THE GEOGRAPHY OF SOUTHEAST ASIA

 Southeast Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east ofIndia and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic and volcanic activity.Southeast Asia is geographically divided into two subregions, namely Mainland Southeast Asia (or Indochina) and Maritime Southeast.

•  Mainland Southeast Asia countries includes: Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar (Burma), Thailand, Vietnam and Peninsular Malaysia
• Maritime Southeast Asia includes: East Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia, Philippines,Singapore and Timor-Lest

The physical features of Southeast Asia, contains of Mountains and Rivers.

-Mountains are the dominate landscape. Most of the peaks are below 10,000 feet, which create geographical and political barriers. The Western and Northern highlands separate region from India and China. The mineral-rich volcanic material breaks down and leaves rich, fertile soil, which make Southeast Asia highly productive agricultural.

-Rivers are very significant in the Southeast Asia. It is the waterways for transportation, communication and food.

Silt and deposits of sediment create fertile agricultural regions. The mainland rivers originate in northern highlands and flow south to Gulf of Thailand    

THE CLIMATE

-Over all climate in Southeast Asia is mainly tropical–hot and humid all year with some rains. Southeast Asia has a wet and dry season caused by seasonal shift in winds. 79 degree F daily temperature average creates hot, humid, and rainy conditions. The tropical rain belt causes additional rainfall during the monsoon season. The rain forest is the second largest on earth.

Religion in the 1500s

During the 1500s, Christianity was brought into Southeast Asia. It became the main religion in the area at that time. The Spanish and Portuguese brought it over to Southeast Asia. Later, the French also brought Christianity to parts of Southeast Asia. It spread very easily especially through the Philippines because there were Spanish missionaries stationed there. Unlike the other religions that Asia had before the 1500s, Christianity did not adapt to the Southeast Asian customs. Christianity showed no animistic aspects, which was very unusual for the Southeast Asians.

Other than Christianity, Islam was the other main religion in Southeast Asia. It became very popular in Malacca after 1400. By the 17^th century, it would end up becoming the dominant religion in Southeast Asia, but it would be over the course of many many years that this change would happen.

This link gives a lot of information about all of Southeast Asia during this time, so check it out for more information. :)