cultural influences from South Asia, such as a Sanskrit-based writing system, were carried to the islands by the Indonesian empires of Srivijaya (7th–13th century) and Majapahit (13th–16th century); but in comparison with other parts of the region, the influence of both China and India on the Philippines was of little importance. The peoples of the Philippine archipelago, unlike most of the other peoples of Southeast Asia, never adopted Hinduism or Buddhism.

Pre-Spanish history
According to what can be inferred from somewhat later accounts, the Filipinos of the 15th century must have engaged primarily in shifting cultivation, hunting, and fishing. Sedentary cultivation was the exception. Only in the mountains of northern Luzon, where elaborate rice terraces were built some 2,000 years ago, were livelihood and social organization linked to a fixed territory. The lowland peoples lived in extended kinship groups known as barangays, each under the leadership of a datu, or chieftain. The barangay, which ordinarily numbered no more than a few hundred individuals, was usually the largest stable economic and political unit.

Within the barangay the status system, though not rigid, appears to have consisted of three broad classes: the datu and his family and the nobility, freeholders, and “dependents.” This third category consisted of three levels—sharecroppers, debt peons, and war captives—the last two levels being termed “slaves” by Spanish observers. The slave status was inherited but, through manumission and interclass marriage, seldom extended over more than two generations. The fluidity of the social system was in part the consequence of a bilateral kinship system in which lineage was reckoned equally through the male and female lines. Marriage was apparently stable, though divorce was socially acceptable under certain circumstances.

Early Filipinos followed various local religions, a mixture of monotheism and polytheism in which the latter dominated. The propitiation of spirits required numerous rituals, but there was no obvious religious hierarchy. In religion, as in social structure and economic activity, there was considerable variation between—and even within—islands.

This pattern began to change in the 15th century, however, when Islam was introduced to Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago through Brunei on the island of Borneo. Along with changes in religious beliefs and practices came new political and social institutions. By the mid-16th century two sultanates had been established, bringing under their sway a number of barangays. A powerful datu as far north as Manila embraced Islam. It was in the midst of this wave of Islamic proselytism that the Spanish arrived. Had the Spanish come a century later or had their motives been strictly commercial, Filipinos today might be a predominantly Muslim people.

The Spanish period
Spanish colonial motives were not, however, strictly commercial. The Spanish at first viewed the Philippines as a stepping-stone to the riches of the East Indies (Spice Islands), but, even after the Portuguese and Dutch had foreclosed that possibility, the Spanish still maintained their presence in the archipelago.

The Portuguese navigator and explorer Ferdinand Magellan headed the first Spanish foray to the Philippines when he made landfall on Cebu in March 1521; a short time later he met an untimely death on the nearby island of Mactan. After King Philip II (for whom the islands are named) had dispatched three further expeditions that ended in disaster, he sent out Miguel López de Legazpi, who established the first permanent Spanish settlement, in Cebu, in 1565. The Spanish city of Manila was founded in 1571, and by the end of the 16th century most of the coastal and lowland areas from Luzon to northern Mindanao were under Spanish control. Friars marched with soldiers and soon accomplished the nominal conversion to Roman Catholicism of all the local people under Spanish administration. But the Muslims of Mindanao and Sulu, whom the Spanish called Moros, were never completely subdued by Spain.

Spanish rule for the first 100 years was exercised in most areas through a type of tax farming imported from the Americas and known as the encomienda. But abusive treatment of the local tribute payers and neglect of religious instruction by encomenderos (collectors of the tribute), as well as frequent withholding of revenues from the crown, caused the Spanish to abandon the system by the end of the 17th century. The governor-general, himself appointed by the king, began to appoint his own civil and military governors to rule directly.

Central government in Manila retained a medieval cast until the 19th century, and the governor-general was so powerful that he was often likened to an independent monarch. He dominated the Audiencia, or high court, was captain-general of the armed forces, and enjoyed the privilege of engaging in commerce for private profit.

Manila dominated the islands not only as the political capital. The galleon trade with Acapulco, Mex., assured Manila’s commercial primacy as well. The exchange of Chinese silks for Mexican silver not only kept in Manila those Spanish who were seeking quick profit, but it also attracted a large Chinese community. The Chinese, despite being the victims of periodic massacres at the hands of suspicious Spanish, persisted and soon established a dominance of commerce that survived through the centuries.

Manila was also the ecclesiastical capital of the Philippines. The governor-general was civil head of the church in the islands, but the archbishop vied with him for political supremacy. In the late 17th and 18th centuries the archbishop, who also had the legal status of lieutenant governor, frequently won. Augmenting their political power, religious orders, Roman Catholic hospitals and schools, and bishops acquired great wealth, mostly in land. Royal grants and devises formed the core of their holdings, but many arbitrary extensions were made beyond the boundaries of the original grants.

The power of the church derived not simply from wealth and official status. The priests and friars had a command of local languages rare among the lay Spanish, and in the provinces they outnumbered civil officials. Thus, they were an invaluable source of information to the colonial government. The cultural goal of the Spanish clergy was nothing less than the full Christianization and Hispanization of the Filipino. In the first decades of missionary work, local religions were vigorously suppressed; old practices were not tolerated. But as the Christian laity grew in number and the zeal of the clergy waned, it became increasingly difficult to prevent the preservation of ancient beliefs and customs under Roman Catholic garb. Thus, even in the area of religion, pre-Spanish Filipino culture was not entirely destroyed.

Economic and political institutions were also altered under Spanish impact but perhaps less thoroughly than in the religious realm. The priests tried to move all the people into pueblos, or villages, surrounding the great stone churches. But the dispersed demographic patterns of the old barangays largely persisted. Nevertheless, the datu’s once hereditary position became subject to Spanish appointment.

Agricultural technology changed very slowly until the late 18th century, as shifting cultivation gradually gave way to more intensive sedentary farming, partly under the guidance of the friars. The socioeconomic consequences of the Spanish policies that accompanied this shift reinforced class differences. The datus and other representatives of the old noble class took advantage of the introduction of the Western concept of absolute ownership of land to claim as their own fields cultivated by their various retainers, even though traditional land rights had been limited to usufruct. These heirs of pre-Spanish nobility were known as the principalia and played an important role in the friar-dominated local government.

The 19th century
By the late 18th century, political and economic changes in Europe were finally beginning to affect Spain and, thus, the Philippines. Important as a stimulus to trade was the gradual elimination of the monopoly enjoyed by the galleon to Acapulco. The last galleon arrived in Manila in 1815, and by the mid-1830s Manila was open to foreign merchants almost without restriction. The demand for Philippine sugar and abaca (hemp) grew apace, and the volume of exports to Europe expanded even further after the completion of the Suez Canal in 1869.

The growth of commercial agriculture resulted in the appearance of a new class. Alongside the landholdings of the church and the rice estates of the pre-Spanish nobility there arose haciendas of coffee, hemp, and sugar, often the property of enterprising Chinese-Filipino mestizos. Some of the families that gained prominence in the 19th century have continued to play an important role in Philippine economics and politics.

Not until 1863 was there public education in the Philippines, and even then the church controlled the curriculum. Less than one-fifth of those who went to school could read and write Spanish, and far fewer could speak it properly. The limited higher education in the colony was entirely under clerical direction, but by the 1880s many sons of the wealthy were sent to Europe to study. There, nationalism and a passion for reform blossomed in the liberal atmosphere. Out of this talented group of overseas Filipino students arose what came to be known as the Propaganda Movement. Magazines, poetry, and pamphleteering flourished. José Rizal, this movement’s most brilliant figure, produced two political novels—Noli me tangere (1887; Touch Me Not) and El filibusterismo (1891; The Reign of Greed)—which had a wide impact in the Philippines. In 1892 Rizal returned home and formed the Liga Filipina, a modest reform-minded society, loyal to Spain, that breathed no word of independence. But Rizal was quickly arrested by the overly fearful Spanish, exiled to a remote island in the south, and finally executed in 1896. Meanwhile, within the Philippines there had developed a firm commitment to independence among a somewhat less privileged class.

Shocked by the arrest of Rizal in 1892, these activists quickly formed the Katipunan under the leadership of Andres Bonifacio, a self-educated warehouseman. The Katipunan was dedicated to the expulsion of the Spanish from the islands, and preparations were made for armed revolt. Filipino rebels had been numerous in the history of Spanish rule, but now for the first time they were inspired by nationalist ambitions and possessed the education needed to make success a real possibility.

The Philippine Revolution
In August 1896, Spanish friars uncovered evidence of the Katipunan’s plans, and its leaders were forced into premature action. Revolts broke out in several provinces around Manila. After months of fighting, severe Spanish retaliation forced the revolutionary armies to retreat to the hills. In December 1897 a truce was concluded with the Spanish. Emilio Aguinaldo, a municipal mayor and commander of the rebel forces, was paid a large sum and was allowed to go to Hong Kong with other leaders; the Spanish promised reforms as well. But reforms were slow in coming, and small bands of rebels, distrustful of Spanish promises, kept their arms; clashes grew more frequent.

Meanwhile, war had broken out between Spain and the United States (the Spanish-American War). After the U.S. naval victory in the Battle of Manila Bay in May 1898, Aguinaldo and his entourage returned to the Philippines with the help of Adm. George Dewey. Confident of U.S. support, Aguinaldo reorganized his forces and soon liberated several towns south of Manila. Independence was declared on June 12 (now celebrated as Independence Day). In September a constitutional congress met in Malolos, north of Manila, which drew up a fundamental law derived from European and Latin American precedents. A government was formed on the basis of that constitution in January 1899, with Aguinaldo as president of the new country, popularly known as the “Malolos Republic.”

Meanwhile, U.S. troops had landed in Manila and, with important Filipino help, forced the capitulation in August 1898 of the Spanish commander there. The Americans, however, would not let Filipino forces enter the city. It was soon apparent to Aguinaldo and his advisers that earlier expressions of sympathy for Filipino independence by Dewey and U.S. consular officials in Hong Kong had little significance. They felt betrayed.

U.S. commissioners to the peace negotiations in Paris had been instructed to demand from Spain the cession of the Philippines to the United States; such cession was confirmed with the signing of the Treaty of Paris on December 10, 1898. Ratification followed in the U.S. Senate in February 1899, but with only one vote more than the required two-thirds. Arguments of “manifest destiny” could not overwhelm a determined anti-imperialist minority.

By the time the treaty was ratified, hostilities had already broken out between U.S. and Filipino forces. Since Filipino leaders did not recognize U.S. sovereignty over the islands and U.S. commanders gave no weight to Filipino claims of independence, the conflict was inevitable. It took two years of counterinsurgency warfare and some wise conciliatory moves in the political arena to break the back of the nationalist resistance. Aguinaldo was captured in March 1901 and shortly thereafter appealed to his countrymen to accept U.S. rule.

The Filipino revolutionary movement had two goals, national and social. The first goal, independence, though realized briefly, was frustrated by the American decision to continue administering the islands. The goal of fundamental social change, manifest in the nationalization of friar lands by the Malolos Republic, was ultimately frustrated by the power and resilience of entrenched institutions. Share tenants who had rallied to Aguinaldo’s cause, partly for economic reasons, merely exchanged one landlord for another. In any case, the proclamation of a republic in 1898 had marked the Filipinos as the first Asian people to try to throw off European colonial rule.

Ethnic groups
The ethnically diverse people of the Philippines collectively are called Filipinos. The ancestors of the vast majority of the population were of Malay descent and came from the Southeast Asian mainland as well as from what is now Indonesia. Contemporary Filipino society consists of nearly 100 culturally and linguistically distinct ethnic groups. Of these, the largest are the Tagalog of Luzon and the Cebuano of the Visayan Islands, each of which constitutes about one-fifth of the country’s total population. Other prominent groups include the Ilocano of northern Luzon and the Hiligaynon (Ilongo) of the Visayan islands of Panay and Negros, comprising roughly one-tenth of the population each. The Waray-Waray of the islands of Samar and Leyte in the Visayas and the Bicol (Bikol) of the Bicol Peninsula together account for another one-tenth. Filipino mestizos and the Kapampangans (Pampango) of south-central Luzon each make up small proportions of the population.

Many smaller groups of indigenous and immigrant peoples account for the remainder of the Philippines’ population. The aboriginal inhabitants of the islands were the Negritos, a term referring collectively to numerous peoples of dark skin and small stature, including the Aeta, Ita, Agta, and others. Those communities now constitute only a tiny percentage of the total population. From the 10th century, contacts with China resulted in a group of mixed Filipino-Chinese descent, who also account for a minority of the population. Small numbers of resident Chinese nationals, emigrants from the Indian subcontinent, U.S. nationals, and Spanish add to the population’s ethnic and cultural diversity.

Languages
Estimates of the total number of native languages and dialects spoken in the Philippines differ, but scholarly studies suggest that there are some 150. Most of the country’s languages are closely related, belonging to one of several subfamilies of Austronesian—more specifically, Western Malayo-Polynesian—languages. The major languages of the country generally correspond to the largest ethnic groups. Tagalog is the most widespread language of the Central Philippine subfamily, with the bulk of its native speakers concentrated in Manila, central and south-central Luzon, and the islands of Mindoro and Marinduque. The national language of the Philippines, Pilipino (also called Filipino), is based on Tagalog and shares a place with English (the lingua franca) as an official language and medium of instruction. Tagalog (including Pilipino) has the most extensive written literature of all Philippine languages. Cebuano, also a Central Philippine language, is used widely in Cebu, Bohol, eastern Negros, western Leyte, and parts of Mindanao. Ilocano is the most commonly spoken language of the Northern Luzon subfamily, and its speakers constitute the third largest language community of the Philippines.

Other prominent languages of the Central Philippine group include Hiligaynon and Waray-Waray, both spoken in the Visayas, as well as several varieties of Bicol, spoken in southern Luzon. The language of the Tausug is widespread in both Palawan and the Sulu Archipelago, where it is used in Tausug as well as many non-Tausug communities. Similarly, the languages of the Kapampangans and Pangasinan, both of the Northern Philippine subfamily, have many speakers in central Luzon. Notable languages of the Southern Philippine subfamily are those spoken by the Maguindanao and Maranao of western Mindanao.

Religion
Some four-fifths of Filipinos profess Roman Catholicism. During the 20th century the religion gained strength through growth in the number of Filipinos in the church hierarchy, construction of seminaries, and, especially after 1970, increased involvement of the church in the political and social life of the country. Jaime Cardinal Sin, archbishop of Manila, was one of the country’s most politically outspoken spiritual leaders of the late 20th century.

Adherents of other denominations of Christianity constitute roughly one-tenth of the population. The Philippine Independent Church (the Aglipayans), established in 1902 in protest against Spanish control of the Roman Catholic Church, has several million members. The indigenous church called Iglesia ni Cristo, also founded in the early 20th century, has a smaller but nonetheless significant following.

Islam was brought to the southern Philippines in the 15th century from Brunei (on Borneo), to the west. The religion was already well established in the Sulu Archipelago and Mindanao by the time of European contact, and it had a growing following around Manila. Contemporary Muslim Filipino communities, collectively known as Moros, are largely limited to the southern islands and account for about 5 percent of the population.

Small numbers of Filipinos practice Buddhism or local religions. Buddhism is associated primarily with communities of Chinese descent. Local religions are maintained by some of the rural indigenous peoples.

Cultural milieu
Philippine society is a unique blend of diversity and homogeneity. Although geographically part of Southeast Asia, the country is culturally strongly Euro-American. Forces of assimilation have constantly worked to overcome cultural differences between the various ethnic groups that are scattered—sometimes in relative isolation—throughout the archipelago. Nearly four centuries of Western rule, however, have left an indelible imprint on the Philippines, serving as a conduit for the introduction of Western culture and as the catalyst for the emergence of a sense of Philippine political and cultural unity. While the Christian churches built by the Spanish and the mosques built by the Muslims provided a spiritual anchor, the educational system established by the United States and expanded by the Filipinos has become emblematic of cultural unity and socioeconomic progress. Nonetheless, through the persistence of strong family ties, the revival of the barangay as the smallest unit of government, increased attention to Asian history and literature, and subsequent revival of dormant traditions, the Philippines has strengthened its Asian heritage without abandoning its Western cultural acquisitions.

Daily life and social customs
Life in the Philippines generally revolves around the extended family, including parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins (up to several times removed), and other relatives. For Catholic families, godparents—those to whom care of children is entrusted should the parents die or otherwise be incapacitated—also figure prominently in the kinship network. Members of extended families typically gather for major life events such as baptisms and confirmations (for Catholic Filipinos), circumcisions (for Muslim Filipinos), and marriages, as well as for major religious and other national holidays. Among the religious holidays officially observed in the Philippines are Christmas and Easter, as well as Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. Other major holidays include New Year’s Day, Labor Day (May 1), and Independence Day (June 12).

Whether festival fare or everyday food, major meals in most Filipino societies are built around boiled or steamed rice or rice noodles. Small amounts of meat, including chicken, pork (in non-Muslim communities), goat, or fish complement the rice or noodle core, along with an assortment of fruits and cooked vegetables. Assorted alcoholic drinks are made from coconut sap, sugarcane, and rice. Balut, a parboiled embryonic duck still in the egg, is a popular street food in the Manila area.

Although slacks, shirts, skirts, and dresses based on European designs are common throughout the Philippines, some garments are unique to particular groups or regions. The malong, a colourful woven tube of cloth that can be worn in a variety of ways by both men and women, is characteristic of Muslim communities in Mindanao. In the urban areas, many men wear an intricately embroidered shirt, the barong, for casual and formal events. On special occasions, urban women may wear the terno, a long dress characterized by broad “butterfly” sleeves that rise slightly at the shoulders and extend about to the elbow. Many of the smaller ethnic groups have characteristic attire for events of special cultural significance.

The arts
Early Spanish chroniclers testified that the Filipinos carved the images of their anitos (gods and goddesses) and ancestors in wood. They also played a variety of musical instruments, including end-blown flutes, nose flutes, jew’s harps, gongs, drums, and lutes, among others. Various seasonal celebrations (e.g., harvest) and life rituals (e.g., courtship and marriage) called for certain instrumental music, songs, and dances. For instance, in some of the Muslim communities of Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago, the kulintang ensemble, consisting of a set of gongs suspended horizontally and vertically and a single-headed drum, can still be heard at festive events.

Although the community of practitioners of rural performing arts has been diminishing, efforts have been under way to revive as well as recontextualize some of the indigenous traditions so that they resonate with an increasingly cosmopolitan Philippine society. Some of the local dance traditions have been preserved or reinterpreted by contemporary performing groups such as Bayanihan (the national folk dance company of the Philippines), established in the mid-20th century, as well as by the Ramon Obusan Folkloric Group and Ballet Philippines. A growing number of world music artists, such as Joey Ayala, have been creating innovative syntheses of indigenous Philippine traditions—such as kulintang—and popular music form.

Many Filipino musicians have risen to prominence in the Western classical music tradition, including the composer and conductor Antonio J. Molina, the composer Felipe P. de Leon (known for his nationalistic themes), and the opera singer Jovita Fuentes. The Cultural Center of the Philippines, the Folk Arts Theater, and the restored Manila Metropolitan Theatre (all in Manila) provide homes for the performing arts, featuring local and foreign opera and ballet. To encourage the development of arts, the government gives awards of recognition and maintains a National Arts Center (established 1976), which includes the Philippine High School for the Arts in Los Baños, south of Manila.

Filipino painters have included Juan Luna, whose agitated works helped inspire a sense of Filipino nationalism in the late 19th century; Fernando Amorsolo, who is known for his traditional rural scenes; the muralists Carlos V. Francisco and Vicente Manansala; and the modernists Victorio Edades and Arturo Rogerio Luz. Among sculptors, Guillermo Tolentino and Napoleon Abueva are prominent. Rural artists from mountainous regions in northern Luzon and craftsmen living northwest of Manila and in Paete on the eastern shore of Laguna de Bay are known for wood carvings. Romblon and other nearby islands are noted for their marble sculptures. Notable Filipino architects include Juan F. Nakpil, Otilio Arellano, Fernando Ocampo, Leandro Locsin, Juan Arellano, Carlos Arguelles, and Tomas Mapua.

The outspoken political novels of nationalist leader José Rizal were Philippine literary landmarks of the late 19th century, and the work of Nick Joaquin has been among the most highly acclaimed Philippine literature since the mid-20th century. The diverse cultural heritage of the country not only animates most of Joaquin’s fiction writing, but it is also central to his nonfiction work. Among the most celebrated of Joaquin’s works are his play A Portrait of an Artist as a Filipino (1966) and his biography of assassinated presidential candidate Benigno Aquino, The Aquinos of Tarlac: An Essay on History as Three Generations (1983). Spanish was the prinicipal literary medium until the end of the 19th century, before yielding to English after U.S. occupation. Since independence an increasing number of writers have been composing their works in Filipino or Tagalog.

Filipinos have a tradition rich in local and regional lore. Myths and legends deal with such subjects as the origin of the world, the first man and woman on earth, why the sky is high, why the sea is salty, and why there are different races. Other tales are associated with the Spanish conquest. On the island of Mindanao an epic known as the Darangen (“To Narrate in Song”) depicts the historical and mythological world of the Maranao community, while in northern Luzon the Ilocano epic Biag ni Lam-ang (“Life of Lam-ang”) recounts the exploits of a traditional folk hero.

The Philippines has produced a handful of internationally acclaimed films, including Himala (1982), which recounts the adventures of a young miracle worker; Oro, Plata, Mata (1982), the story of two noble families on the island of Negros during World War II; and Small Voices (2002), the tale of a teacher in an impoverished rural community who, through music, inspires her students to shed their cynicism. Despite its successes, the film industry in the Philippines has remained small, its growth hindered by escalating production costs, high taxes, uncontrolled piracy of videotapes and CDs, and the popularity of foreign films over local productions.

The Portuguese first settled on Timor in 1520, and the Spanish arrived in 1522. The Dutch took possession of the western portion of the island in 1613. The British governed the island in 1812–15. The Dutch and the Portuguese fought for supremacy over Timor, and Portuguese sovereignty over the island’s eastern half was settled by treaties in 1860 and 1893, although the latter became effective only in 1914. Japanese forces occupied Timor during World War II. East Timor province, including the Ambeno enclave, thereafter remained in Portuguese possession until 1975, when one of the major political parties there, Fretilin (Frente Revolucionária do Timor-Leste Independente [Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor]), gained control of much of the territory and in November declared its independence as the Democratic Republic of East Timor. Early in December Indonesian forces invaded and occupied the area, and in 1976 Indonesia declared it to be an integral part of that country as the province of East Timor (Timor Timur).

