Southeast Asia is almost as far away from some parts of the United States as it is possible to get without starting to come back. Culturally, too, it seems distant, often exotic.
But Southeast Asia has not been all that far from the United States in a practical sense for a long time. It was the spice islands of Southeast Asia (the Indies) that Columbus was seeking when he found America. One of those islands was traded by England when it acquired the island of Manhattan from the Dutch in 1664. There are records of American ships in the waters of the region as early as the 1600s too. By the end of the 1850s, American missionaries, traders, sea captains, naval officers and diplomats were well acquainted with most of what is now known as Southeast Asia. At the beginning of the 20th century, the United States became immersed in the affairs of the region when it took control of the Philippine islands. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the United States fought its only losing war in Vietnam. In the late 1990s, a financial crisis that began in Thailand caused fears for the global system of finance led by the United States. And in the last year of the 20th century, the United States was much involved in East Timor’s acquisition of independence from Indonesia. So Southeast Asia and the United States have figured in each other’s history in many ways over many years.