title: Eric Clapton

text: Clapton tested positive for COVID-19 in May 2022 shortly after performing at the Royal Albert Hall in London. To aid his recovery, on medical advice, he cancelled some concerts in his tour schedule.


title: Eric Clapton

text: In 2009, "Surrey Life Magazine" ranked Clapton as number 17 in their list of richest Surrey residents, estimating his fortune at £120 million in assets. This was a combination of income, property, a £9 million yacht, "Va Bene" (previously owned by Bernie Ecclestone), his back music catalogue, his touring income, and his holding company Marshbrook Ltd, which had earned him £110 million since 1989. In 2003, he purchased a 50% share of gentleman's outfitters Cordings Piccadilly. At the time, owner Noll Uloth was trying to save the shop from closure and is reported to have contacted Clapton, his "best client"; within five minutes, Clapton replied with "I can't let this happen".


title: Eric Clapton

text: Since the 1970s, Clapton has considered himself a "car enthusiast" and has often stated his passion for the Ferrari brand. Clapton currently owns or has owned a range of Ferraris, and when asked about his Ferrari collection in 1989, he said he liked the touring cars the company produces for road use and commented "if I had more space and if I had been wise I would have a huge collection by now and I would be a multi-multi-millionaire". In 2010, he explained that for him "Ferrari has always been the number one car" to own and drive, and that he always supported Ferrari on the road and in Formula One motor racing.


title: Eric Clapton

text: In 2012, Ferrari honoured Clapton with the one-off special project car, the Ferrari SP12 EC. In July 2013 Clapton displayed it at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in England in the Michelin Supercar Run. In 2014, Clapton explained that Ferrari is still his favourite car brand. Among the other vehicles Clapton owns or has owned are a vintage Mini Cooper Radford that was a gift from George Harrison.


title: Eric Clapton

text: In 1993, Clapton was appointed a director of Clouds House, a UK treatment centre for drug and alcohol dependence, and served on their board until 1997. Clapton also served on the board of directors for The Chemical Dependency Centre from 1994 until 1999. Both charities subsequently merged to become Action on Addiction in 2007.


title: Eric Clapton

text: In 1998, he established the Crossroads Centre in Antigua to help others overcome their addictions to drugs and alcohol and is active in its management oversight and fundraising to the present day. Clapton has organised the Crossroads Guitar Festival in 1999, 2004, 2007, 2010, 2013 and 2019 to raise funds for this centre. In 1999, Clapton auctioned off some of his guitar collection to raise more than US$5 million for continuing support of the Crossroads Centre. A second guitar auction, including the "Cream" of Clapton's collection – as well as guitars donated by famous friends – was held on 2004. His Lowden acoustic guitar sold for US$41,825. The revenue garnered by this auction at Christie's was US$7,438,624. In 2011, he auctioned off over 150 items at a New York auction with proceeds going to his Crossroads Centre. Items included his guitar from the Cream reunion tour in 2005, speaker cabinets used in the early 1970s from his days with Derek and the Dominos, and some guitars from Jeff Beck, J. J. Cale, and Joe Bonamassa. In March 2011 he raised more than £1.3 million when he auctioned off 138 lots, made up of 75 guitars and 55 amps from his personal collection, including a 1984 Gibson hollow body guitar, a Gianni Versace suit from his 1990 concert at the Royal Albert Hall, and a replica of the famous Fender Stratocaster known as "Blackie", which fetched more than $30,000. All proceeds again went to Crossroads.


title: Eric Clapton

text: Clapton has performed at the "Secret Policeman's Ball", a benefit show co-founded by Monty Python member John Cleese on behalf of Amnesty International. He made his first appearance at the 1981 show held in London's Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, and he subsequently became an activist. Clapton has collaborated with The Prince's Trust, the leading UK youth charity, which provides training, personal development, business start up support, mentoring, and advice. He has performed at the charity's rock concert numerous times since the 1980s, most recently in 2010. In 2008, he donated a song to Aid Still Required's CD to assist with the restoration of the devastation done to Southeast Asia from the 2004 tsunami.