Over the next two decades, tens of thousands of East Timorese died (some observers claim as many as 200,000 perished) resisting the Indonesian occupation and annexation or as a result of famine and disease. In response to mounting international pressure, the Indonesian government authorized a referendum there for August 30, 1999, to determine the future of East Timor. Almost four-fifths of the voters supported independence, and the Indonesian parliament rescinded Indonesia’s annexation of the territory. East Timor was returned to its preannexation status of independence but as a non-self-governing territory under UN supervision. However, the transfer of power was accompanied by violence perpetrated by anti-independence militants. Hundreds of people were killed, and thousands fled to the western half of the island; refugees subsequently began returning home.

In April 2002 Xanana Gusmão—leader of the National Council of Timorese Resistance (Conselho Nacional de Resistência Timorense; CNRT), one of the former opposition groups—was elected East Timor’s first president. The territory achieved full status as a sovereign state shortly thereafter. Prime Minister José Ramos-Horta—who had been a corecipient of the 1996 Nobel Prize for Peace—was elected president in May 2007 and succeeded Gusmão. Tensions within the country remained high, however, as indicated by the continued presence of a UN security mission in the country. The situation only worsened after Ramos-Horta swore in Gusmão as prime minister of a coalition government even though the CNRT—renamed, with the same acronym, the National Congress for the Reconstruction of Timor (Congresso Nacional de Reconstrução do Timor)—finished second to Fretilin in the July 2007 parliamentary elections.

In February 2008 President Ramos-Horta was seriously injured when he was shot by militant forces in an attempted assassination. He subsequently recovered and served the remainder of his term. Ramos-Horta was unsuccessful in his bid for a second presidential term in 2012, however, and he was succeeded in office by the country’s former army chief, Taur Matan Ruak.

Gusmão’s government weathered the political crisis of 2007–08 and began efforts to improve East Timor’s economy. The country did achieve some significant economic growth during Gusmão’s first term as prime minister, but much of that growth was tied to the heavy dependence on hydrocarbon production. A large proportion of the population still lived in deep poverty, and Gusmão’s government was criticized for having done little to improve conditions for those citizens.

East Timor applied for membership in ASEAN in 2011. When Indonesia’s permanent representative to ASEAN intimated in May 2016 that East Timor would become a member of the organization in 2017, it appeared as if the country’s long wait to join ASEAN was almost over. However, when the Joint Communiqué of ASEAN’s foreign ministers’ meeting was issued in July, it only “looked forward” to “continued discussion” that would take into consideration the results of several feasibility studies, thus leaving the issue of East Timor’s membership unresolved.

The CNRT won a plurality (but not a majority) of seats in the 2012 legislative elections, and Gusmão was again able to form a coalition government. One notable development during his second administration was the departure of the last members of the UN security mission by early 2013. In January 2014 Gusmão announced his intention to step down as prime minister. He delayed that action until mid-February 2015, when he was succeeded by Rui Maria de Araújo of Fretilin, who appointed Gusmão to the post of minister for planning and strategic investment.

With the support of Gusmão and the CNRT, Fretilin’s candidate in the March 2017 presidential election, Francisco Guterres, captured more than 57 percent of the ballots in the first round of voting to exceed the 50 percent threshold necessary to preclude a runoff, and he became the country’s fourth president. A member of the “75 Generation” of resistance fighters who led the struggle for independence, Guterres was better known by his nom de guerre, Lú-Olo. He had run for the presidency unsuccessfully twice before.

East Timor is bounded by the Timor Sea to the southeast, the Wetar Strait to the north, the Ombai Strait to the northwest, and western Timor (part of the Indonesian province of East Nusa Tenggara) to the southwest. The eastern part of Timor island is rugged, with the mountains rising to 9,721 feet (2,963 metres) at Mount Tatamailau (Tata Mailau) in the centre of a high plateau. The area has a dry tropical climate and moderate rainfall. Hilly areas are covered with sandalwood. Scrub and grass grow in the lowlands, together with coconut palms and eucalyptus trees. There are hot springs and numerous mountain streams. Wildlife includes the cuscus (a species of marsupial), monkeys, deer, civet cats, snakes, and crocodiles.

Most of the people are of Papuan, Malayan, and Polynesian origin and are predominantly Christian. About 40 different Papuan and Malayan languages or dialects are spoken, dominated by Tetum. Portuguese is spoken by a small fraction of the population, but it is one of the country’s two official languages, the other being Tetum; Indonesian and English are considered to be “working” languages.

Nearly all of the population is Roman Catholic, with tiny Protestant and Muslim minorities. Some vestiges of traditional religious beliefs are also practiced in conjunction with Catholicism. About seven-tenths of the population is rural. Of those classified as urban, roughly half live in Dili.

Hydrocarbon production (notably from offshore natural gas deposits) is the most important component of East Timor’s economy in terms of value. Marble quarrying for export is also important. Agriculture, long the mainstay of the economy, still employs the great bulk of the working population; chief products include corn (maize), rice, cassava, sweet potatoes, dried beans, coconuts, and coffee. Manufacturing of textiles, garments, handicrafts, and processed coffee are important. Crafts include pottery, wood and ivory carving, plaiting, coir production, and basket making. Roads running parallel to the northeastern coast link Maubara, Manatuto, Tutuala, and Dili. About half of the roads are paved.

The Ambeno area has valuable sandalwood forests, coconut groves, and rice plantations. Its chief town, Pante Makasar, is a port and has an airport. The hilly offshore island of Atauro, which also has an airport, has a population occupied mainly with fishing. The currency is the U.S. dollar.

East Timor, island country in the eastern Lesser Sunda Islands, at the southern extreme of the Malay Archipelago. It occupies the eastern half of the island of Timor, the small nearby islands of Atauro (Kambing) and Jaco, and the enclave of Ambeno, including the town of Pante Makasar, on the northwestern coast of Timor. Dili is the capital and largest city.

The archipelago: its prehistory and early historical records
Remains of Homo erectus (originally called Pithecanthropus, or Java man) indicate that the ancestors of humans already inhabited the island of Java roughly 1.7 million years ago, when much of the western archipelago was still linked by land bridges. Some 6,000 years ago a rapid postglacial rise in sea level submerged these bridges. What remained was the largest island complex in the world: the Indonesian archipelago.

Not surprisingly, the sea has greatly influenced Indonesian history, and the boat has long been a pervasive metaphor in the arts and the literary and oral traditions of the islands. Monsoon winds, blowing north and south of the Equator, have facilitated communication within the archipelago and with the rest of maritime Asia. In early times timber and spices of Java and the eastern islands were known afar, as were the resins from the exceptionally wet equatorial jungle in the western islands of Sumatra and Borneo. By the first centuries CE, goods were already being shipped overseas, and navigable rivers had brought the Indonesian hinterland into contact with distant markets.

Although records of foreign trade begin only in the early centuries CE, it is possible that people from the Indonesian archipelago were sailing to other parts of Asia much earlier. The Roman historian Pliny the Elder’s Natural History suggests that, in the 1st century CE, Indonesian outriggers were engaged in trade with the east coast of Africa. Indonesian settlements may have existed at that time in Madagascar, an island with distinct Indonesian cultural traits. The geographer Ptolemy, in the following century, incorporated information from Indian merchants in his Guide to Geography concerning “Iabadiou,” presumably referring to Java, and “Malaiou,” which, with its variants, may be a rendition of “Malayu,” a term once broadly applied to various interior regions and kingdoms of Sumatra. (In contemporary usage and spelling, the term Melayu refers to Malay peoples.)

Regular voyages between Indonesia and China did not begin before the 5th century CE. Chinese literature in the 5th and 6th centuries mentions western Indonesian tree produce, including camphor from northern Sumatra. It also refers to two Indonesian resins as “Persian resins from the south ocean,” which suggests that the Indonesian products had been added to the existing seaborne trade in resins from western Asia. It is likely that Indonesian shippers of the time were exploiting southern China’s economic difficulties, incurred as a result of the region’s having been cut off from the ancient trade route of Central Asia. Small estuary kingdoms were beginning to prosper as international entrepôts. Although the locations of these kingdoms are unknown, the commercial prominence of Palembang in the 7th century suggests that the Malays of southeastern Sumatra had been active in the “Persian” trade with southern China.

Easy overseas communication did not, however, result in the formation of territorially large kingdoms. The many estuaries of Sumatra and Borneo, facing the inland seas, possessed an abundance of nutritious seafood that made possible a settled mode of life, and for the people of these estuaries, contact with their neighbours was more important than any connections they could make with overseas lands. Local groups, endowed with more or less comparable resources, were most concerned with protecting their separate identities. Such provincial interests similarly prevailed on the island of Java, where the lava-enriched soil, watered by gently flowing rivers, encouraged wet-rice production and a patchwork pattern of settled areas in the river valleys separated by mountains and jungle.

Long before records began, many of the coastal and riverine groups of the Indonesian archipelago were evolving an elementary form of hierarchy, accompanied by artistic symbols of rank. No single group, however, was large or powerful enough to overrun and occupy neighbouring territories; rather, the various peoples’ energies were absorbed by ever more intensive exploitation of their own natural resources. While those living on or close to the sea knew that geographic isolation was out of the question, they regarded their maritime environment as a means of enhancing their well-being through imports or new skills. Their outward orientation, then, ultimately encouraged the pursuit of local interests rather than inculcating any sense of belonging to a larger community. Indeed, the structure of Indonesian written and oral sources suggests that the origins of kingdoms on the coasts of the Java Sea were associated with the success of local heroes in turning the arrival of foreign trading treasure to their advantage.

Many Indonesian place-names have remained unchanged since the beginning of documented history. In such places, which were often in close proximity to each other, each leader saw himself at the centre of the world that mattered to him, which was not, until later, the archipelago or even a single island but his own strip of coast or river valley. Some centres achieved local hegemony, but never to the extent of extinguishing permanently the pretensions of rival centres. Thus, the early history of Indonesia comprises many regional histories that only gradually intersect with each other.

The historical fragmentation of the archipelago, which was sustained by its rich climate and accentuated (rather than diminished) by easy access to the outside world, is evident in Indonesia’s linguistic diversity. The speakers of Austronesian languages almost certainly drifted into the region in small groups from the Asian mainland or the Pacific Islands over long periods of time. When they reached the coasts and rivers of the archipelago, they did not suddenly assume a common identity. On the contrary, they remained scattered groups, sometimes coexisting with descendants of earlier populations of the Pleistocene Epoch (roughly 1,800,000 to 10,000 years ago), who in their turn had also learned to make economic use of their environment over an immense span of cultural time. The hundreds of languages within the western branch of the Austronesian family (which includes most languages of Indonesia) are an index of the manner in which the peoples of the Indonesian archipelago submitted to the social, economic, and natural realities of their environment.

Stone or metal inscriptions, together with surviving copies of early religious texts, are the most important sources of documentary information. However, because these documents are always concerned with specific places, construction of a comprehensive narrative history of any extensive area is virtually impossible. The reality behind many interregional relationships, then, necessarily remains a riddle. Nevertheless, the ideas of noblemen, as articulated in architecture and literature, reflect varying degrees of exposure to influences from beyond the archipelago. Moreover, they reveal points of intersection in the beliefs and practices of communities throughout the region; all groups maintained basic assumptions concerning the dependence of humans on the goodwill of supernatural entities.

Indonesia is situated at the meeting point of two of the world’s population groups, Asians in the west and Melanesians in the east. The great majority of Indonesians are related to the peoples of eastern Asia, although over the centuries there also has been considerable mixing with Arabs, Indians, and Europeans. In the eastern islands, however, most of the people are of Melanesian origin.

The Indonesian national motto, “Bhinneka tunggal ika” (“Unity in diversity”), makes reference to the extraordinary diversity of the Indonesian population that has emerged from the ongoing confluence of peoples, languages, and cultures. The country includes more than 300 different ethnic groups and more than twice as many distinct languages, and most of the major world religions, as well as a wide range of indigenous ones, are practiced there. Notwithstanding this diversity, most of the people are of Malay ancestry, speak Austronesian (Malayo-Polynesian) languages, and profess Islam.

Ethnic groups
The barriers of the mountains and the sea have protected the character and traditions of many groups. Away from the major cities and areas of dense population, there are significant variations from one valley to the next and almost from one village to the next. In many cases the highland groups of the larger islands—Borneo, Sumatra, and Celebes—were relatively untouched by international influences until the arrival of Christian missionaries during the 19th century; these upland peoples continue to reflect great cultural diversity. Each island or group of islands east of Java also has maintained its own distinct character, in many cases strongly influenced by different religions. In particular, Bali—with its long tradition of Hindu and Buddhist influences rooted in local religious practices—is quite different in character and customs from any other part of Indonesia.

Western islands
The diverse ethnic populations of western Indonesia generally may be grouped into three broad categories. These are the inland wet-rice (irrigated rice) societies, the coastal trading, farming, and fishing peoples, and the inland societies of shifting cultivators.

The first group, the historically Hinduized (but now primarily Muslim) wet-rice growers of inland Java, Madura, and Bali, make up nearly three-fifths of the national population. With an ancient culture informed by strong social and agricultural traditions, it includes the Javanese, Sundanese, Madurese, and Balinese peoples.

The Javanese constitute Indonesia’s largest ethnic group, accounting for roughly one-third of the total population. Most Javanese live in the densely settled, irrigated agricultural regions of central and eastern Java—the most populous parts of the country. The cities of Yogyakarta and Surakarta (Solo), in the centre of the island, are strongholds of Javanese culture and maintain traditional rulers, although these leaders have no real political power. Java’s western region, including the city of Bandung, is the homeland of the Sundanese, who are related to but quite distinct from the Javanese in language and tradition. The Sundanese are the second largest ethnic group in Indonesia.

The island of Madura, northeast of Java, is the homeland of the Madurese, Indonesia’s third largest ethnic group. In addition to cultivating wet-rice paddies, many Madurese raise cattle. The Balinese, who live just to the east of Java on Bali, are known for their intricate irrigation systems and terraced rice fields. Of the historically Hinduized communities in Indonesia, the Balinese are the only nonimmigrant practitioners of Hinduism.

The second group, the more strongly Islamized coastal peoples, is ethnically heterogeneous and includes the Malays from Sumatra and, from southern Celebes, the Makassarese and Bugis. The Sumatran Malays inhabit Aceh, a strongly Muslim region at the extreme northern tip of Sumatra that has long been noted for its resistance to European influence; a rich plantation area to the south of Aceh, along Sumatra’s northern coast; and Bangka and Belitung (Billiton), two primarily agricultural islands off the southeastern coast of Sumatra. The Makassarese and Bugis live primarily in the coastal regions of southern Celebes. Like most Indonesian peoples, they are rice farmers; however, they are also maritime peoples with a strong tradition of boat making. The Makassarese and Bugis have a pronounced presence in coastal towns throughout Indonesia, although their influence has been strongest outside Java.

The third group, the inland shifting cultivators, plant swiddens—fields that are cleared, cultivated for a few seasons, and then abandoned for several years to allow the soil to regenerate—in areas where the climate will not support wet-rice farming. These communities tend to be small and relatively isolated, and they represent a wide array of cultures. The most prominent of the swiddeners are the Toraja of southern Celebes, the Batak of the highlands of northern Sumatra, and the various communities of the interior of Kalimantan, such as the Kenyah, Kayan, Ngaju, and Embaloh, who officially (and collectively) are called Dayak.

There are two major ethnic groups in the western islands of Indonesia that do not fit into this broad scheme of cultural categorization. The Minangkabau, a community of devout Muslim wet-rice farmers in west-central Sumatra, hold a unique position in Indonesia as a matrilineal society, whereby inheritance and descent are reckoned through the female line. The Menadonese (Minahasan) of northern Celebes are also atypical in that they are a historically Hinduized, predominantly Christian coastal community.

Eastern islands
Eastern Indonesia is characterized by the traditional Melanesian cultural division between coastal, or “beach,” peoples and interior, or “bush,” peoples. The Moluccas reflect this pattern, although their proximity to the western islands makes them a more complex ethnographic and linguistic area. The islands are populated by a number of distinct ethnic groups. Typical of the coastal peoples are the Ambonese, who live along the coasts of Ambon and neighbouring islands, including western Ceram. Some of the people living in the mountainous interior regions have been relocated to coastal areas, but—unlike the coastal peoples—they do not usually engage in fishing activities.

The distinction between coastal and interior peoples is especially salient in western New Guinea, where maritime trading communities live along the coast, while agrarian, noncommercial societies with strongly developed and highly localized customs inhabit the interior. Those in the foothills and on the coast have affinities with other Melanesian cultures to the east and south of New Guinea. In addition, Indonesians from the western islands have mixed with indigenous peoples in the coastal trading settlements. The people of the interior, such as the Asmat and the Dani, on the other hand, remained isolated for a longer period of time. Some groups continue to live in remote areas, where interaction with peoples and cultures beyond their proximate surroundings is limited. Most Papuans of the interior regions live in small communities and maintain a complex of dialects, customs, and social structures that is distinct from that of the coastal peoples.

Chinese and other Indonesian peoples
The Chinese account for a small but significant portion of the total population and are regarded as an anchor of the country’s economy. Most of the Chinese have lived in Indonesia for generations. The majority of them are of mixed (peranakan) heritage, do not speak Chinese, have Indonesian surnames, and through intermarrying with Indonesians have developed distinct dialects and customs. A smaller community considered to be of totally (totok) Chinese descent is clearly Chinese-oriented in terms of language, religion, and custom. Of the total Chinese population, most live in the towns and cities of Java and Sumatra, where they engage in trade. The Chinese also form a significant fraction of the population in western Kalimantan, where many are farmers, fishermen, and urban workers. In the Riau archipelago, many continue a tradition of mining that has spanned generations.

Most of the former Dutch and Eurasian (locally known as Indo) residents left Indonesia after independence. Today, Indians and Europeans are relatively unimportant in numbers, although their influence in business and other areas of Indonesian society is apparent in the major cities.

Until the early 21st century the Indonesian population was administratively divided into “indigenous” (pribumi) and “nonindigenous” (non-pribumi) peoples. The concept of such a separation had its origin in the Dutch colonial administration’s categorization of the population on the basis of ancestry. Especially under the Suharto presidency, the term non-pribumi served primarily to mark those Indonesians who were of Chinese (or part Chinese) descent, regardless of the length of time they and their families had resided on Indonesian soil. The “nonindigenous” label ultimately blocked certain Indonesians from the highest government, military, and academic positions; it also posed obstacles to their obtaining passports and identity cards. In July 2006, however, landmark legislation eliminated the pribumi–non-pribumi distinction. Anyone who was born an Indonesian citizen and had never held citizenship in another country was simply—and officially—Indonesian.

Languages
Most of the several hundred languages spoken in Indonesia have an Austronesian base. The major exceptions are found in western New Guinea and some of the Moluccas, where different Papuan languages are used. The Austronesian language family is broken into several major groups within which languages are closely related though distinctly different. On Java there are three major languages—Javanese, Sundanese, and Madurese—while on Sumatra there are dozens, many of which are divided into distinct dialects. Within the Toraja group, a relatively small population in the interior of Celebes, several languages are spoken. In eastern Indonesia each island has its own language, which is often not understood on the neighbouring islands. Similarly, languages often differ from one village to the next in the interior of Kalimantan.

Indonesian (Bahasa Indonesia) is the national language. It evolved from a literary style of Malay language that was used in the royal houses of the Riau-Jambi area of eastern Sumatra, but it also has much in common with other Malay dialects that have long served as regional lingua francas. The differences between standard Malay and standard Indonesian reside largely in their idioms and in certain items of vocabulary. In 1972 Indonesia and Malaysia agreed on a uniform revised spelling of the language so that communications could be improved and literature more freely exchanged between the two countries.

Because it has no distinctive expressions based on social hierarchy and is not associated with one of the dominant ethnic groups, the Indonesian language has been accepted without serious question and has served as a strong force of national unification. Since the early 20th century it has been the main language of print in different parts of the country; it also served as the medium of political communication among members of the nationalist movement leading up to the revolution and declaration of independence in 1945. Writers of ethnic Chinese and Sumatran origins produced novels, plays, and poetry in the language, from which a modern Indonesian literature was born. Today the Indonesian language is the mother tongue for some city dwellers and a second language for most Indonesians. It is the medium of instruction in universities, and it is used in scientific, philosophical, and legal writings and debates. Radio stations, television channels, and films employ it (they rarely use local languages), and most popular songs with a national audience are written in the Indonesian language as well. (There are, however, locally popular groups that write and perform songs in regional languages and dialects.)

Religions
Nearly nine-tenths of the Indonesian population professes Islam. There are, however, pockets of Christians scattered throughout the country, particularly in Flores, Timor, northern Celebes, the interior of Kalimantan, and the Moluccas. Most are Protestant or independent Christian, and the remainder are mainly Roman Catholic. Many Chinese in the cities are also Christian, but some follow Buddhism or Confucianism, sometimes blended with Christianity. Hindus account for less than 2 percent of all Indonesians, although Hinduism is the dominant religion on Bali and has many adherents in Lombok. Local religions are practiced in some remote areas.

The major religions of Indonesia were all introduced on the coast and, except in such open areas as Java and southern Sumatra (which were free of natural impediments), penetrated slowly inland. Regions such as central Kalimantan and western New Guinea, the mountains of northern Sumatra, and the interiors of other mountainous islands long remained virtually untouched by outside religions. However, much 20th-century Christian missionary activity has focused on these inland-dwelling peoples.

The earliest recorded Indonesian history shows extensive religious influences from India; the early Indonesian states that centred on Java or Sumatra evolved through many forms of Hinduism and Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism. During the 9th century CE, both Hinduism and Buddhism were practiced as court religions; Shiva and Buddha were looked upon as manifestations of the same spiritual being. The blending of the two religions continued until the 14th century, when Islam, brought by Muslim traders primarily from South Asia, emerged as the dominant religion along the coasts of Java and Sumatra. By the 15th century, Islam had gained a firm footing in coastal areas of other islands of the archipelago as well.

