Southeast Asia consists of eleven countries that reach from eastern India to China, which are generally divided into “mainland” and “island” zones. The mainland (Burma, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam) is actually an extension of the Asian continent. Island or maritime Southeast Asia includes Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, Brunei, and the new nation of East Timor (formerly part of Indonesia). Islam is the state religion in Malaysia and Brunei. Although 85 percent of Indonesia’s population of over 234,000,000 are Muslims, a larger number than any other country in the world, Islam is not the official state religion. Muslims are a minority in Singapore and the southern Philippines.
Where in Southeast Asia is Laos?

Over the past 40 years, more than 100,000 Vietnamese have been killed or injured by the bombs and land mines left by the American army. Another grim legacy of the war is the poisonous impact of Agent Orange, which the Americans used against the Vietnamese. This chemical warfare not only destroyed Vietnam’s agriculture but also affected residents who were exposed to it. About three million people, including 150,000 children, suffered from defects caused by Agent Orange.
Though the Americans left in 1975, for millions of Vietnamese their suffering did not end that year.
What warfare, left in Vietnam by the U.S. after that War, has taken the most lives, as well as having destroyed Vietnamese agriculture? 
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The elongated state of Vietnam is slightly larger than Italy and about three times the size of Kentucky. In 2010 it was estimated to have a population of about ninety million people. Sixty percent of the population is under age twenty-one. This indicates that the population was only about half its current size at the end of the Vietnam War.
Why does this passage say that the population of Vietnam was only about half its current size at the end of the Vietnam War?

Another country which was ravaged by the war was Vietnam’s neighbor, Laos. Between 1964 and 1973, the United States dropped more than two million tons of bombs on Laos to cut off the supplies of communist guerrillas operating along the borders of Vietnam and Laos. Because of this, Laos became the most heavily bombed country on Earth. At least 30 percent of these bombs failed to detonate. Forty years after the end of Vietnam War, these unexploded bombs continue to kill and injure farmers and other rural residents of Laos.
Which of the following is true?

Another country which saw a communist party take power in 1975 was Cambodia. The communist Khmer Rouge ruled Cambodia from April 1975 to January 1979. During this brief period, the Khmer Rouge under the leadership of Pol Pot was accused of killing more than one million people. Some claim the casualties reached two million, or about a quarter of Cambodia’s population at that time. Those who resisted the government were sent to labor camps. Almost 800,000 suffered from torture, slave labor, and starvation.
What is another name for what happened in Cambodia?

The year 1975 also saw the rise of tension in the Muslim-dominated areas of Thailand and the Philippines.
In southern Thailand, the army was accused of killing several young Muslims, which worsened the political situation in that part of the country.
Meanwhile, intense clashes between government soldiers and Muslim rebels in the southern Philippines displaced thousands of residents. The conflict generated greater international attention to the demand of Muslims in the Philippines for independence.
What was the army in southern Thailand accused of doing?

Vietnam has two main urban core areas: Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) in the south and the capital, Hanoi, in the north. The middle region of Vietnam is narrow, with higher elevation. Each core area is located along a major river delta.
These river deltas deposit silt from upstream and provide excellent farmland for growing multiple crops of rice and food grains per year.
What is the highest region of Vietnam?

Vietnam has a tropical climate with a long coastline. Fishing provides protein to balance out nutritional needs. More than 55 percent of the population works in agriculture.
Family size has dropped dramatically because of population growth and a trend toward urbanization. Rural-to-urban shift has caused the two main urban core cities to grow rapidly.
Saigon is the largest city in Vietnam and has a port that can accommodate ocean-going vessels.
What do the majority of Vietnamese people do for work?

An understanding of Vietnam is not complete without understanding the changes in political control the country has experienced.
When France colonized Vietnam, it imposed the French language and Christianity as the main religion. Both changes met resistance, but the religious persecution of Buddhism by the French created even more anger within the Vietnamese culture. French domination started in 1858. The Japanese replaced it in 1940; this lasted until the end of World War II. With the defeat of Japan in 1945, the French desired to regain control of Vietnam. The French aggressively pushed into the country, but met serious resistance and were finally defeated by the Vietnamese in 1954.
How did France first lose its control over Vietnam?

In the mid-1950s, the Vietnamese began asserting their desire to become an independent country. Their situation was similar to that of Korea. After World War II, Vietnam needed to establish a government for their country, but they were not unified. The northern section was aligned with a Communist ideology. The southern side aligned itself with capitalism and democratic reforms.
In what way was Vietnam's situation after World War II similar to Korea's situation?

During the Cold War, the United States opposed Communism wherever it emerged. Vietnam was one such case. The French had just been defeated by the Vietnamese. Shortly after, the U.S. began supporting the Vietnamese in the south against the communist Vietnamese in the north. By1960, US advisors were working to bolster South Vietnam’s military power. 
Why did the U.S. begin intervening militarily in Vietnam?

