History

The history of the continental part of South-East Asia begins in the Stone Age. The peoples inhabiting the Peninsula developed under noticeable influence of the great neighboring civilizations – India and China. The earliest state in Vietnam, Nanyue, in the 2nd – 10th centuries was under the rule of the Chinese Han Empire. On the territory of modern Laos in the 14th – 17th centuries there existed a strong centralized state Lan Xang (“Land of a Million Elephants and a White Umbrella”). The first known state of Kampuchea (Funan), which also included part of Thailand territory, was formed in the first centuries AD under the influence of India. Khmer ancestors were founders of the ancient state of Chenla and the Kambuja Empire, but the most famous was the Angkor Empire. The inhabitants of Thailand called their country Mueangthai, the “Land of the Free”, thus, emphasizing that it never had been under foreign yoke. The Burmese (Myanmar) came to the Ayeyarwady River valley in the 9th century, and as early as in 1044 they already founded a great state of Pagan that was destroyed by Mongols in the 13th century.

Middle Ages were the period of internal civil wars and wars between the states. In the 16th – 19th centuries all countries of South-East Asia, except Thailand, were occupied by England and France and turned into colonial raw-materials appendages of these metropolises and their marketing outlets. Thailand officially remained independent, but in fact was a semi-colony of England and France acting as a buffer between their domains. The peoples of Indochina fought for their independence, and succeeded in the middle of the 20th century.

The Elephant awarded with Military Order for goods transportation during the War of Resistance (1945-1954). Was wounded.  Vietnam, Hanoi. A. I. Muhlinov. 1962		Portrait of the King of Siam in officer's uniform.  Thailand (Siam). Late 19th cent.		Crown Prince Nikolai Aleksandrovich with the King of Siam Rama V Chulalongkorn, Royal Prince of Siam and Prince George of Greece. Thailand (Siam), Bangkok. 1891
Monument to the soldiers. The Thai. Muhlinov A., 1958.		Entrance to undergound catacombs in fortified sector in the jungles during the war with the USA 1964-1975. Vietnam. Kolotov V.		"Trap" for American soldiers in the fortified sector. Vietnam. Kolotov V.
American tank in the jungles - monument of the military actions 1964-1975. Vietnam. Kolotov V.		Bridge over the Kwai river. Monument to the events of the II World War. Vietnam. Lubo-Lesnichenko E.		Armoury. Vietnam. Kolotov V.
Sample of a trap with pales made of air bombs. Vietnam. Kolotov V.		One of the Soviet tanks which tore down a gate of the Head's of the South Viet Nam regime residence during attack on Saigon on the 31st of April 1975. Vietnam. Kolotov V.