Throughout all the religious changes on the court level, the common people adopted part of each new religion as an additional layer on top of their traditional local beliefs. Consequently, Islam is expressed differently in Indonesia than it is in the Middle East. The religion is most strictly practiced in Aceh, western Sumatra, western Java, southeastern Kalimantan, and some of the Lesser Sunda Islands. On Java, Muslims who follow orthodox practices are referred to as the santri. By contrast, the abangan adhere to a more syncretic tradition, strongly influenced by ancestral beliefs and practices. With the growth of a more religion-conscious middle class, especially since the late 20th century, the abangan way of believing has been in retreat, while more-orthodox Muslim practices have been on the rise. However, the many local rituals connected with birth, death, and marriage are carefully observed by people at all levels, and ceremonies (selamatan) are held on all special occasions.

The arts

Literature
Indonesia possesses a wealth of verbal art. Much of this material, such as the didong poetry of Aceh or the tekena’ epic tales of the Kenyah of Kalimantan, is transmitted through oral-traditional performance, as opposed to printed text. A largely nonwritten tradition of reciting expressive, often witty quatrains called pantun is common in most Malay areas throughout the archipelago. Some pantun performances are narrative; the kentrung traditions of central and eastern Java, for instance, use pantun structure to recount religious or local historical tales to the accompaniment of a drum. In central Java macapat, a metric and melodic form, is used to present tales from ancient Hindu-Javanese literature as well as stories, images, and ideas from local sources; the songs may be performed solo or with instrumental accompaniment. Indeed, much of Indonesia’s traditional literature forms the foundation of complex mixed-genre performances, such as the randai of the Minangkabau of western Sumatra, which blends instrumental music, dance, drama, and martial arts in ceremonial settings.

Contemporary Indonesian literature was initiated in the early 1930s by a small group of young writers, who created the journal Poedjangga Baroe (“The New Writer”). Published in the Indonesian language, as opposed to Dutch, this literary periodical was devoted to disseminating new ideas and expressions that ran counter to the type of writing sanctioned by the colonial government. Under the intellectual leadership of S. Takdir Alisjahbana, a poet, novelist, and philosopher, the contributors to Poedjangga Baroe were committed to the nationalist cause—to the establishment of a new, modern Indonesia, free from the constraints of local patterns of cultural expression.

The true modernist temper, however, emerged in the works of Indonesian poets of the early 1940s, with Chairil Anwar as the leading figure. Although he died young, Chairil transformed the Indonesian literary scene through the intense imagery of his poetry and through his rebellious stance toward religion and social convention.

The growth of Indonesian literature suffered some setbacks in the second half of the 20th century under the Sukarno and Suharto regimes, both of which imposed restrictions on literary activity. Some writers, such as the internationally recognized novelist and journalist Mochtar Lubis, were jailed for their nonconformity to governmental ideals and policies. A cinematic work based on a novel by Alisjahbana was prohibited; Alisjahbana later left the country to live in Malaysia. Especially during the first half of the Suharto administration, politically liberal writers were imprisoned; the renowned novelist Pramoedya Ananta Toer was detained for more than a decade.

Despite some tumultuous moments in its history, Indonesian literature has remained vibrant. Literary groups in the larger cities often publish local poetic works. Jakarta produces two of the most prestigious journals of letters and ideas: Horison (“Horizon”), published since 1966, and Kalam (“The Word”), published since 1994.

Theatre and dance
Most of Indonesia’s oldest theatre forms are linked directly to local literary traditions (oral and written). The prominent puppet theatres—wayang golek (wooden rod-puppet play) of the Sundanese and wayang kulit (leather shadow-puppet play) of the Javanese and Balinese—draw much of their repertoire from indigenized versions of the Ramayana and Mahabharata. These tales also provide source material for the wayang wong (human theatre) of Java and Bali, which uses actors. Some wayang golek performances, however, also present Muslim stories, called menak.

In puppet performances the narrator (dalang) is also the puppeteer and the principal artist of the show. To animate the characters, the dalang uses an array of vocal qualities and speech styles, from the most refined and lyrical to the most coarse and colloquial. An evening of wayang golek or wayang kulit is inevitably a mixture of poetic elegance and base humour. Javanese and Sundanese performances normally last all night, starting about 8:00 PM and ending near dawn. Balinese performances are usually shorter.

Playwrights trained in the Western tradition have worked to broaden Indonesians’ experience with theatre. In the 1960s the company of Willibrordus Rendra was instrumental in inaugurating a stream of innovative, modernist, and controversial theatre performances that were based to a large extent on Western models. Much of Rendra’s work involved the adaptation for Indonesian audiences of works by Western playwrights such as Sophocles, William Shakespeare, Federico García Lorca, Bertolt Brecht, and Samuel Beckett.

Cultural Life

Cultural milieu
Indonesia exhibits a rich diversity of cultural practices and products. The remote interior regions of Sumatra, Kalimantan, and western New Guinea feature ritualized speech and local epic narrative traditions, while in Java and Bali the visual and performing arts are heavily influenced by the Hindu epics Mahabharata and Ramayana. In the cities, the mellifluous calls to prayer radiating from mosques, many of which display a markedly Muslim architectural style, coexist with the flashing lights and vibrant sounds of urban popular culture. These are just a few examples of Indonesia’s truly complex heritage.

The aura of long-gone Hindu-Buddhist empires lingers in many parts of Indonesia, particularly in Java, Sumatra, and Bali. From the 8th through the 10th century CE, extensive temple complexes (candi) were built in central Java. Most of these were buried or in ruins, but the government has actively engaged in their restoration. The remains of the first of the great central Javanese monuments, the Shaivite temple of the Diyeng (Dieng) Plateau, date to the early 8th century. The Shailendra dynasty, which ruled Java and Sumatra (8th–9th centuries), built the great Mahayana Buddhist monuments, including that of Borobudur. Late in the 9th century the kings of Mataram built the Hindu monuments around Prambanan. Commonly called Prambanan Temple, the complex consists of six main temples; the three large ones along the west, dedicated to Shiva, Vishnu, and Brahma, contain fine statues. Of the three smaller temples along the east, the middle one contains a statue of Nandi, the bull of Shiva. The main temples are heavily ornamented with stone carvings of the gods and other heavenly beings, and there is a series of relief panels depicting the Ramayana.

Borobudur, designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1991, is one of the finest Buddhist monuments in the world. It stands on a hill about 20 miles (32 km) northwest of Yogyakarta and rises to a height of approximately 115 feet (35 metres) from its square base, which measures 403 feet (123 metres) on each side. The monument consists of a lower structure of six square terraces (including its base) and an upper structure of three circular terraces, combining the ancient symbols of the circle for the heavens and the square for the earth. In the centre of each side of the square terraces is a staircase leading to the next level. The inner wall on each level has niches containing statues of Buddha. Bas-reliefs covering the inner walls and the balustrades depict stories from Buddhist teachings; many of the images symbolize phases of human life, moving from the sensual stage at the lower level to the spiritual stage at the top. The circular terraces are not decorated but contain 72 bell-shaped stupas, each housing a statue of Buddha. In the centre of the upper terrace is the main stupa, which stands 23 feet (7 metres) high. It contains no statues, other visual images, or relics of any kind.

Between the 10th and 16th centuries, the centre of power in the archipelago shifted to eastern Java, and Buddhism merged with Hinduism, which later gave way to Islam. Literature in old Javanese (kawi) flourished during this period, and a number of large temple complexes were constructed, none of which, however, approached the grandeur of Borobudur or Prambanan. The most imposing complex is Panataran Temple near Blitar, which was constructed at the peak of the Majapahit empire in the 14th century. With the ascendancy of Islam through the 15th and 16th centuries, the temples fell into ruins, and Hindu culture shifted to Bali, where it remains today.

Myanmar has been a nexus of cultural and material exchange for thousands of years. The country’s coasts and river valleys have been inhabited since prehistoric times, and during most of the 1st millennium CE the overland trade route between China and India passed through Myanmar’s borders. Merchant ships from India, Sri Lanka, and even farther west converged on its ports, some of which also were the termini of the portage routes from the Gulf of Thailand across the narrow Isthmus of Kra on the Malay Peninsula. Thus, Myanmar has long served as the western gateway of mainland Southeast Asia.

The Indian merchants brought with them not only precious cargoes but also their religious, political, and legal ideas; within just a few decades after the first of these merchants arrived, Indian cultural traditions had remolded indigenous society, thought, and arts and crafts. Yet important components of Myanmar’s local ways were retained, in synthesis with Indian culture. Surrounded on three sides by mountains and on the fourth by the sea, Myanmar always has been somewhat isolated; as a consequence, its cultures and peoples have remained distinct in spite of the many Indian influences and in spite of its close affinity with the cultures of the other countries of Southeast Asia.

Myanmar was one of the first areas in Southeast Asia to receive Buddhism, and by the 11th century it had become the centre of the Theravada Buddhist practice. The religion was patronized by the country’s leadership, and it became the ideological foundation of the Myanmar state that blossomed at Pagan on the dry central plains.

The origins of civilization in Myanmar
The first human settlers in Myanmar appeared in the central plain some 11,000 years ago. Little is known of these people except that they were a Paleolithic culture, using stone and fossilized-wood tools that have been labeled Anyathian, from Anyatha (another term for Upper Burma). A discovery in 1969, by workers from the government’s Department of Archaeology, of some cave paintings and stone tools in the eastern part of Shan state shows that that area too had Paleolithic as well as early Neolithic (about 10,000 years ago) settlements, both of which bore similarities to the Hoabinhian culture, which was widespread in the rest of Southeast Asia from about 13,000 to about 4,000 BCE. Crude shards and ring stones found at the site appear to have been attached to stonecutting tools to make them more suitable for digging. The woodcutting tools in the find probably were used to clear patches of forest for cultivation, which would indicate that the shift from gathering to agriculture had already begun.

The Pyu state
Between the 1st century BCE and the 9th century CE, speakers of Tibeto-Burman languages known as the Pyu established city-kingdoms in Myanmar at Binnaka, Mongamo, Shri Kshetra, and Halingyi. At the time, a long-standing trade route between China and India passed through northern Myanmar and then across the Chindwin River valley to the west. In CE 97 and 121, Roman embassies to China chose this overland route through Myanmar for their journey. The Pyu, however, provided an alternative route down the Irrawaddy to their capital city, Shri Kshetra, at the northern edge of the delta. From there, the route extended by sea westward to India and eastward to insular Southeast Asia, where the China trade connected with the portage routes on the peninsula and with maritime routes within the archipelago. Chinese historical records noted that the Pyu claimed sovereignty over 18 kingdoms, many of them in the southern portions of Myanmar.

The same Chinese records emphasized the humane nature of Pyu government and the elegance and grace of Pyu life. Fetters, chains, and prisons were evidently unknown, and punishment for criminals was a few strokes with a whip. The men, dressed in blue, wore gold ornaments on their hats, and the women wore jewels in their hair. The Pyu lived in houses built of timber and roofed with tiles of lead and tin; they used golden knives and utensils and were surrounded by art objects of gold, green glass, jade, and crystal. Parts of the city walls, the palace, and the monasteries were built of glazed brick. The Pyu also appear to have been Buddhists of the Sarvastivada school. Their architects may have developed the vaulted temple, which later found its greatest expression at Pagan during its golden age, from the 11th to the 14th century. Pyu sons and daughters were disciplined and educated in monasteries or convents as novices. In the 7th century the Pyu shifted their capital northward to Halingyi in the dry zone, leaving Shri Kshetra as a secondary centre to oversee trade.

The Mon
To the south of the Pyu lived the Mon, who were speakers of an Austroasiatic language. The Mon were closely related to the Khmer, who lived to the east of the Mon in what is now Cambodia. The capital of the Mon probably was the port of Thaton, which was located northwest of the mouth of the Salween River and not far from the portage routes of the Malay Peninsula; through this window to the sea the Mon saw India, in its full glory, under the Gupta dynasty (early 4th to late 6th century CE). Earlier, in the 3rd century BCE, the great Mauryan emperor Ashoka apparently had sent a mission of Buddhist monks to a place called Suvarnabhumi (the Golden Land), which is now thought to have been in the Mon region of the Isthmus of Kra. The ancient monastic settlement of Kelasa, situated near Thaton in southern Myanmar and claimed by Burmese and Mon chronicles to have been founded by Ashoka’s missionaries, was mentioned in early Sinhalese records as being represented at a great religious ceremony held in Sri Lanka in the 2nd century BCE.

With the expansion of Indian commerce in Southeast Asia between the 1st and 4th centuries CE, Thaton’s prosperity and importance increased. Indian merchants and seamen went to Thaton as traders rather than as conquerors or colonists. The number of Indians was never great, and their settlements were of a commercial, not military, nature. As a result, Indian culture was readily accepted by the Mon.

However, the Mon culture was not displaced by Indian ways; the Mon blended the old with the new. They integrated many of their own beliefs into those of Theravada Buddhism, which arrived in Southeast Asia already replete with local South Asian beliefs. The power and prestige of the Mon kingship were enhanced by the notions of kingship found in India. The Mon developed a new art of sculpture by blending indigenous traditions with Gupta conventions of iconography. They built stupas (Buddhist ceremonial mounds) according to Indian models, which were adapted to Mon aesthetic tastes. The Mon subsequently became one of the most culturally advanced peoples in Southeast Asia. They assumed the role of teachers to their neighbours, spreading Theravada Buddhism and their new culture over the entire region.

The Mon centre eventually shifted to Bago (Pegu), located on the Bago River, about 50 miles (80 km) northeast of present-day Yangon (Rangoon). From there the Mon were able to control the trade of southern Myanmar.

The kingdom of Pagan (849–c. 1300)
The advent of the Burmans at Pagan
Another group of Tibeto-Burman speakers, the Burmans, also had become established in the northern dry zone. They were centred on the small settlement of Pagan on the Irrawaddy River. By the mid-9th century, Pagan had emerged as the capital of a powerful kingdom that would unify Myanmar and inaugurate the Burman domination of the country that has continued to the present day.

During the 8th and 9th centuries the kingdom of Nanzhao became the dominant power in southwestern China; it was populated by speakers of Lolo (or Yi), a Tibeto-Burman language. Nanzhao mounted a series of raids on the cities of mainland Southeast Asia in the early decades of the 9th century and even captured Hanoi in 861. The Mon and Khmer cities held firm, but the Pyu capital of Halingyi fell. The Burmans moved into this political vacuum, establishing Pagan as their capital city in 849.

By that time the Mon apparently had become supreme in southern Myanmar. They may have occupied the whole of the region and controlled the port of Pathein (Bassein) in the west and the city of Bago in the centre. They could have stepped into the void caused by the destruction of the Pyu kingdom, but their power was linked to the trade of southern Myanmar and not with the agrarian-based economy of northern Myanmar.

The unification of Myanmar
Nanzhao acted as a buffer against Chinese power to the north and allowed the infant Burman kingdom to grow. The Burmans learned much from the Pyu, but they were still cut off from the trade revenues of southern Myanmar. Theravada Buddhism had disappeared from India, and in its place were Mahayana Buddhism and a resurgent Hinduism.

Ethnic groups
Myanmar is a country of great ethnic diversity. The Burmans, who form the largest group, account for more than half of the population. They are concentrated in the Irrawaddy River valley and in the coastal strips, with an original homeland in the central dry zone.

The Karen are the only hill people who have settled in significant numbers in the plains. Constituting about one-tenth of the population, they are the second largest ethnic group in Myanmar. They are found in the deltas among the Burmans, in the Bago Mountains, and along both sides of the lower Salween River. The Kayah, who live on the southern edge of the Shan Plateau, were once known as the Red Karen, or Karenni, apparently for their red robes. Although ethnically and linguistically Karen, they tend to maintain their own identity and hereditary leadership.

The Shan of the Shan Plateau have little ethnolinguistic affinity with the Burmans, and, although historically led by hereditary rulers, their society was less elaborately structured than that of the plains peoples. The Shan represent a small but significant portion of the country’s population.

The Irrawaddy and Sittang deltas were once peopled by the Mon, who likely entered the country more than two millennia ago from their kingdoms in the Chao Phraya River valley in Thailand. The Mon were conquered in the 11th century by the Burmans, and by the end of the 18th century they had largely been incorporated into Burman society—by intermarriage as well as by suppression. A sizable number still remain in the Sittang valley and in the Tenasserim region; although they continue to call themselves Mon, most have assimilated virtually imperceptibly into Burman culture and no longer speak their original language.

Numerous small ethnic groups, most of which inhabit the upland regions, together account for roughly one-fifth of Myanmar’s population. In the western hills and the Chindwin River valley are various groups called by the comprehensive name of Chin. The upper Irrawaddy valley and the northern hills are occupied by groups under the comprehensive name of Kachin. These peoples long have had an association with the Burmans.

The ethnographic complexity of the highlands occasionally leads to misgroupings of some of the smaller communities with their more prominent neighbours. For example, the Wa and the Palaung of the Shan Plateau are often grouped with the larger—but ethnically and linguistically distinct—Shan community. Similarly, the Naga on the Myanmar side of the frontier with India sometimes are mistakenly placed with the Chin, and the Muhso (a Lahu people) in northeastern Myanmar are grouped with the Kachin.

During the period of British colonial rule, there were sizable communities of South Asians and Chinese, but many of these people left at the outbreak of World War II. A second, but forced, exodus took place in 1963, when commerce and industry were nationalized. In the early 21st century the Chinese constituted a small but notable portion of Myanmar’s people.

Languages
Many indigenous languages—as distinct from mere dialects—are spoken in Myanmar. The official language is Burmese, spoken by the people of the plains and, as a second language, by most people of the hills. During the colonial period, English became the official language, but Burmese continued as the primary language in all other settings. Both English and Burmese were compulsory subjects in schools and colleges. Burmese, Chinese, and Hindi were the languages of commerce. After independence English ceased to be the official language, and after the military coup of 1962 it lost its importance in schools and colleges; an elementary knowledge of English, however, is still required, and its instruction is again being encouraged.

The local languages of Myanmar belong to three language families. Burmese and most of the other languages belong to the Tibeto-Burman subfamily of Sino-Tibetan languages. The Shan language belongs to the Tai family. Languages spoken by the Mon of southern Myanmar and by the Wa and Palaung of the Shan Plateau are members of the Mon-Khmer subfamily of Austroasiatic languages.

Speakers of Burmese and Mon historically have lived in the plains, while speakers of a unique dialect of Burmese (that perhaps retains some archaic features of pronunciation) have occupied the Rakhine and Tenasserim coastal plains. The hills were inhabited by those speaking Shan, Kachin, Chin, and numerous other languages. In the plains the ancient division between northern and southern Myanmar (Upper Burma and Lower Burma, respectively) was based not only on geographic differences but also on a linguistic one. The Mon (now a small minority) lived in southern Myanmar, while the majority Burman population lived in the northern dry zone.

Until colonial times only Burmese, Mon, Shan, and the languages of the ancient Pyu kingdom of northern Myanmar were written. Writing systems for the languages of the Karen, Kachin, and Chin peoples were developed later.

Religion
Although Myanmar has no official religion, nearly nine-tenths of the population follows Theravada Buddhism. The vast majority of Burmans and Shan are Buddhist. There is, however, a significant Protestant Christian minority, concentrated primarily among the Karen, Kachin, and Chin communities. Many of the other hill peoples practice local religions, and even those who adhere to world religions typically incorporate local elements to some degree. Muslims, mostly Burman, and Hindus are among the smallest religious minorities.

Settlement patterns
Myanmar is a land of villages. Except for a few large cities—notably Yangon, Mandalay, and Mawlamyine (Moulmein)—the towns essentially are large villages. Although the hill peoples generally practice shifting agriculture (called taungya in Burmese), most have settled in upland villages at some distance from the fields. On the Shan Plateau and in the neighbouring river valleys, the fields adjoin the villages. Older villages are circular in shape, but along the banks of the delta streams and along railways the villages are rectangular. Houses are built of timber and bamboo, the roofs being thatched or tiled. In the past, houses typically were built on piles, the original purpose being protection from wild animals or floods. The style persists in many villages, especially those on the hills, and farm animals are kept under the houses at night. In small towns the piles have been replaced by a supporting brick structure with concrete flooring, with the upper story still being made of timber. Houses entirely of brick were few in number before the mid-20th century, but later many sprang up in Yangon, Mandalay, and larger towns on the rubble of buildings destroyed during World War II. Life in villages is in some respects communal because of custom, the influence of Buddhism, and the redistributive and reciprocal nature of agrarian society.

Arts of Myanmar
Art of Myanmar refers to visual art created in Myanmar (Burma). From the 1400s CE, artists have been creating paintings and sculptures that reflect the Burmese culture. Burmese artists have been subjected to government interference and censorship, hindering the development of art in Myanmar. Burmese art reflects the central Buddhist elements including the mudra, Jataka tales, the pagoda, and Bodhisattva.

Art of the Shan Period
Art historians do not have an agreed-upon definition of Shan art. It is believed to have originated between 1550 and 1772 CE, which was around the time that the two kingdoms of Lanna and Lan Xang were both under the support of the Burmese.

Many pieces of Shan artwork depict a Buddha in a seated position, with his right hand pointed towards the Earth; this position is commonly known as the Maravijaya Posture. In Buddhism, the Maravijaya pose represents Buddha calling the Earth Goddess to witness Gautama Shakyamuni’s victory over Mara.

Sculptures made in this art style were usually made of bronze and later would be sculpted with wood or in lacquer. Traditional Shan art typically had a Buddha with the characteristic monk’s robes, or adorned with a crown and decorated with various other mediums like putty and glass.

Shan sculptures are distinctive and easily recognizable when looking through the history of Burmese Buddhist art. Shan sculptures are often identified with oval shaped faces, soft smiles, and closed relaxed eyes.