In 1975 the US government, under President Richard Nixon, finally decided to pull all US troops out from Vietnam after a cease-fire was agreed upon in Paris. More than fifty-seven thousand US soldiers had died in the Vietnam War. Two years later, the North Vietnamese Communists invaded South Vietnam and took control of the entire country. Vietnam was then unified under a Communist government and regime.
The United States placed an embargo on Vietnam, refusing to trade with them. The United States did not reopen relations with Vietnam again until 1996. The War devastated the Vietnamese country. Roads, bridges, farms and valuable systems were completely destroyed -over two-million Vietnamese were killed. Vietnam could only turn to what it does best: growing rice and food for its people.
What was the end result of the United States defeat and cease-fire in Vietnam?

Laos
The geography of Laos centers on the Mekong River basin and rugged mountain terrain. Laos is landlocked. Vietnam shields Laos from the South China Sea to the east and Cambodia to the south. It doesn’t have a port city to the outside world. The mountains reach up to 9,242 feet. Laos is about the same size in area as the state of Utah.
France conquered Laos during the colonial era and created what was called French Indochina. Laos received independence from France in 1949.
Laos is a rural country with around 80 percent of the population working as farmers. The country is not well developed. Electricity is not available on a consistent basis and transportation is basic. There are no railroads, cars and only a few paved roads. Clean water for drinking is rare. The economy is based on farming, with some outside investments in mining and natural resources.
According to the text, why is Laos probably not a very technologically advanced country?

Two-thirds of the people in Laos are Buddhists. Animist traditions and spirit worship have the next highest percentage of followers. Muslims and Christians make up a small percentage of the population. Lao make up the largest ethnic group and 70 percent of the population. Other ethnicities include the Hmong and mountain tribal groups, which can be found in various remote regions of the country. The remoteness and rural heritage of the many tribal people have started to attract tourism. Tourism has increased in recent years, partially due to the Chinese government allowing its citizens to travel outside their borders from China into Laos.
What about the Laos population has begun to attract tourists to Laos?

Cambodia
Cambodia is about the same size in area as the US state of Missouri. The population in 2008 was estimated at around 14.5 million. France took control of the region in the latter part of the seventeenth century (as it did with many of the other Southeast Asian countries). Japan took control of the region shortly before World War II started, and then relinquished it after surrendering to the United States, ending World War II. France regained control of Cambodia after the Japanese army was defeated. Cambodia finally received independence from France in 1953.
Which countries controlled Cambodia before it was finally able to gain its own independence?

In Cambodia, Pol Pot was creating an agricultural model for a new country based on eleventh-century ideals. People in urban areas were forcibly marched off into the countryside for labor in farming. Anyone who resisted or even hinted at dissent was killed. All traces of Westernized ideas, technology, medical practice, religion, or books were destroyed. Thousands of people were systematically killed in an attempt to bring into being a rural and farming utopian society. The thousands upon thousands who were systematically eliminated gave rise to the term KillingFields, meaning fields where massive groups of people were forced to dig their own graves and then were killed. The mass killings were reminiscent of those carried out by Hitler, Stalin, and Mao. Pol Pot’s regime also targeted ethnic minority groups. Professionals and educated people, such as doctors, lawyers, and teachers, were also targeted for execution. According to some reports, the very act of wearing eyeglasses was a death sentence as it was a symbol of intellectualism. In a country of eight million in 1970, more than two million people were executed or died as a result of Pol Pot’s policies. The total number will never be known. 
What was Pol Pot's aim in executing so many of Cambodia's citizens?

During the the Vietnam War (1969-1973), US forces bombed and briefly invaded Cambodia in an effort to disrupt North Vietnamese military operations there, as well as to oppose Cambodia's communist leaders (the Khmer Rouge). Millions of Cambodians were turned into refugees and had to flee the country. The number of civilian casualties from US bombing missions in Cambodia numbered in the thousands. The US war in Vietnam had spilled over into Laos and Cambodia and allowed for the Khmer Rouge regime to gain power. Pol Pot, leader of the Khmer Rouge, and his Communist forces of the captured Cambodia’s capital in 1975, taking control of the country. The Khmer Rouge army evacuated all cities and towns and forced all citizens to move out to rural farms out in the countryside. 
What was the unintended result of the U.S. bombing in Cambodia?

Cambodia
By 1978, the Khmer Rouge was isolated in the countryside. Vietnamese forces controlled the urban areas of Cambodia. A decade of civil war and unrest followed. The Khmer Rouge killed hundreds of thousands of Cambodian citizens. Paris peace talks, cease-fires, United Nations–sponsored elections and coalition governments have since helped provide political stability. Pol Pot died under unclear circumstances in 1998 while being held under house arrest. As of 1999, the Khmer Rouge elements that were still in existence had surrendered or were arrested. Many of the Khmer Rouge leaders were charged with crimes against humanity by United Nations–sponsored tribunals.
Why were many of the Khmer Rouge leaders arrested?