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Southeast Asia

Khmer, Srivijaya, Majapahit, and the mainland kingdoms.

1,511 CE – 1,900 CE

Portuguese, Dutch, Spanish, British and French establish footholds that harden into colonies.

1,400 CE – 1,511 CE

A port city that became the hinge of Indian Ocean trade, and the route by which Islam spread through the region.

1,300 CE – 1,600 CE

Carried mainly by traders rather than armies, it becomes dominant across what is now Indonesia and Malaysia.

1,293 CE – 1,527 CE

A Javanese maritime empire whose reach across the archipelago later Indonesian states would invoke.

1,150 CE

Begun as a Hindu temple, later Buddhist, and still the largest religious monument in the world.

802 CE – 1,431 CE

Centred on Angkor, with hydraulic engineering that supported one of the largest pre-industrial cities on Earth.

800 CE

The largest Buddhist temple in the world, raised in central Java.

650 CE – 1,288 CE

A Sumatran maritime empire controlling the straits, and a major centre of Buddhist learning.

50 CE – 550 CE

An early trading state in the Mekong delta, linking India and China by sea.

600 BCE – 200 CE

Elaborately decorated bronze drums made in northern Vietnam and traded across the region.