Cultural Life
Buddhism has been a part of Myanmar’s culture since the 1st century CE and has blended with non-Buddhist beliefs. The most conspicuous manifestation of Buddhist culture is the magnificent architecture and sculpture of Myanmar’s many temples and monasteries, notably those at Yangon, Mandalay, and Pagan (Bagan), the site of the ancient kingdom of west-central Myanmar. Myanmar’s culture also is an amalgam of royal and common traditions. Although the dramatic traditions of the Burman court might have appeared to be dying after the elimination of the monarchy in the late 19th century, the tradition survived in a nonroyal context, among the masses. With the growth of nationalism and the regaining of independence, it gathered new strength. The most popular dramatic form is the pwe, which is performed outdoors. There are a variety of pwe genres, including both human and puppet theatre, and most draw subject matter from the Jataka tales—stories of the former lives of the Buddha.

Music and dance are integral to most dramatic forms of the Burmans. The various pwe are accompanied by music of the hsaing waing, a percussive instrumental ensemble with close relatives in neighbouring countries of mainland Southeast Asia. The leading instruments in the hsaing waing include a circle of 21 tuned drums called pat waing, an oboelike hne, a circle of small, horizontally suspended tuned gongs known as kyi waing, and another set of small gongs called maung hsaing. These instruments are supported melodically by other gongs and drums, while a wooden block and a pair of cymbals set the tempo and reinforce the musical structure. Dance styles that are accompanied by hsaing waing are derived in part—and indirectly—from southern India. Much of the Burman dance tradition was adapted from the styles of Thailand and other “Indianized” (or formerly Indianized) states of Southeast Asia, especially during the 18th century.

Softer instruments commonly heard in nontheatrical indoor settings, such as the saung gauk (harp) and pattala (bamboo xylophone), typically accompany singing from a compendium of Burmese songs called Mahagita (“Great Music”). Since colonial times, musicians of Myanmar also have incorporated various instruments of Western origin into their indigenous musical traditions, reworking the instruments’ sound, repertoire, and playing technique to reflect local aesthetics. For example, a significant repertoire of music has been developed for the piano, locally called sandaya, that is stylistically evocative of the circle of tuned drums, the harp, and the xylophone.

Wood carving, lacquerwork, goldwork, silverwork, and the sculpting of Buddhist images and mythological figures also survived during colonial rule; there has been a revival of these and other indigenous art traditions under government patronage. Both the arts of bronze casting among the Burmans and of making bronze drums among the Karen and Shan, however, disappeared. The cinema and rock-based popular music are two international art forms that have been accepted into the cultural life of Myanmar.

Burmese literature is an intimate blend of religious and secular genres. It remained alive throughout the colonial period and, in both verse and prose, has continued to thrive. A later (though not entirely new) development was biography, which has become more popular than fiction. Government-sponsored awards are given annually for the best translation, the best novel, and the best biography.

Among Myanmar’s most prominent cultural institutions are the state schools of dance, music, drama, and fine arts at Yangon and Mandalay, as well as the National Museum of Art and Archaeology at Yangon. There also is an archaeological museum at Pagan. A number of other museums focus on state and regional history.

Since 1962 the government has strictly controlled and censored all media. The New Light of Myanmar (published in English and Burmese), which is the most prominent of several daily newspapers, is the official voice of the government. Several underground print newspapers circulate irregularly, and the opposition newspaper BurmaNet News is available electronically, although it is difficult to obtain in Myanmar. The government-operated Myanma TV and Radio Department has television programming in Burmese and Arakanese and radio programming in Burmese, English, and a number of local languages. Some foreign radio services—most notably Radio Free Asia, Voice of America, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), and the Democratic Voice of Burma (an opposition station operated out of Norway by Burmese expatriates)—are an important source of international as well as domestic news. Internet use is highly restricted.

Singapore Island originally was inhabited by fishermen and pirates, and it served as an outpost for the Sumatran empire of Srīvijaya. In Javanese inscriptions and Chinese records dating to the end of the 14th century, the more-common name of the island is Tumasik, or Temasek, from the Javanese word tasek (“sea”). Rajendra Chola I, ruler of the southern Indian Chola kingdom, attacked the island in 1025, and there was another Chola raid in 1068. In 1275 the Javanese king Kertanagara probably attacked Temasek when he raided Pahang on the east coast of the peninsula.

According to a Chinese traveler, Wang Dayuan, just before 1349 about 70 Tai (Siamese) war boats besieged Temasek for a month but had to withdraw. The Javanese epic poem Nāgarakṛtāgama (written 1365) includes Temasek among the conquests of the Javanese empire of Majapahit. At the end of the 14th century, Temasek fell into decay and was supplanted by Malacca (now Melaka). Yet in 1552 it was still a port of call from which St. Francis Xavier dispatched letters to Goa, and João de Barros described its busy shipping activity in his history Décadas da Ásia (1552–1615).

Rajendra may have named the city Singapura (“Lion City”), later corrupted to Singapore, or the name may have been bestowed in the 14th century by Buddhist monks, to whom the lion was a symbolic character. According to the Sejarah Melayu, a Malay chronicle, the city was founded by the Srīvijayan prince Sri Tri Buana; he is said to have glimpsed a tiger, mistaken it for a lion, and thus called the settlement Singapura.

Ethnolinguistic composition
The population of Singapore is diverse, the result of considerable past immigration. Chinese predominate, making up some three-fourths of the total. Malays are the next largest ethnic group, and Indians the third. None of those three major communities is homogeneous. Among the Chinese, more than two-fifths originate from Fujian province and speak the Amoy (Xiamen) dialect, about one-fourth are Teochew from the city of Shantou in Guangdong province, and a smaller number are from other parts of Guangdong. The Chinese community as a whole, therefore, speaks mutually incomprehensible dialects. Linguistic differences are less pronounced among the Malays, but the group includes Indonesians speaking Javanese, Boyanese, and other dialects. The Indian group is most diverse, consisting of Tamils (more than half), Malayalis, and Sikhs; it also includes Pakistani and Sinhalese communities.

Because of this ethnic diversity, no fewer than four official languages are recognized—English, Mandarin Chinese, Malay, and Tamil. English remains the main medium for administration, commerce, and industry, and it is the primary language of instruction in schools. Mandarin, the official language of China, transcends dialect barriers, and its use is strongly promoted; one-third of the school population is taught in that language. Malay is designated as the country’s national language, and, like English, it is widely used for communication among ethnic groups and plays a particularly useful role in view of the close ties between Singapore and Malaysia.

Religions
Religious affiliations reflect ethnic patterns. About two-thirds of all Chinese profess some degree of attachment to Confucianism, Buddhism, or Daoism or to some combination thereof. Virtually all Malays, and some Indians, adhere to Islam, which is the formal religion of about one-seventh of the population. The Christian community has grown rapidly to become comparable in size to the Muslim population; nearly all Christians are Chinese. Almost all of the remaining population practicing a religion is Hindu, but there are also many Singaporeans who have no religious affiliation.

Literature
Singapore’s literature embraces a collected literary works by Singaporeans in any of the country’s four main languages – Chinese, English, Malay and Tamil. As an fundamental part of the culture of the country literature potrays a specific aspect of Singaporean society. In every literary work a glimpse of multicultural society is being exposed. Singaporean writers such as Tan Swie Hian and Kup Pao Kun have made a significant contribution in Singapore’s literature. Other known writers of Singapore are Angeline Yap, Arthur Yap, Aaron Lee Soon Yong, Hsu-Ming Teo, Hwee Hwee Tan, Simon Tay, Edwin Thumboo, Toh Hsien Min, and Yong Shu Hoong.

English literature in Singapore dates back to the nineteenth century base on the earliest evidence. Began with the early eighteen thirties, poetry, short stories mainly tackle about the sentiments of the people during the First World War. In 1935, F. M. S.R, a parody of T.S. Eliot was the first Singaporean work of poetry published in London.

The first published Singaporean poetry collection was written by Wang Gungwu in 1950. The Pulse is one of the first efforts to produce a distinctively Malayan voice in English language poetry.

By the year 1965 new breed of Singaporean writers emerged. Edwin Thumboo, Gopal Bharatam and Dr. Goh Poh Seng are a few of the celebrated Singaporean writers recognized around the world. Edwin Thmboo is known for his transience of things, for his awareness of the role and responsibilities of a poet help in developing the identity of Singapore. Some of his famous works are Rib of Earth and God Can Die. In the later part of 1990s English poetry in the country found a new force with its new generation of poets born around or after 1965, some of the prominent names are Alfian bib Sa’at, Alvin Pang, Cyril Wong, Boey Kim Cheng, Felix Cheong and Yong Shu Hoong. The present trend of Singapore’s poetry is more on political awareness and on personal perspective of Singaporean culture and society.

Drama plays a significant contribution to the literary world of Singapore. The English drama in Singapore during the pre 1819-1960 was dominated by numerous colonial and expatriate groups and drama were played by English actors to predominantly English audience. Goh Pong Seng, a known novelist and poet started the English Drama in Singapore. The era of 1960s is considered to be the beginning of local writings; some local writers are taking part, such as The Reward which was published in New Cauldron and The Escape by Soh Eng Lim. The theme usually tackled life of educated Singaporean studying abroad and commenting on the state of affairs at home. Some of the notable works published were Emily of Emerald Hill by Stella Kon, One Year Back Home by Robert Yeo and Fat Virgins, Fast Cars and Asian Values: A Collection of Plays from Theatreworks’ Writer Lab by Kuo Pao Kun.

Visual Arts
Art is one way of representing one’s culture. A visual art is an individualistic practice. Artist creation and execution came from various sources and references yet his work is an individual act. The visual arts scene in Singapore has experienced remarkable growth and advancement since the colonial days, from the 19th century scenario where artists ranging from well-known European painters to anonymous local craftsmen worked their arts in the bustling entrepot of the Singapore to more than 500 visual arts exhibition.

The usual theme of Singaporean visual arts are abstractions, human figure, landscape, portraits, still life, urban scenes, and village scenes. Some of the known artists are Tan Swie Hian, Liu Kang, Georgette Chen, Francis Ng and Heman Chong.

Sculpture can be considered the original art of prehistoric man. Ng Eng Teng is considered to be the Grandfather of Singapore’s Sculpture. Ng Eng Teng was the first local who is best known for his sculpture works, some of his works include Mother and Child bronze sculpture outside toe Far East Shopping Center and The Explorer situated at the entrance of Singapore Art Museum. Another known sculptor of Singapore is Lim Nang Seng, the one who designed the Singapore’s first batch of one-cent coins in 1967.

In 1976 the establishment of Art Gallery in National Museum gave a major boost to the Singaporean visual art. Local artists were given opportunity to hold their exhibits. By the 1995 the Singaporean Art Museum was founded exclusively for visual arts.

Architecture
The architecture of Singapore has been greatly inspired by the socio-historic developments. Being a British colony many of the early civic and government buildings were built by colonial architects adopting classical colonial designs being patterned after the Indian colonial buildings. There are also less imposing Malay structures belonging to Malays and other migrant communities.

Singapore’s architecture exhibits a range of influence and style from different places and periods. The traditional colonial architectural design includes the gothic for churches; Chinese chophouse and bungalow, Palladian and renaissance styles for government buildings. Some of the examples traditional architecture are architecture are the Singapore Art Museum, Raffles Hotel, Old Parliament House, Chinese Protectorate, Churches of St. Peter and Paul, Shophouses with elaborate pilasters and Singapore National Museum.

The exigency of tropical climate considerably determined the structure of the country’s private buildings. A mixture of classical and Malayan styles evolved with the constructions that paid scrupulous attention to flooding, humidity and ventilation. In order to suit Singaporean’s lifestyle and differing individual demands concept of mass-produced buildings keeps on altering.

Singapore’s modern architecture is dominated by completely contemporary style of buildings, mainly the Brutalist style that is evident in many high rise flats of public housing as well as many old commercial and government linked buildings like Temasek Tower, DBS Buildings and Singapore Land Tower.

Culture
A comparatively modern amalgam of semi-indigenous Malay population in which majority are third generation Chinese, Indians and Arab immigrants with intermarriage, with existing Eurasian community and Peranakan (Chinese and Malay descents) is a way to describe Singaporean culture.
With unique combination of ethnic groups Singapore has achieved a considerable degree of cultural diffusion that led to Singapore’s rich mixture of diversity for its young generation. Some good examples of this are – the English language is primarily British English with a little influence of American English; colloquial dialect of English known as Singlish that has many Creole-like characteristics due to the incorporation of various language and grammar from Chinese, Indian and Malay languages; and the Singaporean cuisine, that is highly influenced by Chinese, Indian, Indonesian and Malaysian delicacies.

The number of ethnic neighborhoods in Singapore such as Chinatown and Little Indian that were created under the Raffles Plan to segregate the new immigrants into ethnic ghettoes. Though segregation of ethnicity does no longer exist each culture was able to retain selective elements of their specific culture, thus resulting to diverse patronage to some elements of a particular culture.

Festivals
With Singapore’s multi-cultural nature, every ethnic group in the country celebrates its own festivals. Throughout the year celebration of some form or other brings visual feast of color, spectacle, and ceremony that being acknowledged and enjoyed by the whole community of Singapore. Some of the well celebrated festivals of the country include Festival of Lights (Deepvali), Buddhist celebration of Vesak Day, Chinese New Year celebration and Christmas.

Performing Arts
The local art scene of the country still remains handicapped despite the attempt of the recent government to promote the country as a cultural center for arts and culture; this is due to the strict legislation. All scripts to be performed in Singapore must be evaluated in advance by the Public Entertainment Licensing Unit (PELU). PELU has the sole right to allow or ban any script it views.

By year 2000, the legislation has been loosening some restriction and this led to the emergence of several performing art groups. Some of the prominent local arts groups include TheatreWorks, Singapore Repertory Theater, Singapore Dance Theater, Singapore Chinese Opera, Orkestra Melayu Singapura, Singapore Indian Orchestra and Choir and The Singapore Lyric Opera. Singapore Arts Festival is held annually. The festival serves as a gathering of international and local artist performing in a wide variety of events including music, dance and theater.

Now Singapore as a gateway between East and West, offers unique opportunities to people who wish to enhance their artistic skills in the field of theater and music. Professional and amateur theater companies, dance troupes, musical groups and opera companies offer a wide range of Asian as well as Western performance.

Extending well into the western zone of the Southeast Asian archipelago, the Malay Peninsula has long constituted a critical link between the mainland and the islands of Southeast Asia. Because Malaysia itself is divided between the two regions, the history of the country can be understood only within a broad geographic context. The Strait of Malacca, narrowly separating the peninsula from the archipelago, has been a crossroads for peoples, cultures, and trade passing through or taking root in both areas. Influences from China, India, the Middle East, and, later, Europe followed the maritime trade. Peninsular Malaysia and the two states of East Malaysia, Sarawak and Sabah, have shared many historical patterns, but each region also has developed in unique ways.

Malaysia’s prehistory remains insufficiently studied, but bone and artifact discoveries at the Niah Cave site in northern Sarawak confirm that the area was already inhabited by Homo sapiens about 40,000 years ago. The vast cave complex contains remains that not only indicate a nearly unbroken succession of human visits and occupations but also chronicle the evolution of stone tools until some 1,300 years ago. Peninsular Malaysia has been inhabited for at least 6,000 years, archaeologists having unearthed evidence of Stone Age and early Bronze Age civilizations; Neolithic culture was apparently well established by 2500 to 1500 BCE.

Early historical studies postulated that successive waves of peoples—ancestors of the contemporary Malays—migrated into the region from China and Tibet during the 1st millennium BCE, pushing earlier inhabitants into the western Pacific or remote mountain enclaves. More recently it has been suggested that the southward migration consisted of small groups who imposed their culture and language and created new ethnic fusions.

Small Malay kingdoms appeared in the 2nd or 3rd century CE, a time when Indian traders and priests began traveling the maritime routes, bringing with them Indian concepts of religion, government, and the arts. Over many centuries the peoples of the region, especially those within the royal courts, synthesized Indian and indigenous ideas, making selective use of Indian models—including Hinduism and Mahayana Buddhism—in shaping their political and cultural patterns. The most significant complex of Indianized temple ruins has been found around Kedah Peak in northwestern Peninsular Malaysia.

Because the peninsula and northern Borneo both lacked broad, fertile plains, they were unable to support the high population densities that were the foundation of other, more powerful Southeast Asian civilizations, such as those that flourished on the island of Java and on the mainland in what is now Cambodia. However, scant documentation, chiefly from Chinese written sources, suggests that perhaps 30 small Indianized states rose and fell in Malaya—the Malay region of the peninsula—during the 1st millennium CE. The most important of these states, Langkasuka, controlled much of the northern part of the region.

Malaya developed an international reputation, both as a source of gold and tin and as the home of renowned seafarers; as its reputation grew, however, Malaya increasingly was exposed (or subjected) to cultural influences from surrounding powers. Between the 7th and 13th centuries many of the region’s small, often prosperous maritime trading states likely came under the loose control of Srivijaya, the great Indianized empire based in Sumatra. At various times, other Indianized powers of Southeast Asia—including the Khmer (Cambodian) empire based at Angkor, the Tai kingdom of Ayutthaya, and the Majapahit empire centred in eastern Java—also claimed suzerainty in the region. These early cultural forces in Malaya left a living legacy, traces of which are still evident in the political ideas, social structures, rituals, language, arts, and other traditions of Malay Muslims.

Although development was slower in more remote, less fertile northern Borneo, the area that is now Sarawak had entered the Iron Age by CE 600. Archaeological excavations in the Sarawak River delta have revealed much evidence not only of early ironworking but also of extensive trade with China and the Southeast Asian mainland. The local peoples offered edible bird’s nests, rhinoceros horns, hornbill “ivory” (from the casque atop the bird’s beak), camphor, spices, wood, and other goods in exchange for Chinese ceramics, metal, and probably clothing. Meanwhile, Neolithic boatbuilders along the east coast of present-day Sabah were involved in extensive interregional trade; the maritime peoples of the area called the territory the “land below the wind” because it lay south of the tropical cyclone (typhoon) belt.

The advent of Islam
From the 13th through the 17th century, Sunni Islam, carried chiefly by Arab and Indian merchants, spread widely through peninsular and insular Southeast Asia. The new religion offered equal-opportunity social advancement through spiritual devotion, which ultimately challenged (but did not entirely eliminate) the power of the traditional elites; Islam also embodied a complex theology that held much appeal for farmers and merchants in the coastal regions. The dissemination of Islam was intimately linked to the florescence of the great Indian Ocean trading routes that connected China through the Strait of Malacca to India, the Middle East, and eastern Africa.

The arrival of Islam coincided with the rise of the great port of Malacca (now Melaka), established along the strait on Malaya’s southwest coast by Sumatran exiles about 1400. The Indianized king—who successfully sought a tributary relationship with powerful China—converted to Islam, becoming a sultan and hence attracting Muslim merchants. Soon Malacca became Southeast Asia’s principal trading entrepôt, while at the same time it gained suzerainty over much of coastal Malaya and eastern Sumatra. Malacca also served as the regional centre for the propagation of Islam and as the eastern terminus of the Indian Ocean trading network. Indonesian spices, Malayan gold, and Chinese silks and tea all passed through Malacca on their way to South Asia, the Middle East, and, ultimately, Europe.

At its height in the late 15th century, Malacca hosted some 15,000 merchants of many nationalities, including Chinese, Arabs, Persians, and Indians; attracted by a stable government and a policy of free trade, the ships in the harbour purportedly outnumbered those in any other port in the known world. The Chinese admiral Zheng He called at the port several times in the first decades of the 15th century as part of the great naval expeditions of the Ming dynasty to the western Indian Ocean. Malacca’s political and religious influence reached its height under Tun Perak, who served as chief minister (1456–98) after defeating the expanding Siamese (Thai) in a fierce naval battle; during his tenure Islam became well entrenched in such districts (and subsidiary sultanates) as Johor (Johore), Kedah, Perak, Pahang, and Terengganu.

The mostly Islamicized people of 15th-century Malacca began calling themselves “Malays” (“Melayu”), likely a reference to their Sumatran origins. Thereafter the term Malay was applied to those who practiced Islam and spoke a version of the Malay language. Religious and linguistic behaviour, rather than descent, then, became the criteria for being Malay; this enabled previously Hindu-Buddhist peoples and former adherents of local religions to identify themselves (and even merge) with the Malays—regardless of their ancestry. Over time this loose cultural designation became a coherent ethnic group populating what is commonly called the “Malay world,” a region encompassing Malaya, northern and western Borneo, eastern Sumatra, and the smaller islands in between. Islam, however, came to overlay the earlier beliefs so that, before the rise of religious reform movements in the 19th century, few Malays were orthodox Muslims. Hindu-influenced ritual remained important for those of noble heritage, and local spirits were richly incorporated into Islamic practices.

The people of Malaysia are unevenly distributed between Peninsular and East Malaysia, with the vast majority living in Peninsular Malaysia. The population shows great ethnic, linguistic, cultural, and religious diversity. Within this diversity, a significant distinction is made for administrative purposes between indigenous peoples (including Malays), collectively called bumiputra, and immigrant populations (primarily Chinese and South Asians), called non-bumiputra.

Ethnic groups and languages
The Malay Peninsula and the northern coast of Borneo, both situated at the nexus of one of the major maritime trade routes of the world, have long been the meeting place of peoples from other parts of Asia. As a result, the population of Malaysia, like that of Southeast Asia as a whole, shows great ethnographic complexity. Helping to unite this diversity of peoples is the national language, a standardized form of Malay, officially called Bahasa Malaysia (formerly Bahasa Melayu). It is spoken to some degree by most communities, and it is the main medium of instruction in public primary and secondary schools.

Peninsular Malaysia
In general, peninsular Malaysians can be divided into four groups. In the order of their appearance in the region, these include the various Orang Asli (“Original People”) aboriginal peoples, the Malays, the Chinese, and the South Asians. In addition, there are small numbers of Europeans, Americans, Eurasians, Arabs, and Thai. The Orang Asli constitute the smallest group and can be classified ethnically into the Jakun, who speak a dialect of Malay, and the Semang and Senoi, who speak languages of the Mon-Khmer language family.

The Malays originated in different parts of the peninsula and archipelagic Southeast Asia. They constitute about half of the country’s total population, they are politically the most powerful group, and, on the peninsula, they are numerically dominant. They generally share with each other a common culture, but with some regional variation, and they speak dialects of a common Austronesian language—Malay. The most obvious cultural differences occur between the Malays living near the southern tip of the peninsula and those inhabiting the eastern and western coastal areas. Unlike the other ethnic groups of Malaysia, Malays are officially defined in part by their adherence to a specific religion, Islam.

