Brief Survey of the Countries of Indo-China

    Besides Viet-Nam, there are several capitalist countries on the Peninsula of Indo-China.
The largest is B u r m a, in the north-west of the peninsula, with a population of 22,000,000. Burma was for many years a colony of Great Britain. As a result of the national liberation movement, howl ever, it won its independence.

Fig. 118. An open-air village market in Cambodia. The women are dressed in their national clothes. They still prefer the sarongs and blouses of the national costume arid most of them go barefoot

Burma is an agricultural country. Its chief crop is rice. Rice] feeds the population and is exported in large quantities.
Many factories and plants are being constructed in the countryB The largest are controlled by the state.
Thailand, numbering 30,000,000 inhabitants, lies in thJ centre of Indo-China, on a vast lowland bordered by low mountains!
Thailand produces rice and rubber. Tin is mined, the pits belongl ing to foreign capitalists.
Between Thailand and Viet-Nam lie two small countries—L a o sj and Cambodia, former French colonies.

Fig 117. A Burmese peasant tilling the muddy soil of his rice field with a team of zebu (ox-like animals) pulling the wooden plough
In the south of the Peninsula of Indo-China lies the Federa tionof Malaya, formerly a British colony. (At present in has been united by the English colonizers with their other pos« sessions on the adjacent islands into the so-called Malaysian! Federation.) The population consists mainly of Malays. This il a small country with rich tin deposits and great rubber plantations Both the tin mines and rubber plantations belong to British cap­italists.
Of great importance to Great Britain is Singapore, a naval base on a small island at the southern extremity of Indo-China. It stands on the shore of the Strait of Malacca and commands the sea­ways leading from the Indian to the Pacific Ocean.
East of Indo-China lies the Republic of the Phi­lippines, consisting of a great number of islands and numbering 30,000,000 inhabitants. The Philippines are a dependency of the United States of America.

Fig. 119. A coco-nut fa"rm on the Philippines.
The coco-palm is the most useful of all palms. It gives wood for building. The leaves are-used to thatch huts. Oil for food, cooking, lighting and soapmaking is obtained from the nut. The dried coco-nut meat called copra is used for the making of soap, cooking fats and margarine.

Questions and Assignments.

• Point out the countries of Indo-China on the map.
• Use the maps in your Atlas to speak on the natural features
  of any one of these countries.