South East Asia 2500 BCE

What is happening in South East Asia in 2500BCE

At around this time, a series of major population movements begin to affect this region. Starting in southern China and Taiwan, farming and fishing communities begin to move south and west, into the coasts and islands of South East Asia. These are the ancestors of today’s Malays, Polynesians and other Austronesian peoples, and it is the start of a millennia-long migration which will take them to Madagascar in one direction, and Hawaii in the other.

At the same time, the population of south west China is expanding as Austroasiatic migrants move in from the central Yangtze valley, with their wet-rice farming technology. From there they will soon begin to follow the river valleys down into present-day Burma and Laos.

Next map, South East Asia in 1500 BCE