The Chinese, who make up about one-fourth of Malaysia’s population, originally migrated from southeastern China. They are linguistically more diverse than the Malays, speaking several different Chinese languages; in Peninsular Malaysia, Hokkien and Hainanese (Southern Min languages), Cantonese, and Hakka are the most prominent. Because these languages are not mutually intelligible, it is not uncommon for two Chinese to converse in a lingua franca such as Mandarin Chinese, English, or Malay. The community that is colloquially called Baba Chinese includes those Malaysians of mixed Chinese and Malay ancestry who speak a Malay patois but otherwise remain Chinese in customs, manners, and habit.

The peoples from South Asia—Indians, Pakistanis, and Sri Lankans—constitute a small but significant portion of the Malaysian population. Linguistically, they can be subdivided into speakers of Dravidian languages (Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and others) and speakers of Indo-European languages (Punjabi, Bengali, Pashto, and Sinhalese). The Tamil speakers are the largest group.

Sarawak
The population of East Malaysia is ethnographically even more complex than that of Peninsular Malaysia. The government, tending to oversimplify the situation in Sarawak and Sabah, officially recognizes only some of the dozens of ethnolinguistic groups in those two states.

The main ethnic groups in Sarawak are the Iban (Sea Dayak), an indigenous group accounting for more than one-fourth of the state’s population, followed by the Chinese, Malays, Bidayuh (Land Dayak), and Melanau. An array of other peoples, many of whom are designated collectively as Orang Ulu (“Upriver People”), constitute an important minority. The various indigenous peoples of Sarawak speak distinct Austronesian languages.

The Iban, formidable warriors of the 19th and early 20th centuries, trace their origins to the Kapuas River region in what is now northern West Kalimantan, Indonesia. The traditional Iban territory in Sarawak spans the hilly southwestern interior of the state. Iban who still live in rural regions usually cultivate rice through shifting agriculture, whereby fields are cleared, planted for a short period, and then abandoned for several years to allow the soil to regenerate. The Iban language is related to, but distinct from, Malay.

The Chinese of Sarawak generally live in the region between the coast and the uplands. In the rural areas, they usually grow cash crops in smallholdings. They speak mostly Hakka and Fuzhou (a Northern Min language) rather than Cantonese, Hokkien, and Hainanese, which are predominant among peninsular Chinese.

Few Malays of Sarawak are of peninsular origin; rather, most are the descendants of various indigenous peoples who since the mid-15th century have converted to Islam. Despite their diverse ancestries, the Malays of Sarawak and those of Peninsular Malaysia share many cultural characteristics, cultivated largely through the practice of a common religion. Sarawak Malays, however, speak dialects of the Malay language that are distinct from those spoken by their peninsular counterparts.

Like the Iban, the Bidayuh originally came from regions that now lie in northwestern Indonesian Borneo; in Sarawak the Bidayuh homeland is in the far western portion of the state. Most rural Bidayuh practice shifting rice cultivation. Although they have for centuries lived in close proximity to the Iban, the Bidayuh speak a separate language, with a number of different but related dialects that to some extent are mutually intelligible.

Sarawak’s south-central coastal wetlands between the city of Bintulu and the Rajang River are the traditional territory of the Melanau. The Melanau are especially known for their production of starch from the sago palms that surround their villages. Culturally and linguistically linked to certain inland peoples to the southeast, the Melanau purportedly moved to the coast from the interior centuries ago. The dialects of the northeastern portion of the Melanau region differ so starkly from those of the southwest that some local Melanau speakers hear the dialects as separate languages.

Smaller indigenous groups, such as the Orang Ulu—an ethnic category embracing the Kenyah, Kayan, Kelabit, Bisaya (Bisayah), Penan, and others—also contribute much to Sarawak’s ethnic and cultural character. The Kenyah, Kayan, and Kelabit generally trace their origins to the southern mountains on the border with North Kalimantan, Indonesia. Other Orang Ulu groups stem from lower-lying inland areas, primarily in Sarawak’s northeastern region. Many distinct languages, some with multiple dialects, are spoken by Sarawak’s indigenous peoples, often within just a few miles of each other.

Sabah
Sabah also has a kaleidoscopic mixture of peoples. The largest groups, who in roughly equal numbers account for about half of the population, are the Kadazan (also called Dusun or Kadazan Dusun), the Bajau, and the Malays. Indigenous peoples, such as the Murut, Kedayan, Orang Sungei, and Bisaya, together constitute a significant portion of the state’s inhabitants as well. Chinese, Europeans, Eurasians, Indonesians, Filipinos, and South Asians make up the remainder.

Until the late 20th century, the Kadazan were generally called Dusun, an ethnic term that, like the term Orang Ulu in Sarawak, applied to a number of related peoples. Since that time, however, Kadazan has become the more common term in colloquial usage. For administrative purposes, the government has used both names together, sometimes merging them into the term Kadazandusun (especially when referring to language). The various Kadazan peoples speak related dialects that most other Kadazan can understand.

Sabah’s Chinese population is predominantly Hakka-speaking, but there are also many speakers of Cantonese, Hokkien, Chaozhou (Chaoshan), and Hainanese. The Bajau are a diverse community split into two main groups: sedentary agriculturists of the north coast and seafaring people of the east coast. Their languages, which are related to those of the southern Philippines, are not all mutually intelligible. The Murut of Sabah inhabit an area from the western lowland south through the hills into North Kalimantan, Indonesia. The lowland-dwelling Murut generally call themselves Timugon, while their upland counterparts are known as Tagal. Both communities engage in shifting agriculture. Murut languages are, for the most part, mutually intelligible.

Religion
Islam, Malaysia’s official religion, is followed by about three-fifths of the population. Islam is one of the most important factors distinguishing a Malay from a non-Malay, and, by law, all Malays are Muslim. The Chinese do not have a dominant religion; many, while subscribing to the moral precepts of Confucianism, follow Buddhism or Daoism; a small minority adheres to various denominations of Christianity. Most of the Indians and Sri Lankans practice Hinduism, while the Pakistanis are predominantly Muslim. Some Indians are Christian. The Sikhs, originally from the Indian state of Punjab, largely adhere to their own religion, Sikhism.

Cultural milieu
Malaysia is a point of convergence of several major cultural traditions that stem from archipelagic Southeast Asia as well as from China, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West. Malay culture, the Orang Asli cultures of Peninsular Malaysia, and many of the cultures of East Malaysia are indigenous to the area. In the first one and a half millennia CE, indigenous Malay culture in the Malay Peninsula and in other parts of Southeast Asia was strongly marked by pre-Islamic Indian and early Islamic influences. Indian contact with the Malay Peninsula, which extended from about the 2nd or 3rd century to the late 14th century, exerted a profound influence on religion (through Hinduism and Buddhism), art, and literature. Islam, introduced to Malacca (now Melaka) in the 15th century, soon became the dominant religion of the Malays. Western cultural influences, especially since the 19th century, also have affected many aspects of Malay life, particularly in the realms of technology, law, social organization, and economics. Contemporary Malay culture is thus multifaceted, consisting of many strands—indigenous, early Hindu, early and modern Islamic, and, especially in the cities, Western—interwoven to yield a pattern that is distinct from other cultures yet recognizably Malay.

The early Chinese traders who settled in Malacca and on the island of Penang were partially assimilated (at least to the extent of adopting the Malay language). By contrast, the Chinese who emigrated in large numbers to the Malay Peninsula in the late 19th and early 20th centuries were both a more heterogeneous group and a largely transient population that tended to establish self-contained communities. Chinese cultural influence in this region, then, has been less pronounced.

Most of the Indians and Pakistanis originally came as labourers to work in the coffee and rubber plantations from the mid-19th to the early 20th centuries. Like the Chinese, they also were mainly transients (until World War II), living in closed communities and remaining relatively unassimilated.

The communities of Malaysia have been affected profoundly by British colonial rule and Western cultural influences, especially in education and institutional forms. The rural areas—particularly in eastern Peninsular Malaysia and in the interior of East Malaysia—have been least affected, while the cities have been the focus of the most-rapid cultural changes. However, extraordinary economic growth and development since the mid-20th century increasingly has allowed a cosmopolitan outlook, carried largely from the urban centres by an expanding middle class, to penetrate smaller towns and even newer rural settlements.

Daily life and social customs
Malaysia has a rich cultural life, much of which revolves around the traditional festivities of its diverse population. The major Muslim holidays are Hari Raya Puasa (“Holiday of Fasting”), or Aidilfitri (ʿĪd al-Fiṭr), to celebrate the end of the fasting month of Ramadan, and Hari Raya Haji (“Holiday of the Pilgrimage”), or Aidiladha (ʿĪd al-Aḍḥā), to celebrate the culmination of the season of pilgrimage to Mecca. Buddhists honour the life of the Buddha on Hari Wesak (“Wesak Day”), and Chinese Malaysians celebrate Chinese New Year. Deepavali (Diwali), a Hindu festival of lights spanning several days, is observed by many Indian Malaysians, while Christmas is the principal holiday of the Christian community. On most of these holidays, it is customary to host an “open house,” where guests are treated to Malaysian delicacies and hospitality. A holiday that spans all ethnic groups and religions is Hari Kebangsaan (National Day), a celebration of Malaysia’s independence on August 31.

The states have their own holidays. Sarawak, for instance, celebrates Gawai Dayak (“Dayak Festival”). Rooted in the harvest rituals and festivities (gawai) of the Iban and Bidayuh peoples, this holiday broadly honours the state’s non-Malay indigenous heritage.

Beyond the official holidays and other religious festivities, important life events such as birth, circumcision (for young Muslim men), and marriage are usually celebrated by a feast, known in Malay as kenduri. The wedding ceremony is generally the most important and elaborate of such events among both Malay and non-Malay peoples. In rural areas the kenduri is normally held at the house of the host family, while in urban areas the feast often takes place in a large hall or hotel.

Malaysian cuisines reflect the mixture of ethnic groups in the country’s population. The three most prominent cuisines are Chinese, Indian, and Malay. Popular Chinese foods include sweet-and-sour Cantonese dishes and a milder favourite, Hainanese chicken rice. Indian cuisine ranges from the hot vegetarian dishes of southern Indian cooking to the more subtly spiced Muslim Indian food to the yogurt-marinated meats of tandoori cookery from northern India. All these foods, while recognizably Chinese or Indian, have developed a distinctly Malaysian character.

Traditional Malay cuisine consists of white rice served with various curries and fried dishes. Sate, small skewers of chicken or beef dipped in a spicy peanut sauce, nasi goreng (“fried rice”), and nasi lemak (“fatty rice”), which is coconut rice served with fried anchovies, peanuts, and a curry dish, are among the most common Malay foods. Noodles, cooked and served in various styles, are also local favourites.

Non-Muslim indigenous peoples of Peninsular and East Malaysia typically eat a staple food such as rice, tapioca, or sago served with locally grown or gathered vegetables (e.g., ferns and tapioca leaves) and fish, wild boar, venison, or other game. The food is generally not spicy or only mildly so.

Cultural institutions
The history and cultural life of Malaysia are exhibited primarily in various museums in Kuala Lumpur and several state capitals throughout the country. Built in a Malay architectural style in 1963, the National Museum in Kuala Lumpur houses a diverse archaeological and ethnographic collection that documents Malaysia’s social, cultural, artistic, and economic history. The Perak Museum in Taiping is the oldest museum in Peninsular Malaysia and contains collections of the natural history and material culture of the region. The Penang Museum and Art Gallery highlights Penang Island’s immigrant and colonial history. In East Malaysia, the Sabah Museum in Kota Kinabalu and the Sarawak Museum in Kuching, both established in the late 19th century, chronicle the unique prehistory and history of these states and their peoples.

In addition to the broadly ethnographic or historical museums, there also are numerous institutions dedicated to the documentation of particular Malaysian phenomena. The Islamic Arts Museum in Kuala Lumpur, for instance, traces the advent and growth of the art and culture of Islam in Malaysia from the 7th century to contemporary times. Other such topical museums include a numismatic museum, a museum of telecommunications, and an armed forces museum, all located in the capital city.

Malaysia is home to many art galleries and theatres for the performing arts as well. The National Art Gallery has permanent exhibitions of modern paintings by Malaysian artists and rotating exhibitions of art from around the world. Plays, dances, and musical productions by Malaysian and international performers are staged regularly at the grand national theatre, called the Istana Budaya (“Palace of Cultures and Arts”), in Kuala Lumpur.

Sports and recreation
Sports in Malaysia are a mixture of traditional and Western games. From the mid-19th century, British expatriates introduced football (soccer), cricket, track and field events, and rugby to the peninsula; they formed a number of clubs and organized competitions. The Malaysia Cup (formerly the H.M.S. Malaya Cup), first contested in 1921, is the country’s premier football competition.

Traditional sports also enjoy local popularity. Top-spinning (main gasing) competitions are seriously contested, with winning tops often spinning for well over an hour. In some areas, top spinning is not merely a random pastime but is associated with the agricultural cycle. Kite flying also is a favourite activity, as are bird-singing contests, which may feature hundreds of birds, all with unique songs. Sepak takraw (“kick ball”) is a uniquely Southeast Asian game (now played in other regions) that is similar to volleyball but is played with a woven rattan ball and without using the hands. The sport is internationally competitive, and Malaysia has fronted winning teams.

Malaysia made its debut at the Summer Olympic Games in Melbourne in 1956. At the 1992 and 1996 Summer Games the country took medals in men’s badminton. Malaysia was one of the founders of the biennial Southeast Asian Games and has hosted the event several times since its inception in 1957.

EARLIEST History
Fossilized remains of plants and animals have been discovered in many areas of Thailand, particularly in the Korat Plateau in northeastern Thailand. Most of the animal fossils found are of dinosaurs, which date primarily to the Jurassic era though some are from the late-Triassic, the oldest such evidence of dinosaurs in Southeast Asia.

The dinosaur bones encased in sandstone in the Phu Wiang hills of Khon Kaen province included Phuwiangosaurus sirindhornae, a gigantic plant-eating dinosaur that had a long neck and tail and a small head.

Four other species of dinosaur unearthed in Phu Wiang include Siamotyrannus isanensis, a smaller version of Tyrannosaurus rex, Siamosauraus suteethorni, a crocodile-like creature, Compsognathus, the world’s smallest dinosaur, and Ornithomimosaur, an ostrich-like dinosaur.

In nearby Chaiyaphum province two other new dinosaur species were discovered: Psittacosaurus sattayaraki, a parrot-billed dinosaur, and Isanosaurus attavipachi, which is similar to Phuwiangosaurus.

Homo erectus fossils have also been discovered in Thailand. Known as the Lampang man for its discovery in Lampang province, the remains have been dated to roughly 1,000,000 – 500,000 years ago in the Pleistocene Era.The first evidence of humans living in modern-day Thailand was discovered at Ban Chiang, near Udon Thani in northeastern Thailand; grave sites and artifacts including bronze tools and pottery provide evidence of a society that is thought to have had knowledge of rice cultivation and occupied the area continuously from 2100 to 200 BCE, spanning the Neolithic to the Iron Age.

PRE-THAI KINGDOMS
Over the centuries leading up to the era of recorded history, Thailand was first peopled by Mon and Khmer groups and later by the Tai, an ethnic group that migrated from southern China to Vietnam and gradually into Laos and northern Thailand.

In the first millennium of the Common Era, Tai people had dispersed across YuSearch-result/tagword/Nan”>Nan, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, and Myanmar fragmenting into various linguistic sub-sects. Relatively minor players in the region throughout this period, the Tai inhabited the northernmost reaches of Southeast Asia, sandwiched between the kingdoms of Nan Zhao, Pyu, and Angkor.

Beginning in around the 2nd century CE, the Srivijaya Empire of Sumatra expanded its reach up the Malaysian Peninsula into southern Thailand. Nakhon Si Thammarat and Chiaya, Surat Thani were founded during this period to facilitate trade across the Isthmus of Kra.

Around the 6th to the 9th centuries, the fertile central plains were inhabited by a Mon civilization known as Dvaravati. Distinct from its neighboring kingdoms of Chenla and Angkor, Dvaravati remains a mysterious civilization that established cities surrounded by moats and earthen walls, with Lopburi serving as an important religious center and Nakhon Pathom near Bangkok possibly its ‘capital’. While much is unknown about this realm, the Dvaravati had well established internal and external trading routes that were important to the development of Thailand and left a wealth of Buddhist artwork that testifies to the great influence Indian Culture and religion had on the region.

From the 9th to the 11th centuries the Khmers of Angkor expanded their kingdom to include most of modern-day Thailand, with important provincial cities established at Phimai, Lopburi and even Nakhon Si Thammarat. Over several centuries many facets of the Khmer culture were imposed on/absorbed by the native population, which was becoming increasingly Tai as those populations migrated south. The temples at Phanom Rung, Phimai, and Lopburi are enduring testaments to this period of Thai history.

Throughout the reign of Angkor, Lopburi often asserted its independence and was clearly an important center for burgeoning Syam culture. The Chinese, who referred to emissaries from the region as representing “Hsien” or Siam (as it was apparently pronounced) documented a request from Lopburi requesting independence from Angkor as early as 1001.

In northern Thailand, Buddhist scholars from Lopburi founded a city-state known as Haripunjaya in Lamphun, northern Thailand around the 9th century (a Mon enclave that remained independent until the 13th century). Elsewhere in the north, the Tai people were fanning out and establishing their own city states, notably at Chiang Saen, where one of the first powerful Thai kingdoms, Lan Na, was originally established in the 12th century. The establishment of Lan Na, Sukhothai, and Phayao, three allied kingdoms founded by contemporary leaders, represents the beginning of the Thai history as we know it.

SUKHOTHAI
Thais began to emerge as a dominant force in the region in the 13th century, gradually asserting independence from existing Khmer and Mon kingdoms. Founded by Khun Pha Muang and Khun Bang Klang Thao in 1238, the Kingdom was named by its rulers “the dawn of happiness”. The Sukhothai Period is often considered the golden era of Thai history, an ideal Thai state in a land of plenty governed by paternal and benevolent kings, the most famous of whom was King Ramkamhaeng the Great (c.1279-98), who greatly expanded the Kingdom’s borders.

In addition to developing some of the most beautiful Thai art, the Sukhothai Kingdom is credited with developing the modern Thai alphabet. However, following the death of King Ramkamhaeng, the mightier state of Ayutthaya gradually exerted its influence over Sukhothai.

Following the death of King Ramkhamhaeng, the kingdom of Sukhothai rapidly declined and Lan Na expanded its influence over its neighboring kingdoms, many of which were former suzerains of Sukhothai. In the middle of the 15th Century Lan Na arts and literature reached a pinnacle during the King Tilokoraj period. However, after the king’s death, Lan Na weakened due to internal conflicts and Chiang Mai fell under Burmese control around 1564; while the Burmese occupied the northern region for a few centuries, they did little development, using Chiang Mai as a military base from which to battle the Kingdom of Ayutthaya, a mighty kingdom in the central plains that was gradually exerting its influence from the mid 14 th century onwards.

AYUTTHAYA
The Ayutthaya kings adopted Khmer cultural influences from the very beginning. No longer the paternal and accessible rulers that the kings of Sukhothai had been, Ayutthaya’s sovereigns were absolute monarchs and assumed the title devaraja (god-king). The early part of this period saw Ayutthaya extend its sovereignty over neighboring Thai principalities and come into conflict with its neighbors. During the 17th century, Siam started diplomatic and commercial relations with western countries. In 1767, after repeated attempts, the Burmese invaded and successfully captured Ayutthaya.

Despite their overwhelming victory, the Burmese did not retain control of Siam for long. A young general named Phya Taksin and his followers broke through the Burmese lines and escaped to Chantaburi. Seven months after the fall of Ayutthaya, he and his forces sailed back up the Chao Phraya River to Ayutthaya and expelled the Burmese occupation garrison, though tragically the capital had been looted and nearly razed.

Thonburi
General Taksin, as he is popularly known, decided to transfer the capital from Ayutthaya to a site nearer to the sea, a move that would facilitate foreign trade, ensure the procurement of arms, and make defense and withdrawal easier in case of a renewed Burmese attack. He established his new capital at Thon Buri, on the west bank of the Chao Phraya River, opposite modern-day Bangkok. The rule of Taksin was not an easy one. The lack of central authority since the fall of Ayutthaya led to the rapid disintegration of the kingdom, and Taksin’s reign was spent reuniting the provinces.

RATTANAKOSIN
After Taksin’s death, General Chakri (Rama I) became the first king of the Chakri Dynasty, ruling from 1782 to 1809. His first action as king was to transfer the royal capital across the river from Thon Buri to Bangkok and build the Grand Palace. Rama II (1809-1824) continued the restoration begun by his predecessor. King Nang Klao, Rama III (1824-1851) reopened relations with Western nations and established trade with China.

King Mongkut, Rama IV, (1851-1868) may have achieved western fame through the story “The King and I”, but won the hearts of Thais for his accomplishments including the establishment of treaties with European countries, thus avoiding colonialization, and modernizing Thailand through many social and economic reforms. King Chulalongkorn, Rama V (1869-1910) continued his father’s tradition of reform, abolishing slavery and improving the public welfare and administrative systems.

Educational reforms, including compulsory education, were introduced by King Vajiravudh, Rama VI (1910-1925). During the reign of King Prajadhipok, Rama VII (1925-1935), Thailand changed from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy. The king abdicated in 1933 and was succeeded by his nephew, King Ananda Mahidol Rama VIII (1935-1946). The country’s name was changed from Siam to Thailand with the advent of a democratic government in 1939. Our current monarch, King Bhumibol Adulyadej (R. Jun. 9, 1946 – present), is King Rama IX of the Chakri Dynasty.

When the modern political boundaries of Thailand were fixed at the end of the 19th century and in the first part of the 20th, the country included peoples of diverse cultural, linguistic, and religious backgrounds. This diversity is characteristic of most Southeast Asian countries, where shifting political boundaries have done little to impede the centuries-long migrations of people. Thailand’s central position on the mainland has made it a crossroads for these population movements.

