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The Thai arrived from southern China and lived in the Khmer area. Buddhism was introduced from Sri Lanka and India. Buddhism replaced Hinduism.
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Europe started settling Southeast Asia like everywhere else. Portugal came to the region first thing to find spices and goods to trade. Following Portugal came the rest of Europe
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Ferdinand Magellan got to the Philippines and said Spain owned it. Spaniards followed and came to colonize trade, and spread Roman Catholicism. This religion is still the main faith today.
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The Dutch traders pushed the Portugese out of Southeast Asia. Portugal onlykept the island Timor. The Dutch controlled the tea and spice trade on what is now Indonesia.
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In the 1800s, plantations, railroads, and mines were set up by the British and French. Chinese and Indians were the workers. The British and French helped spread Christianity.
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The U.S. went into Southeast Asia when it won the Philippines in the Spanish-American war. Most of the region was colonized. Only Siam, now Thailand, was never colonized.
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Japan invaded and conquered most of Southeast Asia. After the U.S won the war the U.S. gave the Philippines independence. Then other countries began to fight for independence.
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While fighting for independence, Vietnam split into two, and fighting broke out in the south. The United States sent troops to Vietnam to stop the spread of communism. The fighting solved nothing, caused millions of deaths, and South and North Vietnam reunited and became communist.
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In 1975, communism took over Cambodia. The government caused one million people to die there. In 1978, Vietnam helped Cambodia overthrow the government, which caused more fighting. the UN finally ceased the fighting in the 1990s.
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The Khmer was the first andvanced civilization to live in Southeast Asia. From the 800s to the 1200s the Khmer controlled an empire in which is now Cambodia. The Khmer built hindu temples.
