Regional Integration

Abstract

During its early history Southeast Asia was peopled by waves of migrants coming mainly from the north and western regions of the Asian continent. In time there emerged centres of power which expanded and contracted over time, usually as a result of war. These were based in religious urban-cores, incorporating ideologies transmitted from India, China and the Middle East. Both India and China influenced and moulded Southeast Asia’s cultures, economies and politics. Adoption of Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism and Islam, and the transfer of other cultural products shaped their political system and the cultural unity of indigenous people. By the sixteenth century, Southeast Asia was functioning in a regional and global economy, mainly through trading networks in China and South Asia (Frank 1998; Reid 1993).