Although the vast majority of the inhabitants of Thailand are descendants of speakers of Tai languages who have been dominant in the area since the late 13th century, the population also includes numerous non-Tai peoples. Members of the largest indigenous minority speak a dialect of Malay. Other significant indigenous minorities include speakers of Mon, Khmer, and other Mon-Khmer languages of the Austroasiatic family. In the uplands of western and northern Thailand are found peoples who speak languages belonging to several other language families. Thailand is also home to large numbers of immigrants and their descendants, most from China but some from South Asia. Most members of indigenous and immigrant communities in Thailand identify strongly with Thai national culture and are speakers of Thai.

The ancestors of the Thai first entered the central part of the Southeast Asian mainland about 1000 CE and began establishing independent principalities in the 13th century. It was once thought that the ancestors of the Thai came from southwestern China, but strong linguistic evidence has emerged that places the original home of Tai-speaking peoples in what is today northwestern Vietnam. The Tai who settled in the area now belonging to Thailand brought with them cultural characteristics shaped by contact with the Chinese.

In their new home, they were influenced by Khmer and Mon peoples, whose traditions largely originated in India. The Tai who became dominant in the 13th century ultimately combined the linguistic, cultural, and sociopolitical heritage of their Tai ancestors with the Buddhism of the Mon and the statecraft of the Indianized Khmer to form what would become a distinctive Thai culture.

In contemporary Thailand, those who accept a national identity as Thai include not only the Tai-speaking people of central Thailand but also several other Tai-speaking groups, the largest of which are the Lao-speaking peoples of northeastern Thailand and the Kammüang-speaking peoples of the northern part of the country.

The arts
Literature
Traditional Thai literature was deeply connected to the literature of both Buddhist and Hindu India. The best-known story of the premodern period—as recounted in sermons by monks and depicted in temple paintings—was that of Prince Wetsandorn (Vessantara). This story is the last and most important of the Jataka tales (i.e., stories about people or animals who were the Buddha in a previous life). Wetsandorn was a prince who was compelled to give away his wife and children to realize the last qualification necessary to be reborn as the Buddha.

The gods restored his family to him when he succeeded in proving he had no attachments. Almost as important as this story was that of the Hindu deity Rama as told in the Ramakian, a Thai adaptation of the Hindu epic Ramayana. Rulers since the 15th century have identified themselves with Rama, and the Grand Palace in Bangkok contains extraordinary murals that depict his story.

Alongside the literature derived from Buddhism and India, indigenous literary traditions have always existed in Thailand. Kings were patrons of royal poets, and villages had rich traditions of folklore and legends recited by troubadour-like performers or enacted by local opera troupes. One story with both royal and popular versions is that of Khun Chang and Khun Phaen, two men in competition for the affections of the same woman.

Following the large-scale migration of Chinese to Thailand beginning in the mid-19th century, numerous Chinese assimilated to Thai culture, and a number of well-known works of Chinese traditional literature were translated into Thai. One of the first of these was the Chinese literary work Sanguozhi yanyi (“Romance of the Three Kingdoms”). The story has since been adapted in Thai plays, poems, and stories.

Modern Thai poetry has its origins in the work of Sunthon Phu (1787–1855), whose 30,000-line epic, Phra Aphaimani, named for the central figure, is the country’s best-known work of literature. Echoes of that epic can be found in the writings of contemporary poets such as Naowarat Phongphaiboon, Angkarn Kalayanapong, and Chiranan Pitpreecha, who merge traditional verse forms with Western-influenced styles and themes.

The novel, based on Western models, began to develop in Thailand in the 20th century. The first novels were written in the 1930s by such authors as Dokmai Sot (pen name of Buppha Kunchon) and Siburapha (Kulap Saipradit), both of whom have remained popular in the 21st century. The early audience for fiction was drawn from what was then a tiny middle class. As the economy expanded after World War II, so too did the reading public. The novel Si phaen din (Four Reigns), first published in serial form in the newspaper Siam Rath in 1953, is probably the best-selling Thai novel of all time.

The author, Kukrit Pramoj (1911–95), whose title (Mom Rajawong) indicates he was a descendant of a king, later became well-known as a politician (serving as prime minister in the mid-1970s) and as the publisher and editor of Siam Rath. Four Reigns is a portrayal of the experiences of a family under four consecutive kings—from the end of the reign of King Chulalongkorn in 1910 to just after the death of King Ananda in 1946. The story is told from the point of view of a woman, Mae Ploi, who early in life was attached to the royal household and whose family’s history is deeply connected with that of the court. The novel has been considered influential in shaping a positive image of the monarchy.

While much contemporary literature has centred on issues of love and family, topics that are particularly popular among the middle class, Thai authors have also produced works that explore issues of social inequality, sexual exploitation, and political corruption. Much of the writing of Lao Khamhom (Khamsing Srinawk), for instance, focuses on rural people, often carrying a subversive political implication. A wave of writing categorized under the rubric “Literature for Life” appeared in the 1960s and ’70s. Works in this vein were in essence a manifestation of Socialist Realism; although instrumental in catalyzing the toppling of the government in 1973, they were not widely popular.

Since the 1980s, other prose writers, such as Seni Saowaphong and Chart Korbjitti, have also focused on social issues, accumulating large followings within their country and earning literary honours abroad. Chart’s work contrasts notably with that of the Literature for Life authors in that it forces readers to draw their own conclusions from the details rather than blatantly blaming a particular sector of society. Many writers have adapted their work for film.

Cultural Life
Prior to the modernizing reforms begun in the late 19th century under King Chulalongkorn, Thai cultural life revolved around the Siamese royal court and the wat, the Buddhist temple-monastery. Many ancient practices associated with the court and the wat have been transformed into elements of contemporary Thailand’s national heritage. The monarchy, through its participation in royal functions, state ceremonies, and popular festivals, plays an important role in nurturing and preserving this heritage. Many state functions, today often shown on television, begin with the king or other members of the royal family performing Buddhist rites.

Certain Buddhist holy days have been recognized as national holidays. Among these are Visakha Puja, the festival celebrating the birth, enlightenment, and death of the Buddha, and the beginning and end of “Buddhist Lent” (phansa)—a three-month period corresponding to the monsoon season, during which both monks and laypeople give added attention to religious practices such as meditation.

The transformation of Thai cultural life is particularly evident in clothing. In the late 19th century, members of the Thai court began to adopt Western-style clothing and for a few years in the late 1930s and early ’40s such clothing was mandatory. In the post-World War II period there was a significant revival of traditional styles of clothing, especially for women. The queen adopted the tie-dye silk tubular skirt traditionally worn by Lao women in the northeast, and she was widely emulated by middle- and upper-class women when they attended events at which national culture was expected to be on display.

For everyday attire in both the cities and the villages, however, most people wear clothing of a style that is considered “cosmopolitan” (sakon), but which, in fact, derives from Western styles. For all its Western influences, however, contemporary Thai culture is a creative blend that remains clearly rooted in Thai tradition.

No one knows for certain how long people have lived in what is now Cambodia, as studies of its prehistory are undeveloped. A carbon-l4 dating from a cave in northwestern Cambodia suggests that people using stone tools lived in the cave as early as 4000 bc, and rice has been grown on Cambodian soil since well before the 1st century ad. The first Cambodians likely arrived long before either of these dates. They probably migrated from the north, although nothing is known about their language or their way of life.

By the beginning of the 1st century ad, Chinese traders began to report the existence of inland and coastal kingdoms in Cambodia. These kingdoms already owed much to Indian culture, which provided alphabets, art forms, architectural styles, religions (Hinduism and Buddhism), and a stratified class system. Local beliefs that stressed the importance of ancestral spirits coexisted with the Indian religions and remain powerful today.

Cambodia’s modem-day culture has its roots in the 1st to 6th centuries in a state referred to as Funan, known as the oldest Indianized state in Southeast Asia. It is from this period that evolved Cambodia’s language, part of the Mon-Khmer family, which contains elements of Sanskrit, its ancient religion of Hinduism and Buddhism. Historians have noted, for example, that Cambodians can be distinguished from their neighbors by their clothing – checkered scarves known as Kramas are worn instead of straw hats.

Funan gave way to the Angkor Empire with the rise to power of King Jayavarman II in 802. The following 600 years saw powerful Khmer kings dominate much of present day Southeast Asia, from the borders of Myanmar east to the South China Sea and north to Laos. It was during this period that Khmer kings built the most extensive concentration of religious temples in the world – the Angkor temple complex. The most successful of Angkor’s kings, Jayavarman II, Indravarman I, Suryavarman II and Jayavarman VII, also devised a masterpiece of ancient engineering: a sophisticated irrigation system that includes barays (gigantic man-made lakes) and canals that ensured as many as three rice crops a year. Part of this system is still in use today.

The Khmer Kingdom (Funan)
Early Chinese writers referred to a kingdom in Cambodia that they called Funan. Modern-day archaeological findings provide evidence of a commercial society centered on the Mekong Delta that flourished from the 1st century to the 6th century. Among these findings are excavations of a port city from the 1st century, located in the region of Oc-Eo in what is now southern Vietnam. Served by a network of canals, the city was an important trade link between India and China. Ongoing excavations in southern Cambodia have revealed the existence of another important city near the present-day village of Angkor Borei.

A group of inland kingdoms, known collectively to the Chinese as Zhenla, flourished in the 6th and 7th centuries from southern Cambodia to southern Laos. The first stone inscriptions in the Khmer language and the first brick and stone Hindu temples in Cambodia date from the Zhenla period.

Angkor Era
Bayon Temple, Angkor Thom The giant faces carved on the Bayon temple at the Angkor Thum complex in northwestern Cambodia represent both the Buddha and King Jayavarman VII (ruled about 1130-1219). Although a Buddhist temple, Angkor Thum was modeled after the great Hindu temple complex of Angkor Wat.

In the early 9th century a Khmer (ethnic Cambodian) prince returned to Cambodia from abroad. He probably arrived from nearby Java or Sumatra, where he may have been held hostage by island kings who had asserted control over portions of the Southeast Asian mainland.

In a series of ceremonies at different sites, the prince declared himself ruler of a new independent kingdom, which unified several local principalities. His kingdom eventually came to be centered near present-day Siemreab in northwestern Cambodia. The prince, known to his successors as Jayavarman II, inaugurated a cult honoring the Hindu god Shiva as a devaraja (Sanskrit term meaning “god-king”). The cult, which legitimized the king’s rule by linking him with Shiva, persisted at the Cambodian court for more than two hundred years.

Between the early 9th century and the early 15th century, 26 monarchs ruled successively over the Khmer kingdom (known as Angkor, the modern name for its capital city).

The successors of Jayavarman II built the great temples for which Angkor is famous.

Historians have dated more than a thousand temple sites and over a thousand stone inscriptions (most of them on temple walls) to this era.

Notable among the Khmer builder-kings were Suyavarman II, who built the temple known as Angkor Wat in the mid-12th century, and Jayavarman VII, who built the Bayon temple at Angkor Thum and several other large Buddhist temples half a century later. Jayavarman VII, a fervent Buddhist, also built hospitals and rest houses along the roads that crisscrossed the kingdom. Most of the monarchs, however, seem to have been more concerned with displaying and increasing their power than with the welfare of their subjects.

Ancient City of Angkor This map shows the layout of the ancient city of Angkor, capital of the Cambodian Khmer kingdom from the 9th century to the 15th century. The city’s huge stone temples were both civic centers and religious symbols of the Hindu cosmos. Historians believe that Angkor’s network of canals and barays (reservoirs) were used for irrigation.

At its greatest extent, in the 12th century, the Khmer kingdom encompassed (in addition to present-day Cambodia) parts of present-day Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, Myanmar (formerly Burma), and the Malay Peninsula. Thailand and Laos still contain Khmer ruins and inscriptions. The kings at Angkor received tribute from smaller kingdoms to the north, east, and west, and conducted trade with China. The capital city was the center of an impressive network of reservoirs and canals, which historians theorize supplied water for irrigation. Many historians believe that the abundant harvests made possible by irrigation supported a large population whose labor could be drawn on to construct the kings’ temples and to fight their wars. The massive temples, extensive roads and waterworks, and confident inscriptions give an illusion of stability that is undermined by the fact that many Khmer kings gained the throne by conquering their predecessors. Inscriptions indicate that the kingdom frequently suffered from rebellions and foreign invasions.

Historians have not been able to fully explain the decline of the Khmer kingdom in the 13th and 14th centuries. However, it was probably associated with the rise of powerful Thai kingdoms that had once paid tribute to Angkor, and to population losses following a series of wars with these kingdoms. Another factor may have been the introduction of Theravada Buddhism, which taught that anyone could achieve enlightenment through meritorious conduct and meditation. These egalitarian ideas undermined the hierarchical structure of Cambodian society and the power of prominent Hindu families. After a Thai invasion in 1431, what remained of the Cambodian elite shifted southeastward to the vicinity of Phnom Penh.

Cambodia Dark Age
This map of Southeast Asia in the mid-16th century shows the major centers of power in the region prior to the arrival of Europeans. During this period, these kingdoms were constantly at war. Eventually the Kingdom of Ayutthaya (modern Thailand) expanded to the north and east, absorbing much of Lan Na and Lan Xang (modern Laos). Dai Viet (modern Vietnam) expanded to the south, taking over the remaining territory of the Kingdom of Champa and the southern tip of the Kingdom of Lovek (modern Cambodia). Toungoo evolved into modern Myanmar.

The four centuries of Cambodian history following the abandonment of Angkor are poorly recorded, and therefore historians know little about them beyond the bare outlines. Cambodia retained its language and its cultural identity despite frequent invasions by the powerful Thai kingdom of Ayutthaya and incursions by Vietnamese forces. Indeed, for much of this period, Cambodia was a relatively prosperous trading kingdom with its capital at Lovek, near present-day Phnom Penh. European visitors wrote of the Buddhist piety of the inhabitants of the Kingdom of Lovek. During this period, Cambodians composed the country’s most important work of literature, the Reamker (based on the Indian myth of the Ramayana).

In the late 18th century, a civil war in Vietnam and disorder following a Burmese invasion of Ayutthaya spilled over into Cambodia and devastated the area. In the early 19th century, newly established dynasties in Vietnam and Thailand competed for control over the Cambodian court. The warfare that ensued, beginning in the l830s, came close to destroying Cambodia.

French Rule
Phnom Penh, as planned by the French, came to resemble a town in provincial France. By the second half of the 19th century, France had begun to expand its colonial penetration of Indochina (the peninsula between India and China). In 1863 France accepted the Cambodian king’s invitation to impose a protectorate over his severely weakened kingdom, halting the country’s dismemberment by Thailand and Vietnam. For the next 90 years, France ruled Cambodia. In theory, French administration was indirect, but in practice the word of French officials was final on all major subjects-including the selection of Cambodia’s kings. The French left Cambodian institutions, including the monarchy, in place, and gradually developed a Cambodian civil service, organized along French lines. The French administration neglected education but built roads, port facilities, and other public works. Phnom Penh, as planned by the French, came to resemble a town in provincial France.

The French invested relatively little in Cambodia’s economy compared to that of Vietnam, which was also under French control. However, they developed rubber plantations in eastern Cambodia, and the kingdom exported sizable amounts of rice under their rule. The French also restored the Angkor temple complex and deciphered Angkorean inscriptions, which gave Cambodians a clear idea of their medieval heritage and kindled their pride in Cambodia’s past. Because France left the monarchy, Buddhism, and the rhythms of rural life undisturbed, anti-French feeling was slow to develop.

King Sihanouk, through skillful maneuvering, managed to gain Cambodia’s independence peacefully in 1953. During World War II (1939-1945), Japanese forces entered French Indochina but left the compliant French administration in place.

On the verge of defeat in 1945, the Japanese removed their French collaborators and installed a nominally independent Cambodian government under the recently crowned young king, Norodom Sihanouk. France reimposed its protectorate in early 1946 but allowed the Cambodians to draft a constitution and to form political parties.

Soon afterward, fighting erupted throughout Indochina as nationalist groups, some with Communist ideologies, struggled to win independence from France. Most of the fighting took place in Vietnam, in a conflict known as the First Indochina War (1946-1954). In Cambodia, Communist guerrilla forces allied with Vietnamese Communists gained control of much of the country. However, King Sihanouk, through skillful maneuvering, managed to gain Cambodia’s independence peacefully in 1953, a few months earlier than Vietnam. The Geneva Accords of 1954, which marked the end of the First Indochina War, acknowledged Sihanouk’s government as the sole legitimate authority in Cambodia.

Modern State
Sihanouk’s campaign for independence sharpened his political skills and increased his ambitions. In 1955 he abdicated the throne in favor of his father to pursue a full-time political career, free of the constitutional constraints of the monarchy. In a move aimed at dismantling Cambodia’s fledgling political parties, Sihanouk inaugurated a national political movement known as the Sangkum Reastr Niyum (People’s Socialist Community), whose members were not permitted to belong to any other political group. The Sangkum won all the seats in the national elections of 1955, benefiting from Sihanouk’s popularity and from police brutality at many polling stations. Sihanouk served as prime minister of Cambodia until 1960, when his father died and he was named head of state. Sihanouk remained widely popular among the people but was brutal to his opponents.

In the late 1950s the Cold War (period of tension between the United States and its allies and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, or USSR, and its allies) intensified in Asia. In this climate, foreign powers, including the United States, the USSR, and China, courted Sihanouk. Cambodia’s importance to these countries stemmed from events in neighboring Vietnam, where tension had begun to mount between a Communist regime in the north and a pro-Western regime in the south. The USSR supported the Vietnamese Communists, while the United States opposed them, and China wanted to contain Vietnam for security reasons. Each of the foreign powers hoped that Cambodian support would bolster its position in the region. Sihanouk pursued a policy of neutrality that drew substantial economic aid from the competing countries.

In 1965, however, Sihanouk broke off diplomatic relations with the United States. At the same time, he allowed North Vietnamese Communists, then fighting the Vietnam War against the United States and the South Vietnamese in southern Vietnam, to set up bases on Cambodian soil. As warfare intensified in Vietnam, domestic opposition to Sihanouk from both radical and conservative elements increased. The Cambodian Communist organization, known as the Workers Party of Kampuchea (later renamed the Communist Party of Kampuchea, or CPK), had gone underground after failing to win any concessions at the Geneva Accords, but now they took up arms once again. As the economy became unstable, Cambodia became difficult to govern single-handedly. In need of economic and military aid, Sihanouk renewed diplomatic relations with the United States. Shortly thereafter, in 1969, U.S. president Richard Nixon authorized a bombing campaign against Cambodia in an effort to destroy Vietnamese Communist sanctuaries there.

Khmer Republic
In March 1970 Cambodia’s legislature, the National Assembly, deposed Sihanouk while he was abroad. The conservative forces behind the coup were pro-Western and anti-Vietnamese. General Lon Nol, the country’s prime minister, assumed power and sent his poorly equipped army to fight the North Vietnamese Communist forces encamped in border areas. Lon Nol hoped that U.S. aid would allow him to defeat his enemies, but American support was always geared to events in Vietnam. In April U.S. and South Vietnamese troops invaded Cambodia, searching for North Vietnamese, who moved deeper into Cambodia. Over the next year, North Vietnamese troops destroyed the offensive capacity of Lon Nol’s army.

In October 1970 Lon Nol inaugurated the Khmer Republic. Sihanouk, who had sought asylum in China, was condemned to death despite his absence. By that time, Chinese and North Vietnamese leaders had persuaded the prince to establish a government in exile, allied with North Vietnam and dominated by the CPK, whom Sihanouk referred to as the Khmer Rouge (French for “Red Khmers”).

In 1975, despite massive infusions of U.S. aid, the Khmer Republic collapsed, and Khmer Rouge forces occupied Phnom Penh.

The United States continued bombing Cambodia until the Congress of the United States halted the campaign in 1973. By that time, Lon Nol’s forces were fighting not only the Vietnamese but also the Khmer Rouge. The general lost control over most of the Cambodian countryside, which had been devastated by U.S. bombing. The fighting severely damaged the nation’s infrastructure and caused high numbers of casualties. Hundreds of thousands of refugees flooded into the cities. In 1975, despite massive infusions of U.S. aid, the Khmer Republic collapsed, and Khmer Rouge forces occupied Phnom Penh. Three weeks later, North Vietnamese forces achieved victory in South Vietnam.

Democratic Kampuchea
Pol Pot Pol Pot is a pseudonym for the Cambodian guerrilla commander Saloth Sar, who organized the Communist guerrilla force known as the Khmer Rouge. The Khmer Rouge ousted General Lon Nol in 1975, establishing a brutal Communist regime that ruled until 1979.

Immediately after occupying Cambodia’s towns, the Khmer Rouge ordered all city dwellers into the countryside to take up agricultural tasks. The move reflected both the Khmer Rouge’s contempt for urban dwellers, whom they saw as enemies, and their utopian vision of Cambodia as a nation of busy, productive peasants. The leader of the regime, who remained concealed from the public, was Saloth Sar, who used the pseudonym Pol Pot. The government, which called itself Democratic Kampuchea (DK), claimed to be seeking total independence from foreign powers but accepted economic and military aid from its major allies, China and North Korea.

Khmer Rouge Carnage The Khmer Rouge, led by Pol Pot, killed close to 1.7 million people in the mid- to late 1970s. In this photo, human bones and skulls fill a museum in Cambodia that had been used as a prison and torture center during Pol Pot’s reign, Sygma.

Without identifying themselves as Communists, the Khmer Rouge quickly introduced a series of far-reaching and often painful socialist programs. The people given the most power in the new government were the largely illiterate rural Cambodians who had fought alongside the Khmer Rouge in the civil war. DK leaders severely restricted freedom of speech, movement, and association, and forbade all religious practices. The regime controlled all communications along with access to food and information. Former city dwellers, now called “new people,” were particularly badly treated. The Khmer Rouge killed intellectuals, merchants, bureaucrats, members of religious groups, and any people suspected of disagreeing with the party. Millions of other Cambodians were forcibly relocated, deprived of food, tortured, or sent into forced labor.

While in power, the Khmer Rouge murdered, worked to death, or killed by starvation close to 1.7 million Cambodians.

