ABSTRACT
Histories of Southeast Asia from 1500 to 1940 are largely elitist records of colonial conquests, governors, policies, and economic developments, with the "natives" depicted as recipients of colonial largesse in the form of occasional educational, health, or other reforms. The boundaries of Southeast Asia are relatively easy to delineate. The region can be outlined by extending a line from the eastern tip of China to the northern coast of Australia, from there to the southern tip of India, and from India back to the first point in China. Seafaring groups, historically dependent upon the regional and world trading systems, monopolized the Southeast Asian segment of these systems and were able to amass great wealth and establish strong political units based on their control. The systems model provides an organizing framework for comparing patterns in foreign policy behavior and regional interaction within and among the traditional and contemporary systems of Southeast Asia and also helps to clarify elements of historical continuity.
