Southeast Asia (964 – 1107 CE): Angkor’s Expansion, Pagan’s Rise, Srivijaya at Zenith, and the Maritime Spice Commonwealth

Geographic and Environmental Context

Southeast Asia in the Lower High Medieval Age formed one of the world’s great crossroads—linking the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea through a chain of rivers, deltas, and island straits.
It encompassed the mainland basins of the Irrawaddy, Chao Phraya, Mekong, and Red Rivers, and the insular zones of the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Java, Borneo, Sulawesi, and the eastern archipelagos stretching to the Moluccas and Philippines.
Volcanic soils, monsoon-fed lowlands, and reef-fringed coasts sustained a mosaic of agrarian empires and maritime thalassocracies that together forged the most interconnected economy in the tropical world.

Climate and Environmental Shifts

The Medieval Warm Period (c. 950–1250 CE) brought relatively stable monsoon regimes and abundant harvests.
Fertile floodplains enabled the hydraulic expansion of Angkor and Pagan, while volcanic soils in Java and Sumatra yielded surplus rice.
At sea, calmer inter-monsoon intervals favored navigation through the Malacca, Sunda, and Makassar Straits.
Periodic cyclones and El Niño droughts affected coastal polities, but irrigation, redistribution, and maritime trade tempered their impact.

Societies and Political Developments

Across the region, two great systems flourished in tandem—mainland rice kingdoms and insular maritime empires—each adapting Indic and Buddhist influences to local ecologies.

Mainland Southeast Asia

• Myanmar:
  After the Pyu collapse, Burman-speaking groups founded Pagan (Bagan) in the Irrawaddy valley.
  Under Anawrahta (1044–1077), Pagan unified Upper Myanmar, institutionalized Theravāda Buddhism, and constructed thousands of stupas and monasteries.
  Vast irrigation networks turned dry plains into granaries supporting temple-based patronage.

• Thailand and Laos:
  The Dvaravati Mon states declined, absorbed by Pagan and Angkorian expansion.
  Lao uplands remained fragmented, while early Thai migrations from the north were laying future foundations.

• Cambodia (Khmer Empire):
  Under Suryavarman I (1006–1050), Angkor reached classical scale, extending control into Laos and central Thailand.
  Massive baray reservoirs and canals powered rice surpluses, while temples like Phimeanakas embodied a fusion of Hindu and Buddhist royal ideology.

• Vietnam:
  The Lý dynasty (1009–1225) centralized power at Thăng Long (Hanoi), balancing Buddhist devotion with Confucian administration.
  Southward, Champa thrived along the coast, constructing Mỹ Sơn towers and contesting borders with both Khmer and Dai Viet.

Insular Southeast Asia

• Srivijaya (Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula):
  At its zenith, Palembang’s fleets controlled both the Malacca and Sunda Straits, taxing commerce between India and China.
  Srivijaya’s Buddhist monasteries attracted international scholars, sustaining Sumatra’s renown as a center of learning.

• Java:
  Divided among rival courts, central Java maintained Shaiva-Hindu temples and rice-based prosperity, while coastal ports sought autonomy from Srivijaya’s maritime dominance.

• Borneo and Sulawesi:
  Srivijayan influence reached coastal Borneo; interior Dayak societies continued forest cultivation.
  On Sulawesi, coastal chiefdoms in Makassar, Buton, and the north served as brokers of cloves and nutmeg from the Moluccas into the Java Sea network.

• Eastern Archipelagos (Bali – Timor – Moluccas – Philippines):
  The Banda and Moluccan Islands exported cloves and nutmeg to world markets through Srivijayan routes.
  In the Philippines, barangay polities ruled by datu chiefs expanded bay settlements trading gold, pearls, forest resins, and slaves.
  The Sulu and Mindanao zones linked Philippine and Moluccan circuits, while Bali combined rice and root-crop systems with Hindu court culture.

Andamanasia: Northern Gateway of the Bay of Bengal

The Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Aceh, Nias, Mentawai, and nearby archipelagos formed a western threshold of Southeast Asia.

• The Andamanese preserved autonomous foraging traditions.

• The Nicobars practiced mixed horticulture and seafaring exchange.

• Nias and the Mentawais fostered stratified village societies and megalithic feasting cultures.

• In northern Sumatra, ports such as Barus and Lambri prospered from the camphor trade, attracting Indian, Persian, and Arab merchants.
  After the Chola raid of 1025, Srivijaya’s dominance waned, allowing these ports increasing independence and direct access to global commerce.

Economy and Trade

Southeast Asia’s prosperity rested on the fusion of hydraulic agriculture and maritime redistribution.

• Mainland: Angkor’s and Pagan’s irrigated rice economies sustained monumental architecture and Buddhist institutions; the Lý and Champa realms combined agrarian surplus with coastal trade.