The Khmer Rouge also attacked neighboring countries in an attempt to reclaim territories lost by Cambodia many centuries before. After fighting broke out with Vietnam (then united under the Communists) in 1977, DK’s ideology became openly racist. Ethnic minorities in Cambodia, including ethnic Chinese and Vietnamese, were hunted down and expelled or massacred. Purges of party members accused of treason became widespread. People in eastern Cambodia, suspected of cooperating with Vietnam, suffered severely, and hundreds of thousands of them were killed. While in power, the Khmer Rouge murdered, worked to death, or killed by starvation close to 1.7 million Cambodians-more than one-fifth of the country’s population.

Recent Development
In October 1991 Cambodia’s warring factions, the UN, and a number of interested foreign nations signed an agreement in Paris intended to end the conflict in Cambodia. The agreement provided for a temporary power-sharing arrangement between a United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC) and a Supreme National Council (SNC) made up of delegates from the various Cambodian factions. Prince Norodom Sihanouk, the former king and prime minister of Cambodia, served as president of the SNC.

The Paris accords and the UN protectorate pushed Cambodia out of its isolation and introduced competitive politics, dormant since the early 1950s. UNTAC sponsored elections for a national assembly in May 1993, and for the first time in Cambodian history a majority of voters rejected an armed, incumbent regime. A royalist party, known by its French acronym FUNCINPEC, won the most seats in the election, followed by the CPP, led by Hun Sen. Reluctant to give up power, Hun Sen threatened to upset the election results. Under a compromise arrangement, a three-party coalition formed a government headed by two prime ministers; FUNCINPEC’s Prince Norodom Ranariddh, one of Sihanouk’s sons, became first prime minister, while Hun Sen became second prime minister.

In September 1993 the government ratified a new constitution restoring the monarchy and establishing the Kingdom of Cambodia. Sihanouk became king for the second time. After the 1993 elections, no foreign countries continued to recognize the DK as Cambodia’s legal government. The DK lost its UN seat as well as most of its sources of international aid.

The unrealistic power-sharing relationship between Ranariddh and Hun Sen worked surprisingly well for the next three years, but relations between the parties were never smooth. The CPP’s control over the army and the police gave the party effective control of the country, and it dominated the coalition government. In July 1997 Hun Sen staged a violent coup against FUNCINPEC and replaced Prince Ranariddh, who was overseas at the time, with Ung Huot, a more pliable FUNCINPEC figure. Hun Sen’s action shocked foreign nations and delayed Cambodia’s entry into the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). By the end of 1997, Cambodia was the only nation in the region that was not a member.

Despite the coup, elections scheduled for July 1998 proceeded as planned. Hundreds of foreign observers who monitored the elections affirmed that voting was relatively free and fair; however, the CPP harassed opposition candidates and party workers before and after the elections, when dozens were imprisoned and several were killed. The election gave the CPP a plurality of votes, but results, especially in towns, where voting could not be dictated by local authorities, indicated that the party did not enjoy widespread popular support. Prince Ranariddh and another opposition candidate, Sam Rainsy, took refuge abroad and contested the outcome of the election. In November the CPP and FUNCINPEC reached an agreement whereby Hun Sen became sole prime minister and Ranariddh became president of the National Assembly. The parties formed a coalition government, dividing control over the various cabinet ministries. In early 1999 the constitution was amended to create a Senate, called for in the 1998 agreement. These signs that Cambodia’s political situation was stabilizing encouraged ASEAN to admit Cambodia to its membership a short time later.

Pol Pot died in 1998, and by early 1999 most of the remaining Khmer Rouge troops and leaders had surrendered. Rebel troops were integrated into the Cambodian army. In 1999 two Khmer Rouge leaders were arrested and charged with genocide for their part in the atrocities.

Since the Paris Accords of 1991, Cambodia’s economic growth has depended on millions of dollars of foreign aid. Foreign interest in Cambodia has decreased, however, and the country has received diminishing economic assistance. This development, along with the continued lack of openness in Cambodian politics, has made Cambodia’s prospects for democratization dim, as well as its chances for sustained economic growth.

Ethnic Composition
The population of Cambodia today is about 10 million. About 90-95 percent of the people are Khmer ethnic. The remaining 5-10 percent include Chinese-Khmers, Khmer Islam or Chams, ethnic hill-tribe people, known as the Khmer Loeu, and Vietnamese. About 10 percent of the population lives in Phnom Penh, the capital, making Cambodia largely a country of rural dwellers, farmers and artisans.

The ethnic groups that constitute Cambodian society possess a number of economic and demographic commonalties- for example. Chinese merchants lived mainly in urban centers and play middlemen in many economic cycles, but they also preserve differences in their social and cultural institutions. They were concentrated mostly in central and in southeastern Cambodia, the major differences among these groups lie in social organization, language, and religion.

The majority of the inhabitants of Cambodia are settled in fairly permanent villages near the major bodies of water in the Tonle Sap Basin-Mekong Lowlands region. The Khmer Loeu live in widely scattered villages that are abandoned when the cultivated land in the vicinity is exhausted. The permanently settled Khmer and Cham villages usually located on or near the banks of a river or other bodies of water. Cham villages usually are made up almost entirely of Cham, but Khmer villages, especially in central and in southeastern of Cambodia, typically include sizable Chinese communities.

The Khmer Loeu
The Khmer Loeu are the non-Khmer highland tribes in Cambodia. The Khmer Loeu are found namely in the northeastern provinces of Rattanakiri, Stung Treng, Mondulkiri and Crate. Most Khmer Loeu live in scattered temporary villages that have only a few hundred inhabitants. These villages usually are governed by a council of local elders or by a village headman.

The Khmer Loeu cultivate a wide variety of plants, but the man crop is dry or upland rice growth by the slash-and-burn method. Hunting, fishing, and gathering supplement the cultivated vegetable foods in the Khmer Loeu diet.

Houses vary from huge multi-family long houses to small single family structures. They may be built close to the ground or on stilts. The major Khmer Loeu groups in Cambodia are the Kuy, Phnong, Brao, Jarai, and Rade. All but about 160,000 Kuy lived in the northern Cambodia provinces of Kampong Thom, Preah Vihear, and Stoeng as well as in adjacent Thailand.

The Cham
The Cham people in Cambodia descend from refugees of the Kingdom of Champa, which one ruled much of Vietnam between Gao Ha in the north and Bien Hao in the south.

The Cambodian Chams are divided into two groups, the orthodox and the traditional- base on their religious practices. The orthodox group, which make up about one-third of the total number of Chams in the country, were located mainly in Phnom Penh – Oudong area and in the provinces of Takeo and Kapot.

The traditional Chams were scattered throughout the midsection of the country in the provinces of Battambang, Kompong Thom, Kompong Cham, and Pursat. The Chams of both groups typically live in villages inhabited only by other Chams; the villages may be along the shores of watercourses, or they may be inland. The inhabitants of the river villages engage in fishing and growing vegetables. They trade fish to local Khmer for rice.

The women in these villages earn money by weaving. The Chams who live inland support themselves by various means, depending on the villages. Some villages specialize in metalworking; others raise fruit trees or vegetables. The Chams also often serve as butchers of cattle for their Khmer Buddhist neighbors and are, in some areas, regarded as skillful water buffalo and ram breeders.

The Chinese
The Chinese in Cambodia formed the country es largest ethnic minority. Sixty percent of the Chinese were urban dwellers engaged mainly in commerce; the other 40 percent were rural residents working as shopkeepers, as buyers and processors of rice, palm sugar, fruit, and fish, and as money lenders.

It is estimated that 90 percent of the Chinese in Cambodia were in commerce and that 92 percent of those involved in commerce in Cambodia were Chinese. In rural Cambodia, the Chinese were moneylenders, and they wielded considerable economic power over the ethnic Khmer peasants through usury.

The Chinese in Cambodia represented five major linguistic groups, the largest of which was the Teochiu (accounting about 60 percent), followed by the Cantonese (accounting about 20 percent), the Hokkien (accounting about 7 percent), and the Hakka and the Hainanese (each accounting for 4 percent). Those belonging to the certain Chinese linguistic groups in Cambodia tended to gravitate to certain occupations.

The Teochiu, who make up about 90 percent of the rural Chinese population, ran village stores, control rural credit and rice marketing facilities, and grew vegetables. In urban areas they were often engaged in such enterprises as the import-export business, the sale of pharmaceuticals, and street peddling. The Cantonese, who were the majority of Chinese groups before Teochiu migrations began in the late 1930s, live mainly in the city. Typically, the Cantonese engages in transportation and in constriction, for the most part as mechanics or carpenters.

The Hokkien community was involved import-export and in banking, and it included some of the countryfs richest Chinese. The Hainanese started out as pepper growers in Kompot Province, where they continued to dominate that business. Many moved to Phnom Penh , where, in the late 1960s, they reportedly had virtual monopoly on the hotel and restaurant business. They also often operated tailor shops. In Phnom Penh, the newly arrived Hakka were typically folk dentists, sellers of traditional Chinese medicines, and shoemakers.

The Vietnamese
The Vietnamese community is scattered throughout southeastern and central Cambodia. They were concentrated in Phnom Penh, and in Kandal, Prey Veng, and Kampong Cham provinces. No close cultural or religious ties exist between Cambodia and Vietnam.

The Vietnamese fall within the Chinese culture sphere, rather within the Indian, where the Thai and Khmer belong. The Vietnamese differ from the Khmer in mode of dress, in kinship organization, and in many other ways- for example the Vietnamese are Mahayama Buddhists while most of the Cambodians are Theravada Buddhists. Although Vietnamese lived in urban centers such as Phnom Penh, a substantial number lived along the lower Mekong and Bassac rivers as well as on the shores of the Tonle Sap, where they engaged in fishing.

The lines of culture distinguishing one country from another are blurring. The globalization of technology, information and finance has allowed wealthy countries to export not only their political and economic ideologies to developing countries but their traditions and values as well.

The Cambodian government has made aggressive rhetorical efforts to preserve the integrity of traditional Khmer culture, but younger generations are hungry for a change.

In a seemingly uphill battle to maintain cultural identity in an increasingly homogeneous global community, one man has made it his mission to preserve the past for future generations.

From household items and clothes to jewelry and sculpture, Liv Saa Em’s private collection is one of the largest in Cambodia. “It is my favorite thing to do since I was young. I like to keep antiques in my house because my parents bought a lot of antiques from villagers to keep at their house.

Upon first glance, Liv Saa Em could be mistaken for an ancient Khmer man in his traditional dress. Ancient relics adorn his house as well, stretching from the front door into the darkest corners. The building is his sanctuary; a place Liv Saa Em says keeps him smiling. Visitors to the house, which doubles as a museum, often have offered the collector money for his goods. But Liv Saa Em’s mission is to maintain Khmer culture for Cambodia. His message: History is not for sale.

The robbery of Khmer artifacts, for sale to foreign countries, is a rising concern. In efforts to preserve the integrity of Cambodia’s tangible history, the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts recently prohibited the exportation of artifacts from Cambodia to Vietnam and Thailand. Liv Saa Em agrees with the act’s passage, as he too works to preserve artifacts so that all of Cambodia may enjoy them in years to come.

Since the tender age of 13, Liv Saa Em has taken the cue of his parents, who were avid collectors. Now preserving artifacts is not only a hobby–it’s a mission. “I’m very upset when I see our artifacts exported to neighboring countries,” he said. “We know that they are really Khmer artifacts, but I have no ability to take them back to the country.”

Even when it is not in transit, safeguarding art is not always easy. Liv Saa Em said artifacts kept in the National Museum cannot be promised security, and his house in Tang Yab, Prey Kabas district of Takeo province is no better. Pieces of history were shattered in 1976 when young Khmer Rouge soldiers destroyed his parents’ house and the artifacts in it.

Unable to forget the loss, Liv Saa Em has made a conscious effort to buy pieces for his private collection at home. Trading medicine or rice for art, the collector has purchased relics from Takeo, Kampong Speu and Phnom Penh. Now Liv Saa Em’s reputation for collecting precedes him, and tourists that visit his home hoping to make a purchase are always denied.

“I love Khmer artifacts and I love to keep them forever,” Liv Saa Em said.

Liv Saa Em’s love affair with the past started when he was just a boy. “I wore simple cloth like other people when I was young,” he said. But after completing his studies, Liv Saa Em developed a style of his own. Entering adulthood, he wore the ancient Khmer cloth donned by people of the Funan period and shaved his head so that only a tuft of hair sat atop the middle of his crown.

Businessmen raised Liv Saa Em, the youngest son of a nine-member family that often dressed in traditional Khmer clothing. He was the most beloved of the lot then. Today he is alone. Liv Saa Em’s brothers, sisters and parents perished during the war.

Struggling to overcome the loss of his family, Liv Saa Em filled his time honing his skills as a silk maker. He mixes together a rainbow of colors to produce the vibrant fabric that is exported to Japan today and earned him the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts’ Award for Best Quality Producing in 1993. His Excellency Nut Narang, the former Minister of Culture and Fine Arts, personally recognized Liv Saa Em as the first successful producer of best quality silk following Pol Pot’s regime. His creativity is unceasing. Liv Saa Em rearranges the relics in his house to assume a new look every week. In the afternoon visitors can find the collector sitting amidst his artifacts, which he says are a comfort to him. The house, an increasingly popular tourist destination, has drawn curious visitors from around the country and the world. Movie production companies have made the trip as well, using his traditional house for the backdrop to particular scenes.

Liv Saa Em preserves the past to protect the future. Concerned that irresponsible development could damage ancient artifacts, the collector suggested that Cambodia develop a tourism industry based on the riches of Khmer artifacts and temples.

Religion in Cambodia
Thearavada Buddhism is the official religion in Cambodia which is practiced by 95 percent of the population– just like that of Thailand, Burma, Sri Lanka. However, Christianity and Cham Muslim are being active and popular among a large number of population as well in the capital and provinces, showing a sign of growth. Daoism and Confuism are also commonly practiced among the Chinese people.

Buddhist monks are highly disciplined and must follow 227 rules in addition to the ten basic precepts of being a good Buddhist. Monks cannot take part in entertainment. They lead simple lives dedicated to Buddhism and the temple.

Buddhists see the universe and all life as part of a cycle of eternal change. They follow the teaching of Buddha, an Indian prince born in the sixth century B.C. Buddhists believe that a person is continually reborn, in human or nonhuman form, depending on his or her actions in a previous life. They are released from this cycle only when thy reach nirvana, which may be attained by achieving good karma through earning merit and following the Buddhist path of correct living.

Earning merit is an important of Buddhist life. Buddhists in Cambodia earn merit by giving money, goods, and labor to the temples, or by providing one of the two daily meals of the monks.

Children often look after the fruits trees and vegetable gardens inside their local wat, or temple. Boys can earn merit by becoming temple servants or novice monks for a short time. Most young men remain monks for less than a year.

Though the recorded data about the history of Laos begins with the unified state to the emergence of Lan Xang Kingdom in 1353, historical research shows that the multiethnic state existed before the founding of the Kingdom of Lan Xang. Based on the artifacts collected the first people who inhabited Laos lived by hunting and gathering with stone tools in northern regions. During the 1st millennium BC, Astro-Asiatic people have evolved into a more multifaceted agriculturist civilization accountable for creation of funeral urns on the Plain of Jars. They are believed to be the ancestors of the Lao Theung (upland Lao) ethnic group.

It was during the 7th Century when a group of linguistic Tais from Yunan Southern China start migrating to the northern areas of Burma, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam. These people settled along the Mekong River and began to form communities called mandalas or muangs. Steadily, their settlement was established further south of the Mekong River in Laos. Muang Sua was the name given to Luang Prabang following it conquest in the later part of 7th century. It was became the Kingdom of Sri Sattanak, a name associated with the legendary Naga (mythical snake) who said to have dug the Mekong riverbed.

It was in the second half of the 8th century when Khmer Empire under Indravarman I started expanding the empire towards the territories of Sipsong Panna on the upper part of Mekong river. By the year 1185 to 1191 Muang Sua experienced a brief period of Khmer suzerainty under Jayavarman VII. The Khmer were able to maintain their empire till 1253 until the Mongols invaded Laos from the north. The ruler of Thai dynasty in Sukhothai made himself the agent of Mongol interest to eliminate the vestiges of Khmer and Cham power in central Laos. Upon the withdrawal of the Mongols, the Siamese dynasty of Sukhothai was formed.

The first Laotian state was founded was the Lan Xang Kingdom formed in 1353 by exiled Laotian prince Fa Ngum. Fa Ngum married one of the daughters of a Khmer King and in the mid-14th century he recruited 10,000 armies to regain control of the parts of Laos which had fallen by the Sukhothai Empire. In 1354 Fa Ngum organized the conquered principalities into muang and founded the kingdom of Lan Xang (million elephants), in which he was crowned as King. Lan Xang kingdom extended from the border of China to Southern Laos, and was considered to be one of the largest kingdoms in Southeast Asia at that time.

The kingdom of Lan Xang remained largely unified and powerful over 300 years. Though all of the principalities were considered one unified kingdom, the supervision of the kingdom remained more regionalized. The King ruled and influenced his direct town and surroundings while it is the lord of each muang who established their own rules and taxes in each individual region.

During the Lan Xang period, Theravada Buddhism in Laos was introduced. Fa Ngun was also attributed for bringing the scared Phra Bang Buddha to Luang Prabang from Khmer.

In 1960, the Kingdom of Lan Xang fell prey to a series of rival claimants to its throne which resulted to the internal division and pressure from neighboring kingdoms and caused the split of three warring kingdoms centred on Luang Prabang, Vientiane and Champasak. The division caused the region to become vulnerable to attacks from outside invaders and by the late 18th century all three of the Lao Kingdoms had surrendered to Siam. Laos became a Siamese satellite state in 1829, despite this development; Laos frequently rebelled and fought ferociously to regain its independence.

In the early part of 19th century the French started to emerge in the region, pronouncing Cambodia as a colony in the mid-19th century. It was in 1893 when the French were able to force the Siamese to concede Laos to the French administration. Despite the fact that the French had a direct control over most of the country, Luang Prabang’s royal family and home were preserve and the local government were allowed to function independently under the rule of King Zakarine.

In World War II the French position in Indochina was weakened. The French administration came to an end and Japanese briefly occupied French Indochina, including Laos. Prior to Japanese submission, King Sisavang Vong of Luang Prabang was induced to declare independence from France in 1945. Vientiane and Champassak united with Luang Prabang in September 1945 to form an independent government under the Free Lao (Lao Issara) banner. It was early 1946 when the French troops reoccupied the country and reestablished its control over the country.

Laos independence was formally recognized by the French Union in 1949 and remained a member of the Union until 1953. A Royal Lao Army was formed; a number of clinics, hospitals and schools were established. Despite being economically dependent to France the country was internationally recognized as a fully independent institutional state on 1954 at Geneva Convention on Indochina. The first coalition government was formed in 1957. Price Souvanna Phouma, the royal prime minister and Pathet Lao leader Prince Souphanouvong agreed in re-establishment of unified government. It was in 1958 when the coalition government collapsed and the rightist forces took over the government.

A second Geneva Convention was held in 1961 to 1962 for country’s neutrality and independence. The Neutralist was represented by Quinim, the rightists by Phoui Sananikone and Phoumi Vongvichit for Pathet Lao. After the agreement was reached the signatories accused each other of violating terms of agreement and the war in Vietnam engulfed Laos.

The growing American and North Vietnamese military presence in the country drew Laos into the second Indochina war. For almost a decade, Laos was imperiled to extremely heavy bombing as US sought to destroy the portion of Ho Chi Minh Trail that passed through eastern Laos. During the 9 years of war the US executed more than 580 000 bombing missions over Laos and released over two tons of bombs per person. The war continued until 1973 by the time the Vietnamese ceasefire was negotiated Laos had the dubious reputation of being the most bombed country in the history of welfare.

The fall of Phnom Penh and Saigon to Communists in 1975 ended the war in Indochina. The country was liberated from the American influence and Royal control. A new coalition government known as Lao People’s Democratic Republic was established. The new government imposed centralized economic decision-making towards the country’s socialism. The harsh policies and deteriorating economic conditions along with the government efforts to enforce political control prompted a migration of lowland Laos and ethnic Hmong from Laos. Collectivism policy of the government led to closure of numerous businesses after 1975. However during 1981 the government reversed its position on the management of economy and the country’s economy was liberalized in 1986.

The country’s diplomatic overtures with its neighboring countries started during 1990s and by 1995 the US lifted its ban on aid to the country. A number of incidents of insurgency against the government occur during 2003 to 2007. There are still a number of anti-Communist rebel groups that has been protesting the government’s unwillingness to embrace democratic reforms.

Laos has a total population of 6,834,345 (2009 est.) with an average growth of 2.32%. The country’s low population density has allowed the continuation of a village society dependent on subsistence agriculture. Laos’ lack of adequate infrastructure and effective transportation networks has contributed to relative independence and autonomy of most villages. Lowland Lao ethnic groups considered residency in a village as an important aspect of social identity while upland Lao ethnic groups perceived clan membership as the more important point of social identification.

About 67% of the country‘s population are Laotians and are related racially to the Thai people. Roughly a quarter of the population particularly on the Southern part of the country is ethnically belonging to Mon-Khmer group, about 15% are Thais and the remaining of the country’s population are various hill tribes.

Lao is a multiethnic nation with more than forty ethnic groups, which are classified within three general families: Lao Sung (highland Lao) embraces Hmong-Mien peoples of Austro-Thai language family and Sino-Tibetan language family; Lao Theung (upland Lao) comprises all Austro-Asiatic language family and the Lao Loum (lowland Lao) corresponds to Lao, Lu, Phuan and other Thai speaking Austro-Thai language family.

Lao Sung
Lao Sung are the highland Lao this include the ethnic groups of Hmong, Akha, and Mien. Lao Sung comprises 10 % of population in 1993. They are believed to be the most recent migrants to the country and have been coming from the southern China since the late 18th century. Highland villages reside on mountain tops, hillsides over 1,000 m in elevation and upland ridges. Most of them are considered as semi-migratory since they moved to new locations when swidden farming resources have been exhausted in the old area. Majority of the Lao Sung village are settled in the north with only Hmong villages found as far as south as Vientiane.

