What were the demographics and economics of South-East Asian islands around year 1400?
Upvote:-4
The south east asia called as "SWARNA DHWEEP" means land of gold. The chola empire once invaded to sri vijaya(malaysia) anda kadaram(Keddah). Rajendra chola the great has titled as "KADARAM KONDAN" means conqueror of keddah. Even today we can find dravidan sculptured temples in south east asia. specially in combodia , Indonesia.
Upvote:4
We know the population of the whole Southeast Asia mostly by estimates. Contemporary figures are considered unreliable, and state of the art values are computed by combining the most reliable ones with backward projections from XIX century data.
Estimated Southeast Asian Population about 1600
_______________________________________________________________________
Region Population ('000) Density (per km2)
_______________________________________________________________________
... ... ...
Malaya (incl. Pattani) 500 3.4
Sumatra 2400 5.7
Java 4000 30.3
Borneo 670 0.9
Sulawesi 1200 6.3
Bali 600 79.7
Lesser Sunda 600 9.1
Maluku 160 2.2
Luzon and Visayas 800 4.0
Mindanao and Sulu 150 1.5
Although the values concern 1600, the population growth rate was extraordinarily low as late as 1800. You can take them within a factor of two. Apart from Java and Southern Sulawesi, most of the population was concentrated in big cities, that thrived on commerce. The landscape was dominated by jungles, and it remained pretty much so until at least the XIX century. For instance, attacks by tigers were not uncommon, even around populous centres.
As for the economy, the question is quite broad, but the fulcrum of any answer on this topic is geographic. The Strait of Malacca is a mandatory choke point for sea trade between East Asia and the Indian Ocean, which makes it one of the most important shipping lanes in the world.
In addition, trade from the Spice Islands must necessarily go through Western Indonesia. The strategic importance was thus complemented with the passage of precious spices, directed to Northern and Western foreign markets.
The region around Malacca only produced small amounts of tin, gold and fish. Its economy flourished on the flow of goods through it. See on this topic Saint Wikipedia's article about the Sultanate of Malacca.
As for the Majapahit Empire, the same holds. In contrast with the Sultanate of Malacca, the Javanese could rely on local production, for example Javanese rice. One of the leading causes of its decline is the rise of the Sultanate of Malacca to the North, and the loss of control on the maritime traffic in the region.
Around the 1400, increasing demand of goods from China, and later from other regions, including Europe, determined an unprecedented growth in commerce. Chinese authorities, worried because of the outflow of cash from the Empire, banned commerce with Java in the XV century. The extent of this economic boom determined a revolution in the region.
Source: Cambridge History of Southeast Asia, Vol. 1, Singapore, 1992
More post
- 📝 Did a US Territory Gaining Statehood by Itself Bestow Citizenship to Anyone Who Was Present?
- 📝 Were there military operations that targeted individual enemy commanders?
- 📝 Did a villein ever rise to the nobility in Medieval England?
- 📝 Is there evidence to suggest the CIA didn't want Reagan to end the Cold War?
- 📝 Why were 40,000 German troops left in Prague instead of pulled back to defend Berlin?
- 📝 Why are most late medieval fencing manuals German?
- 📝 What transit restrictions were in place in Occupied Germany limiting military and civilian movement between the four occupation zones?
- 📝 Why were Greek philosophy and sciences taken up by medieval Muslim civilizations, but not contemporary Western Europe?
- 📝 Why did Sidewinder missiles score so well before Vietnam?
- 📝 What cars were used with the Crocodile Class Ce 6/8 locomotive during its active years, especially at the beginning?
- 📝 Did line infantry units have designated marksmen?
- 📝 Did Arab policymakers have plans for the Jewish population, in case of victory in 1948 War?
- 📝 What rectangular object would is this Boer War era officer carrying on his left hand side?
- 📝 Pre civil-war, did the north ever make any attempts to stop the underground railroad?
- 📝 Did the Dutch carry out trials for collaboration with the Japanese in the Dutch East Indies?
- 📝 Leaders killed or removed for reducing the privileges of the rich
- 📝 What is the basic structure of British Politics?
- 📝 What percent of the Roman Republic's population were citizens in various centuries?
- 📝 Why was there a "workers' militia" in Eastern Europe but not in the USSR?
- 📝 When did springs first appear in or below vehicle seats?
- 📝 What is the best method/ readings to learn WWII
- 📝 Could someone become Empress in China more than once?
- 📝 When did the acceptance of diversity become such an important social goal in Western countries?
- 📝 Did the discovery of zero affect our calendar and how we count days? Are we off by a tenth?
- 📝 How did people wake up early before clocks?
- 📝 What branch of the military wore this uniform?
- 📝 Have American urban rioters ever looted residences?
- 📝 What were the main causes of successful take over of India by Britain?
- 📝 Did ancient Romans have a religion that involved a "fish hat"?
- 📝 Who are the 'Tiursk tribe' of Central Asia?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 What were the demographics and economics of South-East Asian islands around year 1400?
- 📝 What were the effects of US foreign policy in the South East Asian region in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s on states with capitalist economies?
- 📝 What East German laws and regulations were extended to the West after unification?
- 📝 What is the origin of Khans? Is there any link between South Asian Khans and the Mongols?
- 📝 What universities existed in Dutch East Indies, and how available were they to the native population?
- 📝 What were the population demographics in the South during the Hayes/Tilden election?
- 📝 Were there any Germans in Japan after the surrender of Germany in May, 1945 and if so, what happened to them?
- 📝 In WWII, what were the major differences in tank combat on the eastern and western fronts?
- 📝 What were the EMP effects, if any, of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki?
- 📝 What were the Nazi racial views on Hungarians and the Japanese?
- 📝 At what point were the most current and former US Presidents alive?
- 📝 What were the thoughts of the Celts, Romans and other ancient European people about the standing stones which survive from prehistoric times?
- 📝 What were the original casualty projections for Hiroshima and Nagasaki?
- 📝 What was the staple food of the natives of South East Asia before rice?
- 📝 What were the political and military constraints on Vercingetorix at Alesia?
- 📝 What were the operating principles of Japan's MITI during the 1950s and 60s?
- 📝 What were the Government Press Prosecutions of 1858 and why did they occur?
- 📝 What were the insignia of the Western Roman Empire and what happened to them?
- 📝 What transit restrictions were in place in Occupied Germany limiting military and civilian movement between the four occupation zones?
- 📝 What were the key differences between United States' and Indian revolutions?
- 📝 What were contemporary Japanese views on the Taiping Rebellion and Heavenly Kingdom?
- 📝 What benefits were there to the USA of developing both Uranium and Plutonium bombs in World War 2?
- 📝 What is the historical evidence for asserting Huns were one and the same as Xiongnu?
- 📝 What were the advantages and disadvantages of Mongolian cavalry (compared to European cavalry)?
- 📝 What were the rights and responsibilities of (various classes of) 11th century English commonfolk?
- 📝 Were there any well-established land trade routes in the US colonies around 1700? What did they look like?
- 📝 Were there bows employed by tribes living in the desert, and if so, what were they made of?
- 📝 What specific changes were made to political ideologies around during and before World War I?
- 📝 Were East Germans more acquiescent to Soviet domination than the rest of Eastern Europe and if so, why?
- 📝 What were the traveling practices of merchants, roughly between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance?