ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The first outsiders to set out in pursuit of the wealth of Southeast Asia's maritime realm were Indians, from the Indian subcontinent, who arrived in the last centuries BCE. Southeast Asia divides naturally into two parts, the mainland and the islands. Although many similarities, both cultural and geographic, link the two, there are some obvious differences. The ancestors of the Malayo-Polynesian peoples who lived along China's southern coast were cultivating a domesticated variety of rice by 5000 BCE, a full millennium before the maritime migration of the Malayo-Polynesian peoples began. Even though a frost-free climate is ideal for farming, agricultural productivity in the maritime realm does vary according to soil type. The Malay sailors were highly skilled navigators, sailing over the oceans for thousands of miles without a compass or written charts.