• Insular: Srivijaya monopolized the spice, gold, and tin routes, linking the Indian Ocean with the South China Sea.
  Java and the Philippines supplied rice and forest products, while the Banda–Moluccas produced the coveted clove and nutmeg that fueled world demand.

• Andamanasia: Barus and Lambri exported camphor and elephants, becoming vital nodes in the Indian Ocean economy.

Together, these systems created a maritime commonwealth, moving rice, metals, forest resins, and aromatics across thousands of kilometers of sea.

Belief and Symbolism

Religion unified political authority and artistic expression throughout the region.

• Angkor: Hindu-Buddhist cosmology materialized in temple-mountain architecture.

• Pagan: Theravāda Buddhism institutionalized monastic learning and temple endowments.

• Vietnam (Lý): Buddhism intertwined with Confucian governance.

• Champa: Shaiva Hinduism merged with Austronesian ritual at Mỹ Sơn.

• Srivijaya: Buddhist scholasticism radiated influence to China and India.

• Philippines and Moluccas: ancestor and nature worship persisted within expanding trade cults.

• Andamanasia: forest and sea spirits dominated local cosmologies; in Nias, megalithic monuments expressed mana and prestige, while Barus and Lambri absorbed early Islamic and Hindu-Buddhist influences through trade.

Adaptation and Resilience

Environmental management underpinned stability:

• Angkor and Pagan mitigated monsoon variability through monumental waterworks.

• Srivijaya redistributed goods across sea-lanes to balance local shortages.

• Dual cropping systems of rice and root crops across island groups buffered climatic stress.

• Barus and Lambri diversified trade in camphor, elephants, and aromatics, ensuring prosperity despite Srivijaya’s decline.

• Coastal and island polities rebuilt quickly after storms through kin-based labor and inter-port reciprocity.

Long-Term Significance

By 1107 CE, Southeast Asia had matured into a dual civilization system of global reach:

• Mainland empires—Angkor, Pagan, Lý Vietnam, and Champa—anchored monumental agrarian states powered by irrigation and religion.

• Insular maritime realms—Srivijaya, Java, Sulawesi, and the Spice Islands—commanded trade networks that bridged the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea.

• Andamanasia linked this world to the broader Indian Ocean economy, with Barus and Lambri emerging as cosmopolitan ports.

Together, these societies made Southeast Asia the pivotal hinge of Afro-Eurasian exchange, a zone where rice fed empires, spices enriched merchants, and monumental faiths rose from the wealth of land and sea alike.

Sundachina (964 – 1107 CE): Angkor’s Expansion, Pagan’s Rise, Srivijaya at Zenith, and the Maritime Spice Commonwealth

Geographic and Environmental Context

Sundachina includes southern and eastern Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra (excluding Aceh and the western offshore islands), Java, Borneo, Sulawesi, and surrounding archipelagos (Bali–Timor, Banda, Moluccas, Ceram, Halmahera, and the Philippines).

• Mainland centers: Irrawaddy, Chao Phraya, Mekong, and Red River basins.

• Insular hubs: the Malacca Strait, Java Sea, Makassar Strait, and the Moluccas–Banda spice islands, supplying global aromatics.

• Stable Holocene monsoons and volcanic soils (Java, Sumatra) underpinned dense agrarian states.

Mainland Southeast Asia

Myanmar (southern & eastern)

• The Pyu had faded by the 10th century after Nanzhao incursions.

• Burman-speaking groups founded Pagan (Bagan) in the Irrawaddy valley.

• Under Anawrahta (1044–1077), Pagan unified upper Myanmar, adopting Theravāda Buddhism from the Mon and building thousands of stupas and monasteries.

• Pagan’s irrigation networks supported expansion, integrating upland and lowland zones.

Thailand & Laos

• Dvaravati Mon polities declined in the Chao Phraya basin, many absorbed into Khmer and Pagan or reorganized into smaller Buddhist states.

• Laos uplands saw fragmented chiefdoms, gradually influenced by Khmer expansion eastward.

• The Thai-speaking migrations from the north had not yet created major polities, but foundations were being laid.

Cambodia (Khmer Empire)

• The Khmer Empire entered its classic Angkorian phase.

• Suryavarman I (1006–1050) consolidated power, extending Khmer influence into Laos and central Thailand.

• Massive baray (reservoirs) and canals expanded Angkor’s rice output.

• Temples like Phimeanakas embodied Hindu–Buddhist royal ideology.

Vietnam

• The Early Lý dynasty (1009–1225) replaced the Ngô, centralizing rule in Thăng Long (Hanoi).

• The state patronized Buddhism, built temples, and established enduring bureaucratic institutions.

• Champa (central Vietnam): expanded along the coast, building brick towers at Mỹ Sơn, consolidating as a Hindu Shaiva kingdom, and sometimes clashing with both Khmer and Dai Viet.

