Explain the ways in which different parts of Southeast Asia came under colonial hegemony in the nineteenth century?

Qn. 1 -- Explain the ways in which different parts of Southeast Asia came under colonial hegemony in the nineteenth century?

Introduction

The increasing European influence in Southeast Asia grew in a faster rate after 1750. Colonial hegemony in terms of political and economic powers only came to prevail after 1815. By the end of 19th century, most of Southeast Asia were under colonial rule.

How did colonial rule come to prevail?
Southeast Asian states came under foreign power in different mechanisms and time. Some states signed treatites. Others had open conflicts that led to pacification and occupation. And another was because of economic forces that led to the intervention.

Evidently, areas such as Java and the Philippines had been under European control prior to 1800s. Other Indonesian islands besides Java, Vietnam, Burma, and the Malay Peninsula, came under colonial rule in the course of 19th century. Some countries such as Thailand, in the 19th century, did not come under colonial rule directly.


The Spread of Colonial Rule

(1) Colonial powers used the signing of treaties in order to gain its powers over states such as Singapore and Cambodia.

Local rulers in Singapore signed two treaties. The first treaty was through Sir Stamford Raffles manipulation of the succession dispute in the Johor-Riau Empire. The second treaty was the Anglo-Dutch treaty in 1824. The British, however, had already exerted power even before the second treaty was signed. Therefore, the Anglo-Dutch treaty provided legitimacy of foreign dominion over the Settlement.

Colonial hegemony in Cambodia also came to existence through diplomacy. In 1884, King Norodom was forced to sign a treaty which will allow Cambodia to become a French protectorate.



(2) Open conflicts between Southeast Asians and Europeans also provided opportunities for colonial powers to exert its full control over local's political, economic, and social aspects.

Such was the case in Java between 1825-1830. In trying to put Java under Dutch hegemony by building railroads, the Dutch encountered oppositions from peasants and aristrocatic families. This led to the Java War. Eventually, locals did not win the war. And the war concludes that Java will be under an intense Dutch hegemony until the next century.

In the case of Vietnam, there was a phase whereby French missionaries came to preach and covert locals to Christians. The existing monarchy, however, was against such movement. They then persecuted these missionaries. The problem of the Vietnamese rulers was that they were too rigid that they were not exposed to western cultures, unlike Thailand. They were too confined with Confucian ideas that they were not ready for changes, given the fact that many had already coverted as Christians. Because of the weak administration, it was easy for the French to come and take dominion over Vietnam.


(3) Pacification by spread of religion can also be classified as one of the mechanisms that colonial rulers used to bring states under colonial subject.

This occurred in the Philippines whereby the Spanish came to indoctrinate the people and control them in the latter part. Since the 16th century, Spanish missionaries came to the northern part of Philippines to spread Catholicism by setting up schools and educating the locals their culture and language. Thus, the beginnings of 19th century, when colonization was still in its infancy stage in most parts of Southeast Asia, almost all of the Philippines (except the south) was already under colonial hegemony.


SO, was the spread of colonial rule a result of deliberate policy?
We can't say that all European countries at the beginning of the 19th century had fixed policies to spread colonialism. But we know that there was a period of time when demands for raw materials due to industrialization in Europe increased. There was also a greater degree of self-assurance and arrogance among European nations after Napoleonic wars.

The idea of exploiting colonial territories for the benefit of the mother country appealed policy makers and also some European civilians who directly or indirectly benefit from colonial possessions. These civilians who were present in Southeast Asia also played an important role in promoting colonial rule.

Conclusion

Therefore the ways in which different parts of Southeast Asia came under colonial hegemony in the 19th century cannot be generalized that it had a fixed mean. Southeast Asian states came under colonial rule in different manners and timings. Also, the expansion of colonial rule was largely inspired by economic demands.