The Emergence of Modern Southeast Asia, Article Review Example

The present article describes the history of Southeast Asia countries in the context of foreign influence on their names. Cambodia is the country that suffered many changes throughout the communist reign of China and French colonial protectorate. Throughout the last three centuries its names changed many times, including the Kingdom of Kampuchea, the State of Cambodia, Khmer Republic etc. Now the terms ‘Cambodian’ and ‘Khmer’ are used interchangeably. As for Indonesia, it acquired its name and the names of all islands like Java, Jakarta and Borneo from foreigners. The names formed and spelling changed under the influence of Dutch and British.

Laos acquired its name from the European missionaries and was kept until the establishment of the communist monarchy under the name of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic in 1975. The name of Malaysia comes from the Malay – dominant population; it used to be a Federation of Malaysia together with Singapore and Sarawak with Sabah (both under British rule). Later Singapore was excluded, strong immigration was evident, causing the modern distinction between native and non-native Malay.

The state of Myanmar used to be the Union of Burma until 1989, with both names being interchangeable due to common linguistic shifts and modernization of the language. The Philippines acquired its name after the Spanish King Philipp II; people inhabiting the islands were called ‘indios’, and only in some cases ‘Filipinos’. With the takeover of Philippines by the USA, Spanish accent has been abandoned, though the term ‘Moors’ for Muslims has again become widely used.

Thailand had a name of Siam, but the former was chosen for more inclusion of non-Siamese people. Both ‘Thai’ and ‘Tai’ are usually used to name the people, and many other deviations in transliteration are acceptable. Vietnam got its name only in the 19^th century due to the ‘Viet’ people. The name was generated by the ruling Chinese and sounded as ‘Nam Viet’ at first, but was changed for ‘Vietnam’ for political reasons.

Works Cited

Owen, G. Norman. The Emergence of Modern Southeast Asia: New History. Honolulu: University of Hawaii’s Press, 2005.