How Did Europeans Affect Southeast Asia

Although Asian societies had the intention of keeping all European contact to a minimum during the first wave of European exploration, Europe managed to establish and maintain at least a limited amount of interaction through commerce and the spread of religious beliefs; however, Europe experienced more success in maintaining contact through trade than through missionary activity.
Asian attempts to limit European contact through trade proved to be largely unsuccessful, as laws in several Asian societies were not strict enough to totally eliminate their commerce with Europe. Although Asian authorities and rulers attempted to limit European interaction within their societies, lesser classes maintained enough trade with Europe to overrule these restrictions. Japanese lords, for example, …show more content…
European nations later established several trading settlements in India by the eighteenth century, most specifically the British, which took control of trade throughout much of the Indian subcontinent (Document 7). This strong European domination of trade makes evident that regulations strict enough to eliminate European contact in India were never implemented. In fact, the impact of European interactions on Asian societies spread to Southeast Asia by 1760 (Document 8). In this region, companies of various European powers established numerous trading factories, becoming a strong force in Asian commerce; but the facts that these foreign companies had their own law systems and militaries and that they controlled regional imports and exports shows just how unsuccessful these Asian societies were at limiting European contact. These invasive European settlements prove that prohibited trade between Europe and Southeast Asia existed without the knowledge of Asian rulers and that it eventually developed into a stronger