Southeast Asia
European

Western influence started to enter in the 16th century, with the arrival of the Portuguese in Malacca, Maluku, and the Philippines, the latter being settled by the Spaniards years later, which they used to trade between Asia and Latin America. Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, the Dutch established the Dutch East Indies; the French Indochina; and the British Strait Settlements. By the 19th century, all Southeast Asian countries were colonised except for Thailand.

European explorers were reaching Southeast Asia from the west and from the east. Regular trade between the ships sailing east from the Indian Ocean and south from mainland Asia provided goods in return for natural products, such as honey and hornbill beaks from the islands of the archipelago. Before the 18th and 19th centuries, the Europeans mostly were interested in expanding trade links. For the majority of the populations in each country, there was comparatively little interaction with Europeans and traditional social routines and relationships continued. For most, a life with subsistence-level agriculture, fishing and, in less developed civilisations, hunting and gathering was still hard.

Europeans brought Christianity allowing Christian missionaries to become widespread. Thailand also allowed Western scientists to enter its country to develop its own education system as well as start sending royal members and Thai scholars to get higher education from Europe and Russia.
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