The concept of “Southeast Asia” is a geographical and political construct that emerged only in the early 20th century. The term was first used in an Austrian geographical magazine in 1900, describing the region of Asia that borders India on the west, China on the north, and the Pacific Ocean on the east. The term did not become a currency in political and historical discourse until the Pacific War and has only gained its weight during the Vietnam War since the 1960s. Of course, this was due to the fact that nine out of the ten of the “nations” that compose the present-day “Southeast Asia” were still a part of European colonies until the second half of the 20th century, including Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar (Burma), the Philippines, Singapore, and Vietnam, with the exception of Thailand (Siam) which maintained its independence all along. Before assuming the label of “Southeast Asia,” the area was referred to by names such as “Further India,” “the East Indies,” “Indochina”, and the “Malay Peninsula.”
The arrival of Europeans in the early 16th century saw the establishment of their power all over Southeast Asia. Originally in Southeast Asia for commercial gain and wealth, Western powers began to become more invasive during the 19th and early 20th centuries. This change in thought came about because of factors such as: growing technological superiority, a powerful mercantile community which continued to grow in Southeast Asia, and the competition for strategic territory. The only country to remain independent of colonial occupation was Thailand. The location of Southeast Asia made it a strategic one since it was between Japan and India, lying on the important shipping routes within the region. These factors made Southeast Asia the battlegrounds between the Allied forces against Imperial Japan during World War II.
After World War II the countries of Southeast Asia have reemerged as independent nations. They have been plagued by political turmoil, weak economies, ethnic strife, and social inequities, although the situation for most Southeast Asian nations improved in the 1980s and 90s. Throughout the 1960s and early 1970s, however, there were open conflicts between Communist and non-Communist factions throughout most of the region, especially in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. In 1967 Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand created the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the objectives of which are to promote regional economic growth, political stability, social progress, and cultural developments. Since then, Brunei (1984), Vietnam (1995), Laos (1997), and Myanmar and Cambodia (1999) have joined ASEAN.
Sources:
Paul Lagasse, “Southeast Asia,” in The Columbia Encyclopedia (New York: Columbia University Press, 2016).
Michael Leifer, The Oxford History of the Twentieth Century (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998).
Ka F. Wong, Visions of a Nation: Public Monuments in Twentieth Century Thailand (Bangkok, White Lotus, 2006).
Southeast Asian immigration history in America resulted from the United States political and military involvement that aimed at building its global power. From Filipinos during the Spanish-American War in 1898 to Vietnamese, Cambodian, Lao, and Hmong refugees from the American (Vietnam) War in the Southeast Asian region, military interventions generated successions of migration flows throughout the 20th century. For groups like Filipinos, migration took place over the course of 100 years, while refugees from the Vietnam War era arrived in significant numbers only in the 1970s. According to historian Erika Lee, the story of how more than one million Southeast Asian peoples have come to America between 1975 and 2010 reveals the multifaceted legacies of the different wars and the immense resilience of the refugees who have made America their new home.
Sources:
Erika Lee, The Making of Asian America: A History (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2015).
Chia Youyee Vang, Southeast Asian Americans (Oxford Research Encyclopedias).