Insular Southeast Asia

Malay Peninsula

• Ports like Kedah and Tambralinga remained under Srivijayan influence, channeling India–China traffic.

• These ports exported tin, forest products, and resins while importing ceramics, cloth, and beads.

Sumatra (excluding Aceh & western islands)

• Srivijaya (Palembang) reached its peak, controlling both Malacca and Sunda Straits.

• Its fleets patrolled Java Sea–South China Sea routes.

• Buddhist monasteries in Srivijaya gained international repute; Chinese pilgrim Yijing had earlier studied there, and the tradition persisted.

• Srivijaya’s suzerainty reached parts of the Malay Peninsula, western Borneo, and Java’s ports.

Java

• Java was divided among competing courts; Hindu Shaiva traditions dominated central Java while Buddhist patronage persisted.

• Rice surpluses supported temples, literature, and court culture.

• Intermittent tensions with Srivijaya reflected Java’s ambition to control its own maritime outlets.

Borneo

• Srivijayan influence reached coastal settlements; Dayak interior groups continued swidden cultivation and forest gathering.

• Camphor, resins, and forest goods remained key exports.

Sulawesi

• Coastal chiefdoms in Makassar, Buton, and northern Sulawesi expanded as maritime brokers, moving cloves and nutmeg from Moluccas into Java Sea trade.

• Navigation and outrigger technologies here were critical to connecting east–west routes.

Eastern Archipelagos (Bali–Timor, Banda, Moluccas, Ceram, Halmahera, Philippines)

• Spice Islands (Banda, Moluccas): cloves and nutmeg harvested by local chiefs entered Srivijayan trade circuits via Sulawesi and Java.

• Philippines: barangay polities grew more complex, ruled by datu chiefs. Bay settlements in Luzon and Visayas exported gold, pearls, forest resins, and slaves.

• Mindanao and Sulu archipelagos: became key links between Philippines and Moluccas.

• Bali–Timor arc: mixed rice and root crop systems tied into maritime routes.

Economy and Trade

• Mainland: Angkor’s irrigation-driven rice economy; Pagan’s surplus-supported temple building; Lý Vietnam’s rice and handicrafts.

• Insular: Srivijaya dominated straits commerce, collecting tolls, distributing spices, resins, gold, pearls, and forest goods.

• Spice trade reached new scale: cloves and nutmeg from the Moluccas were indispensable to India and China.

• Gold from Philippines and Sumatra; tin from the Malay Peninsula; rice from Java fed expanding circuits.

Belief and Symbolism

• Angkor: Hindu–Buddhist royal ideology expressed in monumental temples and inscriptions.

• Pagan: Theravāda Buddhism institutionalized, stupas proliferated, monks became landholders.

• Vietnam (Lý): Buddhist cosmology intertwined with Confucian administrative ideals.

• Champa: Shaiva Hinduism blended with Austronesian ritual at Mỹ Sơn towers.

• Srivijaya: Buddhist scholasticism and pilgrimage networks integrated Sumatra into trans-Asian learning.

• Philippines & Moluccas: animist–ancestor worship remained dominant; Indic influences arrived through trade shrines.

Adaptation and Resilience

• Hydraulic management in Angkor and Pagan mitigated monsoon variability.

• Maritime redistribution in Srivijaya balanced shortages by moving surplus rice, spices, and goods across seas.

• Dual economies of root crops and rice in insular archipelagos buffered against drought and volcanic disruption.

Long-Term Significance

By 1107 CE, Sundachina was a complex dual system:

• Mainland rice empires: Angkor reaching classic scale, Pagan consolidating Theravāda Buddhism, Vietnam centralizing under Lý, Champa thriving on coastal trade.

• Insular thalassocracies: Srivijaya controlling maritime choke points, Java balancing agrarian and maritime ambitions, Sulawesi and the Philippines anchoring eastern spice flows.

• This integration positioned Southeast Asia as a critical hinge in Afro-Eurasian exchange, with Angkor and Pagan as monumental agrarian states inland, and Srivijaya and Spice Island networks ensuring global demand for aromatics was met.

The Vietnamese during the Ly dynasty begin their long march to the south (nam tien) at the expense of the Cham and the Khmer.

Le Hoan sacks the Cham capital of Indrapura in 982, whereupon the Cham establish a new capital at Vijaya.

This is captured twice by the Vietnamese, however, and in 1079 the Cham are forced to cede to the Ly rulers their three northern provinces.

Soon afterwards, Vietnamese peasants begin moving into the untilled former Cham lands, turning them into rice fields and moving relentlessly southward, delta by delta, along the narrow coastal plain.

The Ly kings support the improvement of Vietnam's agricultural system by constructing and repairing dikes and canals and by allowing soldiers to return to their villages to work for six months of each year.

