| Burma |
The British used force to annex Burma between 1826 and 1888 (Barton 50) in three Anglo-Burmese Wars. The British maintained Burma as a province of British India. King of Burma gave France the right to build a railway in 1880. British feared French expansion and a war with Burma, captured Burmese King and annexed it in 1886 |
| Indochina, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam |
current national borders of Southeast Asia were not established until after World War II. What is now northern Vietnam was ruled by China for more than a thousand years, between the second century BCE and the tenth century CE. Then, in the 1800s, France conquered a region including the modern nations of Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. France did not withdraw from “Indochina,” as the region was called, until 1954. |
| Indonesia |
Indonesia faced approximately 450 years of colonization by Europeans. In 1602, the VOC or Netherlands’ United East India Company was formed which indirectly colonized Indonesia. During the Second World War, Japan occupied Indonesia from 1942 to 1945. educated elites and reformers, such as Sukarno, led the Indonesian Revolution. In 1945, Sukarno was declared President and he established the Republic of the United States of Indonesia. The Dutch finally recognized their loss and liberated Indonesia from the colonial control in 1949 |
| Malaysia and Singapore |
The British (Raffles) set up Singapore in 1819 and the Netherlands ceded Malacca to Britain in 1824. Britain governed Penang (acquired in 1786), Singapore, and Malacca as the Straits Settlements from which Britain expanded into the Malay Peninsula from 1874 to 1914 Strait of Malacca |
| Sri Lanka |
it was occupied by the Portuguese, then by Dutch and finally by British
England introduced and rubber plantation in Sri Lanka as they formed 7/8th of Sri Lankan exports |
| Thailand / Siam |
Sandwiched between Indochina (French) and Burma (British).
Although it remained independent state, both France and Britain exercised much power and authority over its affairs. |
| Philippines |
There was a revolt by Filipinos and Cubans against the Spanish rule.
After the global triumph of the U.S. over Spain in 1898, the U.S. moved in to colonize the Philippines. Admiral Dewey defeated Spain in Manila Bay on May 1, 1898. Aguinaldo declared Philippine independence on June 12, 1898 and the Philippine Republic on January 23, 1899 but the U.S. did not recognize it. Hence, the Philippine-American War started in 1899 and went on for about 10 years. About 400,000 to 600,000 Filipinos were killed and 10,000 Americans died. On Feb. 6, 1899, the U.S. Senate voted to annex the Philippines. On July 4, 1901, U.S. President McKinley set up civil government and appointment the Philippine Commission which was headed by William Howard Taft.
Mark Twain was the most famous literary adversary of the Philippine-American War and he served as a vice president of the Anti-Imperialist League from 1901 until his death. The Philippines became a commonwealth in 1935 and independent in 1946 after World War II. |
