Documents for "Southeast Asia History":

• Bandung Conference meeting of representatives of 29 African and Asian nations, held at Bandung, Indonesia, in 1955. The aim—to promote economic and cultural cooperation and to oppose colonialism—was more or less...

• boat people term used to describe the Indochinese refugees who fled Communist rule after the Vietnam War (1975) in small boats and the many ethnic Chinese who left Vietnam similarly after China's invasion of...

• British North Borneo see Sabah , Malaysia.

• Champa the kingdom of the Chams, which flourished in Vietnam from the 2d cent. AD until the 17th cent. At its greatest extent it occupied Annam as far north as central Vietnam. Its culture was strongly affected by Hindu influences. In its early period, Champa mainly warred with China and was forced to change its capital several times; late...

• Dutch East Indies see Indonesia.

• Dutch New Guinea see Papua , Indonesia.

• French Indochina see Indochina.

• Indochina War see Vietnam War.

• Khmer Empire ancient kingdom of SE Asia. In the 6th cent. the Cambodians, or Khmers, established an empire roughly corresponding to modern Cambodia and Laos. Divided during the 8th cent., it was reunited under the rule of Jayavarman II in the early 9th cent.; the capital was established in the area of Angkor by the king Yasovarman I (r. 889-900). The Angkor period (889-1434), the golden age of Khmer civilization, saw the empire at its greatest extent; it held sway over the valleys of the lower Menam...

• Khmer Republic see Cambodia.

• Khmer Rouge name given to native Cambodian Communists. Khmer Rouge soldiers, aided by North Vietnamese and Viet Cong troops, began a large-scale insurgency against government forces in 1970, quickly gaining...

• My Lai incident in the Vietnam War, a massacre of Vietnamese civilians by U.S. soldiers. On Mar. 16, 1968, a unit of the U.S. army Americal division, led by Lt. William L. Calley, invaded the South Vietnamese...

• Netherlands East Indies see Indonesia.

• Netherlands New Guinea see Papua.

• North Vietnam see Vietnam.

• Pathet Lao left-wing nationalist group that was ultimately victorious in the Laotian civil war that began in the mid-1950s. The name was first used in 1950 by Lao forces after the they joined the Viet Minh 's revolt against the French, and it became the generic term for the Lao Communists. In 1956 an official party, the Neo Lao Hak Sat (Lao Patriotic Front) was formed. In the 1960s and early 70s, the...

• Pollonarrua or Polonnaruwa , ruined ancient city, NE Sri Lanka. Pollonarrua, beautifully situated on a lake, was once the most splendid city of Sri Lanka. It became a royal residence in the mid-4th cent. and the capital after...

• Polonnaruwa see Pollonarrua.

• South Vietnam see Vietnam.

• Sri Vijaya maritime Indonesian city and kingdom. It was prominent as a trading partner with China from the 7th cent. until it was conquered by the Javanese Majapahit empire in the 14th cent.

• Straits Settlements collective name for certain former British colonies in Southeast Asia. The three British East India Company territories of Pinang , Singapore , and Malacca (see Melaka ) were given a unified administration in 1826 and called the Straits Settlements. The company was dissolved in 1858, and the territories were placed under the jurisdiction of the India Office. In...

• Tet offensive 1968, a series of crucial battles in the Vietnam War. On Jan. 31, 1968, the first day of the celebration of the lunar new year, Vietnam's most important holiday, the Vietnamese Communists launched a major offensive throughout South Vietnam. It took...

• U honorific used in Myanmar. See second part of name (e.g., Thant, U ).

• Viet Cong officially Viet Nam Cong San [Vietnamese Communists], People's Liberation Armed Forces in South Vietnam. The term was originally applied by Diem's regime to Communist troops (about 10,000) left in hideouts in South Vietnam...

• Viet Minh officially Viet Nam Doc Lap Dong Minh [League for the Independence of Vietnam], a coalition of Communist and nationalist groups that opposed the French and the Japanese during World War II. The Viet Minh spearheaded Vietnamese...

• Vietnam War conflict in Southeast Asia, primarily fought in South Vietnam between government forces aided by the United States and guerrilla forces aided by North Vietnam. The war began soon after the Geneva Conference provisionally divided (1954) Vietnam at 17° N lat. into the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) and the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam). It escalated from a Vietnamese civil war into...