As their territory and population expand, the Ly kings look to China as a model for organizing a strong, centrally administered state.

Minor officials are chosen by examination for the first time in 1075, and a civil service training institute and an imperial academy are set up in 1076.

In 1089 a fixed hierarchy of state officials is established, with nine degrees of civil and military scholar-officials.

Examinations for public office are made compulsory, and literary competitions are held to deter- mine the grades of officials.

Ngo Quyen, after driving the Chinese from Vietnam, had defeated a series of local rival chiefs and, seeking to identify his rule with traditional Vietnamese kingship, had established his capital at Co Loa, the third century BCE citadel of An Duong Vuong.

The dynasty established by Ngo Quyen lasts fewer than thirty years, however, and is overthrown in 968 by a local chieftain, Dinh Bo Linh, who reigns under the name Dinh Tien Hoang.

He brings political unity to the country, which he renames Dai Co Viet (Great Viet).

The major accomplishments of Dinh Bo Linh's reign are the establishment of a diplomatic basis for Vietnamese independence and the institution of universal military mobilization.

He organizes a one hundred thousand-man peasant militia called the Ten Circuit Army, comprising ten circuits (geographical districts).

Each circuit is defended by ten armies, and each army is composed of ten brigades.

Brigades in turn are made up of ten companies with ten ten-member squads apiece.

After uniting the Vietnamese and establishing his kingdom, Dinh Bo Linh sends a tributary mission to the newly established Chinese Northern Song dynasty (960-1125).

This diplomatic maneuver is a successful attempt to stave off China's reconquest of its former vassal.

The Song emperor gives his recognition to Dinh Bo Linh, but only as "King of Giao Chi Prefecture," a state within the Chinese empire.

Not until the rise of the Ly dynasty (1009-1225), however, will the Vietnamese monarchy consolidate its control over the country.

The first century of Ly rule is marked by warfare with China and the two Indianized kingdoms to the south, Cambodia and Champa.

After these threats are dealt with successfully, the second century of Ly rule will be relatively peaceful, enabling the Ly kings to establish a Buddhist ruling tradition closely related to the other Southeast Asian Buddhist kingdoms of this period.

Buddhism becomes a kind of state religion as members of the royal family and the nobility make pilgrimages, support the building of pagodas, sometimes even enter monastic life, and otherwise take an active part in Buddhist practices.

Bonzes become a privileged landed class, exempt from taxes and military duty.

At the same time, Buddhism, in an increasingly Vietnamized form associated with magic, spirits, and medicine, grows in popularity with the people.

Settlers and rice farmers from Dai Viet, or Annam (present northern Vietnam), have gradually occupied the northern portion of the largely maritime Champa kingdom, protected in so doing by their expansionist government.

The Chams make successful retaliatory incursions into the Red River delta region until forces under Viet ruler Le Dai Hanh occupy and plunder the Cham capital, exacting heavy tribute.

The Viets eventually force the Chams to cede the region of Amaravati (Quang Nam).

Vijaya (Binh Dinh) becomes the Cham capital.

Jayavarman V, Emperor of Angkor, had succeeded his father, Rajendravarman, when he was only ten years old.

During his early years, the court officials dominated royal politics.

He had studied under the knowledgeable Yajnavaraha, a grandson of King Harshavarman I who in 967 had constructed Banteay Srei, considered the jewel of Khmer art for its very beautiful display of bas-reliefs.

At seventeen (in 975), Jayavarman V had begun the construction of his own state temple, whose modern name is Ta Keo.

The Khmer kingdom’s early so-called “temple-mountains” were made of brick; Ta Keo possibly the first temple of Angkor to have been built completely of sandstone.

It remains unfinished.

Yogisvarapandita, a high priest who will become the minister of Suryavarman I and "receive" the temple from him many years later, says in inscriptions that a lightning strike hit the unfinished building, an evil omen, so the works stopped.

Possibly, work stopped simply because of the death of Jayavarman V, as there was a struggle for succession.

The temple will serve continuously as a cult center until the thirteenth century, and even Yogisvarapandita worships the shrines at the first levels of the temple.

There is no clear successor after the reign of Khmer monarch Udayadityavarman I, which ends around 1000.

Two kings, Jayaviravarman and Suryavarman I, both claim the throne.

The aristocratic families had dominated Jayavarman V's court.

Atmashiva, who had served under the two previous kings, was his purohita, chaplain.

And Narayana, who had also served under King Rajendravarman, was his hotar, high priest.

However, the most influential and powerful ruling family is the house of Saptadevakula, which dominates most of the royal affairs, and helps King Suryavarman I come to power in 1002.

Ly Công Uan, a former temple orphan who had risen to commander of the palace guard, succeeds Le Long Dinh of the Early Le Dynasty in 1009, thereby founding the great Ly dynasty of Dai Viet.

He takes the reign name Ly Thai To.