More than two-thirds of Lao Sung is considered Hmong. Hmong villages in Laos, Thailand and Vietnam are traditionally found on mountain or ridge tops. Hmong who fled China and migrated to Vietnam, Laos and Thailand were traditionally paddy rice farmers who adopted swidden farming because of lowland basins that were already settled in the region. Hmong villages rely on swidden farming to produce rice, corn and other crops. They tend to plant a field until the soul was exhausted, rather than once a year or two before letting it to be untilled.

Hmong houses usually measures from about five by seven m up to ten by fifteen m for large extended households. Usually built directly on the ground, with walls of vertical wooden plank and gabled roof of thatch or split bamboo. Interior of the house is commonly divided into a kitchen at one end and several sleeping niches at the other end with beds raised thirty to forty cm above the dirt floor. Crops such as rice and corn are generally stored in large woven bamboo baskets inside the house.

The swidden farming system being practice by Hmong villages is based on non-glutinous rice supplemented by corn, tubers, wide variety of vegetables and squash. Hmong traditionally grow opium in small quantities for medical and ritual purposes however during the French colony the expansion of opium production was encouraged. Since then opium become an important cash crop for the Hmong and other Lao Sung villages. Opium is considered to be the only product that combines high value with low bulk and is nonperishable so easy to transport, thus despite the government’s effort of prohibiting opium production Lao Sung villagers particularly in isolated upland settlements plant opium poppies in cornfields during cold season. Highland Laos also raise chickens and pigs in large numbers as possible, buffaloes and cattle graze in the surrounding forest and abandoned fields.

Highland village farming depends on household labor and simple tool. The area of land to be cleared and farmed determined to the number of workers in the household. Crops such as rice and corn are weeded twice and three times respectively during the growing season. Other crops like beans, cucumbers, peppers and squash are inter-planted with rice or corn while arrowroot, cabbage, and taro are found adjacent to the swiddens or in the village.

Hmong society are subdivided into different clans and usually named according to the features of traditional dress. The Green Hmong (sometimes called Blue Hmong) are the most numerous one; the Striped Hmong; and the White Hmong. Languages used by Hmong clans maybe somewhat different but mutually comprehensible. Households are consisting of large patrilineal extended families in which the parents, children, and wives and children of married sons all living in the same roofs. They also reckon kinship patrilineal kinship and recognized fifteen or sixteen patrilineal exogamous clans, tracing their descent back to a common mythical ancestor.

The governance of the village of Lao Sung is in the hands of headman and its council, however the clans elder’s’ opinions play an important plan in decision making of the administration. Among the highland Lao, Hmong preserved the tradition of king and sub-chiefs and a large-scale organization, though the practice was limited to village. Inter-household cooperative relationships occurs less often rather cooperation mostly take place among the primarily close kin who can be relied upon for assistance in case of emergency or family hardship.

Lao Theung
About 22% of the population comprises of Lao Theung. Lao Theung consists of at least thirty-seven different ethnic groups scattered throughout Laos. They are thought to be the descendants of the earliest people to inhabit the region. Lao Theung groups usually reside in a relatively limited geographic area such as border between Bokeo, Oudomxai, Louang Namtha and the provinces of Attapu and Saravan in the south.

A great number of Lao Theung villages are found on mountain slopes but neither at the peak nor the ridges. However a growing number of villages have been founded at lower elevations near rivers or roads. They speak languages of Austroasiatic family however some languages are closely related to such as Kammu, Lamet, and Sam Tao. Lao Theung is considered to be a swidden farmer and semi-migratory since they have occasionally moved their villages as swidden areas were exhausted.

Lao Theung groups depend on swidden rice cultivation as a basis of their household economy. Swidden rice seldom yields as much as paddy fields thus cassava, corn and wild tubers serve as an important component to supplement a frequently inadequate rice supply. They also engaged in hunting and gathering in the forest surrounding the village. Fishing is also common for some groups although rarely practiced by others.

Lao Loums
Lao Loums dwell in the lowlands on the banks of Mekong River and its tributaries, and in the cities. They have been the dominant group with 68% of the population. They speak Laotian Tai which is similar to the language spoken by the Thais. They traditionally live in stable independent villages situated near lowland rivers or streams. Houses are built by hands using local materials such as wood, bamboo or thatching grass. Houses of Lao Loum commonly range from five by seven meters to eight by twelve meters. Houses are usually built with a porch on the long side that serve as a public area while interior is divided into one or two sleeping rooms, common room for eating and visiting and a separate kitchen.

Lao Loums economy is focused on paddy rice cultivation and most village activities and daily life revolved around rice production. Household works center on paddy production during the time of transplanting and harvesting cooperative work groups are often organized by several families to help the tasks completed in time. Sticky rice is considered as the staple food. It must be steamed rather than boiled and commonly eaten with fingers and dipped in soup or vegetable or meat dish. Meals are relatively simple and commonly include chicken or duck and a bottle of local rice liquor.

The lowland villages also practice swidden rice farming however this method is less efficient than paddy rice cultivation. Swidden rice in certain villages is grown as a supplement to paddy rice production. In general, Lao Loums are largely self-sufficient, they grow their own food, make their own clothes and tools, and trade any spares for household goods, kerosene, medicine and soap.

Traditionally, fishing and hunting plays an important role in the household economy of lowland villagers. To hunt small deer, wild pigs or birds homemade rifles are used. Nets, traps or hooks are used to catch fish. Education for lowland villages is usually provided to boys and young men through Buddhist temples. However this practice is being supplanted by national education system although old practice still exists in some areas.

Laotians are considered warm and welcoming, always honoring guest with a respectful “Sabai dee” greeting. They greet each other with “nop”, a prayer-like gesture in which palms are placed at chest level without touching the body. Person in low status does “nop” to show respect to their elder or social superior. Lao people are known for being frank, friendly and open-minded. They possess a deep sense of courtesy and respect. As a custom of the Laotians, shoes are removed when entering a Wat or a private home. Men usually sit with legs crossed or folded to one side while women prefer the latter. As a gesture of hospitality they served guests with fruits or tea upon entering their house.

Arts
One of the distinct characteristics of Laos is the diversity of its people and cultures. The country’s culture is heavily influenced by its neighbors, with a trace of Khmer, Thai and Vietnamese culture which is apparent in their arts, architecture style, cuisine, literature, music and sculptures.

Theravada Buddhism has a prevailing influence on Lao culture, evident to the country’s architecture in which is often religious in nature. Pha That Luang, the “Great Sacred Stupa” in Vientiane is one of the most notable structures in the country. It is considered to be the most important religious edifice and symbol of Lao independence and sovereignty since the time of Lan Xang. Built in the 16th century under King Setthathirat, Pha That Luang consists of a central stupa with three levels each conveying a reflection of part of Buddhist doctrine. The encircling walls contain a large number of Lao and Khmer sculptures. The glided structure of this imposing stupa reflects marvelously in the sunset.

During the Thai invasion in 1828 the structure was heavily damage and left abandon. Louis Delaporte, French explore and architect came across the abandoned temple and made detailed sketches of the temple. The stupa was restored to its original structure in 1930s with the guidance of the French.

Lao’s architectural styles can be distinguished to the geographical location of the temples and monasteries. In Vientiane, the wats are built with large rectangular structures constructed of brick and covered with stucco and high-peaked roofs. The roofs of the wats built in Luang Prabang are sweep down almost reaching the ground while in Xieng Khouang the wats roofs are not tiered.

Another example of Laos distinctive art is the religious images known as “The Calling for Rain” posture of Buddha image which illustrates the Buddha standing with his hands held firmly at his side, fingers pointing to the ground.

Laos is known for its weaving. Most of the women in small villages of Laos weave cloth of cotton or silk. Distinct weaving techniques are exhibited by different ethnic groups in different regions of the country. Most of the traditional designs have a mythological motif or animal that pertains to certain ceremonies or festivities in the country other designs include geometric patterns or temple motifs. Weavers arduously choose elaborated brocade patterns, making scarves, shawls, traditional skirts, household decorations, and blankets.

Literature
Very little is known concerning the history of Lao’s literature due to decentralization and isolation of the early society. The first recorded Lao traditional literature was from 15th century and 16th century. Most of the written literature has a Buddhist religious theme, or historical documents. Most famous of which is a classical interpretation of the “Ramayana”. However, popular literatures are maintained by oral tradition of folk tales. The country has a long tradition of oral literature, including children’s stories, folk tales, parables, poems and proverbs.

Oral Literature is narrated through lengthy poems that can last up to six hours. Folk literature is amusing and varied with several types of myths which are both in poetry or prose and most of them are considered scared. Some of the folk literatures of the country were recorded on palm leaf manuscripts due to the belief that copying books is a way of making merit of giving away knowledge.

Lao literature boasts three masterpieces – the Vetsantrasadok, the most popular among the three, it relates life of Buddha before his enlightenment; the Sin Say or Khun Borom, a story of the first human king sent from heaven to lead Lao people to prosperity; and Thao Hung, is a historical epic recounts the struggle between ancient ruling families during the Lane Xang dynasty.

Another important Buddhist literature in Laos is the Dhammapada. It is actually belong to the Theravada school of Buddhist tradition. Dhamma means truth while Pada means way, so the Dhammapada means the way of the truth. The book is originally written in Pali and contains 423 verses of teaching within Buddhism, guiding voice along the struggle-laden path towards Nirvana.

There are also collection of palm leaf manuscripts of folk medicine and remedy collection that explain the medicinal herbs and ways how to heal or cure symptoms. Words of incantation as well as rituals to heal sickness are also included in these manuscripts. One good example is the folk medicine for longevity. In order to live longer one must prepare the following ingredients such as 108 myranbaran fruit, 108 wild phyllanthus emblica fruit, 108 diospyros mollis fruit, 1200 g of the root of solenospermum wallichii (Kurz) Loes, 300 g of hot chili peppers, 150 g of salt, 2400 g of ginger roots, 300 g of peppers and 300 g of sugar and marinate these ingredients in whiskey to be taken in the morning and in the evening.

Lao rhymes has four major forms in poetic conventions – kaap, a form of Laos rhymes to be read loud and mostly sung in various occasions particularly during Boat-racing or Rocket Festivals; Kon, has a specific rhyming pattern, seven syllables in the middle of a line with external and internal alliterations and rhymes; Khong, is another type of Lao rhyme which syllables are interconnected between the lines; and the Saan, can be in form of poetic prose or in verse.

Laos has a highly diversified musical heritage among its numerous ethnic groups. Lao traditional music can be divided into classical and folk. Traditional classical music is closely related to the Siamese. Sep Nyai is a form of ceremonial and formal music that is being played with sets of gong, xylophone, oboe, kettle drums and cymbals. Sep Noi is another form of classical music capable of playing popular tunes including two-bowed string instruments, the So U and So I. Folk music or Lum may not be written down but is played from memory and usually accompanied by Khen (a free-red instruments with a vibrating reed fitted in each pipe,) buffalo horns, tam tam drums, two-string violin and xylophone.

Festivities
Festivities in Laos are usually link to agricultural seasons or Buddhist holidays. The Phi Mai Festival or Buddhist New Year is considered to be one of them most significant celebration in the country which takes place in the mid-April. Boun Ban Fai (the Rocket Festival) is being celebrated to entice the rains to fall, this usually take place during the later month of May. During the celebration plenty of processions occur with music and dancing, accompanied by firing of bamboo rockets to prompt heaven to send rain. During the month of November Tat Luang Festival occurs. This is a week-long celebration with range of fireworks, music and parades. Hundreds of monks gather in Golden Stupa to pray.

January – Boun Phavet, commemorating Buddha’s reincarnation
February – Boun Makha Bu-sao (Full Moon), celebrates the first ever sermon of
Buddha after his enlightenment.
March – Boun Khoun Khao, harvest festival celebrated around the wats
April – Boun Phi Mai, the Lao Buddhist New Year
May – Boun Bang Fai, the well-known rocket festival; Visakha Puja
celebrates the birth, death and enlightenment of Buddha.
June/July – Khao Phansaa the beginning of the Buddhist lent
August/September – Boun Song Heua is the boat racing festival which marks the
end of the rainy season
October – Boun Ok Phansaa is the end of the Buddhist lent and the three
month retreat of the monks. During this time boat racing in Vientiane is being held.
November – That Luang Festival, a week-long festival throughout Laos held
during the full moon of the twelfth lunar month.
November/December – Hmong New Year festivities takes place in the villages in
Northern part of the country. Lao National Day also celebrated on 2nd of December.

Origins of the Vietnamese people

Relatively little is known about the origins of the Vietnamese. They first appeared in history as the so-called “Lac” peoples, who lived in the Red River delta region, in what is now northern Vietnam. Some scholars have suggested that the Lac were closely related to other peoples, known as the Viet (called the Yue by the Chinese), who inhabited the coastal region of East Asia from the Yangtze River to the Red River delta during the 1st millennium BCE. Others have questioned this view, noting that modern-day Vietnamese share many cultural and linguistic traits with other non-Chinese peoples living in neighbouring areas of Southeast Asia.

Linguistic research, which offers a relatively reliable way of distinguishing the various ethnic groups of Southeast Asia, supports the mixed ethnic and cultural provenance of the Vietnamese people. Modern linguistics places the origin of Vietnamese in the Austronesian language group on the basis of similarities in morphology and consonant clusters. It is largely this linguistic link that has led scholars to speculate that Austronesians formed at least a part of the Lac population. However, like Tai, Vietnamese evolved away from the Austronesian language group as it acquired tones as part of its phonemic structure. This may have been the consequence of interaction with Chinese languages, to which Vietnamese (again, like Tai) bears some similarity of tones, but it is also possible that elements of tonality and grammar might have been adopted directly from Tai. From the monotonic Mon-Khmer language family, Vietnamese derived its fundamental structure and many of its basic words. Early script—as well as much political, literary, philosophical, and technical vocabulary—again trace to the Chinese, who at that time were more culturally advanced than the peoples of the Red River delta.

Ethnographic study also reveals the degree to which ancient Vietnamese culture combined elements found among many other peoples within the region. Totemism, animism, tattooing, the chewing of betel nuts, teeth blackening, and many marriage rituals and seasonal festivals indicate the relationship between the Vietnamese and the neighbouring peoples in Southeast Asia. Although Chinese civilization later became the main force in shaping Vietnamese culture, the failure of the Chinese to assimilate the Vietnamese people underscores the fact that strong elements of an authentic local culture must have emerged in the Red River valley long before China established its millennium of rule over Vietnam.

Diverse cultural traditions, geographies, and historical events have created distinct regions within the country. The lowlands generally have been occupied by ethnic Vietnamese, while the highlands have been home to numerous smaller ethnic groups that differ culturally and linguistically from the Vietnamese. The highland peoples can be divided into the northern ethnic groups, who have affinities with peoples in southern China who speak Tai languages; and the southern highland populations, who have ties with peoples in Cambodia, who speak Mon-Khmer languages (Austroasiatic family), and peoples in Indonesia and elsewhere in Southeast Asia, who speak Austronesian languages.

A north-south variation has also emerged among the ethnic Vietnamese as they have expanded southward from the Red River delta along the coastal plain and into the Mekong delta. The Vietnamese have long made a distinction between the northern region, with Hanoi as its cultural centre; the central region, where the Nguyen dynasty established a capital at Hue; and the southern region, with Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) as its urban centre. After the mid-19th century, Vietnam was similarly divided by the French into Tonkin in the north, Annam in the centre, and Cochinchina in the south.

Ethnic groups
Vietnam has one of the most complex ethnolinguistic patterns in Asia. The Vietnamese majority was significantly Sinicized during a millennium of Chinese rule, which ended in 939 CE. Indian influence is most evident among the Cham and Khmer minorities. The Cham formed the majority population in the Indianized kingdom of Champa in what is now central Vietnam from the 2nd to the late 15th century CE. Small numbers of Cham remain in the south-central coastal plain and in the Mekong delta near the Cambodian border. The Khmer (Cambodians) are scattered throughout the Mekong delta.

Many other ethnic groups inhabit the highlands. While cultures vary considerably in the central region, shared characteristics include a way of life still largely oriented toward kin groups and small communities. Known collectively by the French as Montagnards (“highlanders” or, literally, “mountain people”), these central highlanders have affinities with other Southeast Asians and have exhibited an intense desire to preserve their own cultural identities. In the northern uplands, the various groups have ethnolinguistic affiliations with peoples in Thailand, Laos, and southern China.

Highland groups in general have experienced little Chinese or Indian influence, although they absorbed some Western (French and then American) cultural traits, primarily between the late 19th century and the early 1970s. By the early 21st century, however, the active promotion of tourism, as well as increased availability of products from foreign markets, brought new international influences into the highland communities.

Languages
Vietnamese is the official language of Vietnam. Although one of the Mon-Khmer languages of the Austroasiatic family, Vietnamese exhibits strong influences from Chinese. The language of the Khmer minority also belongs to the Mon-Khmer group, whereas Cham belongs to the Austronesian family.

Many Montagnard peoples—such as the Rade (Rhade), Jarai, Chru, and Roglai—speak Austronesian languages, linking them to the Cham, Malay, and Indonesian peoples; others—including the Bru, Pacoh, Katu, Cua, Hre, Rengao, Sedang, Bahnar, Mnong, Mang (Maa), Muong, and Stieng—speak Mon-Khmer languages, connecting them with the Khmer. French missionaries and administrators provided Roman script for some of the Montagnard languages, and additional orthographies have since been devised.

The largest of the northern highland groups speak languages belonging to the Tai language family and generally live in upland valleys. Thai, the national language of Thailand, also belongs to this language family. Hmong (Miao) and Mien groups, who speak Sino-Tibetan languages, are scattered at higher elevations.

Religion
Confucianism, Daoism, and Mahayana Buddhism entered Vietnam over many centuries. Gradually they became intertwined, simplified, and Vietnamized to constitute, along with vestiges of earlier local beliefs, an indigenous religion that came to be shared to some considerable extent by all Vietnamese, regardless of region or social class. It is largely this religious amalgam that is practiced by the roughly half of the population that identifies itself as being Buddhist.

The religion of Cao Dai, a synthesis of Confucianism, Daoism, Buddhism, and Roman Catholicism, appeared during the 1920s, and in the 1930s the Hoa Hao neo-Buddhist sect spread through parts of the Mekong delta. Cao Dai has about half as many adherents as Hoa Hao, but both congregations are growing. Together, the two new-religionist movements have embraced a significant minority of the population. Local religions involving numerous spirits predominate in many upland communities, and most Cham are adherents of Islam.

Roman Catholicism was introduced into Vietnam in the 16th century by Portuguese explorers and Dominican missionaries and spread rapidly following the French conquest in the mid-19th century. The heaviest concentrations of Roman Catholics in Vietnam were in the north until 1954, when, after the partition of the country, many of them to fled to the south. Protestantism came to Vietnam in 1911 and spread mainly among small segments of the urban population in the central and southern regions.

In 1954 all foreign Roman Catholic and Protestant clergy were expelled from North Vietnam, leaving only the native clergy. The North Vietnamese government tried to supplant the existing structures of organized religion with its own patriotic Buddhist, Cao Dai, Catholic, and Protestant religious organizations. Catholic clergy and believers were forced to renounce their allegiance to Rome.

With the conquest of South Vietnam by North Vietnam in 1975, northern institutions of control over churches and clergies were extended to the south as well. The country’s constitution, promulgated in 1992, guarantees freedom of religion, but in practice government controls have been relaxed only gradually. Performance of religious services by foreign missionaries without government approval continues to be illegal. Similarly, faith-based non-governmental organizations must register with the government, and may not proselytize.

Literature
Vietnamese poetry was written exclusively in Chinese until the end of the 13th century. By the 15th century, however, a demotic script called Chu Nom, or “the southern script,” had evolved into a vehicle for writing in vernacular Vietnamese. The Chinese heritage of the elite merged with local oral tradition, producing a truly Vietnamese literature. A distinctively Vietnamese long narrative poem in verse developed, culminating in the masterpiece of national literature, Kim Van Kieu (The Tale of Kieu), by Nguyen Du (1765–1820). In the 20th century, Vietnamese literature came to be written in a Roman alphabetical script (Quoc-ngu). In the 1930s a modern Vietnamese literature developed under French influence, featuring poetry, novels, and short stories.

Between 1954 and 1975 a cosmopolitan literature stressing creativity and individual freedom flourished in the south, while a state-sponsored literature of Socialist Realism was promoted in the north. After 1975 Socialist Realism became a national orthodoxy, although in the 1980s literature became more lively and diverse in content. During the 1990s writers tested the limits of their literary freedom, and since the start of the 21st century authors have continued to be bound by both explicit and tacit limitations and generally have practiced self-censorship. Politics has remained a taboo topic.

Daily life and social customs
Vietnam’s Confucian heritage is evident in the importance the Vietnamese give to the family. Families are essentially patrilineal, but Vietnamese women work alongside men in many jobs and play a major role in raising children and managing family finances. When possible, the Vietnamese prefer to work from early morning until early evening, with an extended rest period during the midday heat. In rural areas, both men and women wear trousers and shirts or blouses. On formal occasions and in urban areas, Western-style clothing is common, including skirts and blouses for women. Women still sometimes wear a form of the traditional ao dai, a long, slit tunic worn over pants.

Rice is the staple food. Vietnamese cuisine incorporates elements of both Chinese cooking and the cuisines of other Southeast Asian countries. Noodle soup with chicken or beef broth (pho), a distinctive kind of spring roll (cha gio), and the use of fermented fish sauce (nuoc mam) for dipping and seasoning are among the many noteworthy dishes. In the cities elaborate meals are available in expensive air-conditioned restaurants, but Vietnamese take delight in snacking at street stalls and entertaining friends in open-air establishments. The most important holiday, the lunar new year celebration known as Tet, is a time of feasting, visiting, and exchanging gifts.

Cultural Life
Chinese influence permeated all aspects of traditional Vietnamese culture, while Western influences became strong in the 20th century. Since the loosening of economic and political controls in the late 1980s, Vietnam has experienced both increased exposure to the lifestyles of the capitalist world and a resurfacing of old cultural practices. Folk traditions such as shamanism and soothsaying have experienced a revival despite official disapproval.