title: Eric Clapton

text: Clapton is a fan of English football club West Bromwich Albion. In 1982, he performed a concert before West Brom player John Wile's testimonial game at The Hawthorns. It has been reported that the club rejected his offer to invest cash in the club around this time. In the late 1970s Clapton positioned a West Brom scarf on the back cover of his album, "Backless". In the 1978–79 season Clapton sponsored West Brom's UEFA Cup home game against Turkish club Galatasaray.


title: Eric Clapton

text: Clapton's music has appeared in dozens of movies and television shows as far back as 1973's "Mean Streets", which included the Derek and the Dominos song "I Looked Away" and a performance of "Steppin' Out" by Cream. Other appearances in media include in the "Miami Vice" series ("Wonderful Tonight", "Knock on Wood", "She's Waiting", and "Layla"), "Back to the Future" ("Heaven Is One Step Away"), "The Color of Money" ("It's in the Way That You Use It"), "Lethal Weapon 2" ("Knockin' On Heaven's Door"), "Goodfellas" ("Layla" and "Sunshine of Your Love"), "Freaks and Geeks" episode "I'm With the Band" ("Sunshine of Your Love", "White Room" and "Crossroads"), "Friends" episodes "The One with the Proposal, Part 2" ("Wonderful Tonight") and "The One Where Rachel Has A Baby" ("River of Tears"), "School Of Rock" ("Sunshine Of Your Love)", "Men in Black III" ("Strange Brew"), "Captain Phillips" ("Wonderful Tonight"), "" ("Lay Down Sally"), "Good Girls Revolt" episode "The Year-Ender" ("White Room)", "Rick and Morty" episode "The Vat of Acid Episode" ("It's in the Way That You Use It") and "Joker" ("White Room").


title: Eric Clapton

text: Both Opel and Vauxhall used the guitar riff from "Layla" in their advertising campaigns throughout 1987–95. In addition to his music appearing in media, Clapton has contributed to several movies by writing or co-writing the musical scores or contributing original songs. These movies include "Lethal Weapon" (co-written with Michael Kamen), "Communion", "Rush", "Phenomenon" ("Change the World"), and "Lethal Weapon 3" (co-wrote and co-performed "It's Probably Me" with Sting and "Runaway Train" with Elton John).


title: Southeast Asia

text: Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainland China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and north-west of mainland Australia. Southeast Asia is bordered to the north by East Asia, to the west by South Asia and the Bay of Bengal, to the east by Oceania and the Pacific Ocean, and to the south by Australia and the Indian Ocean. Apart from the British Indian Ocean Territory and two out of 26 atolls of Maldives in South Asia, Maritime Southeast Asia is the only other subregion of Asia that lies partly within the Southern Hemisphere. Mainland Southeast Asia is completely in the Northern Hemisphere. East Timor and the southern portion of Indonesia are the only parts that are south of the Equator.


title: Southeast Asia

text: The region lies near the intersection of geological plates, with both heavy seismic and volcanic activities. The Sunda Plate is the main plate of the region, featuring almost all Southeast Asian countries except Myanmar, northern Thailand, northern Laos, northern Vietnam, and northern Luzon of the Philippines. The mountain ranges in Myanmar, Thailand, and Peninsular Malaysia are part of the Alpide belt, while the islands of the Philippines are part of the Pacific Ring of Fire. Both seismic belts meet in Indonesia, causing the region to have relatively high occurrences of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, particularly in the Philippines and Indonesia.


title: Southeast Asia

text: It covers about , which is 10.5% of Asia or 3% of Earth's total land area. Its total population is more than floor(/1e6) million, about 8.5% of the world's population. It is the third most populous geographical region in Asia after South Asia and East Asia. The region is culturally and ethnically diverse, with hundreds of languages spoken by different ethnic groups. Ten countries in the region are members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), a regional organization established for economic, political, military, educational, and cultural integration amongst its members.


title: Southeast Asia

text: Southeast Asia was home to one of the few regions across Eurasia that did not get subsumed by the Mongol Empire. However, most modern Southeast Asian countries were also previously European colonial states, with the only exception being Siam (Thailand nowadays). European colonization stole natural resources and exploited labour from the lands they conquered, and proposed to enforce European religions on the region. Subsequent to this history, several Southeast Asian countries were also subsumed under the Imperial Japanese Empire, which perpetrated numerous war crimes, with estimates that between 1937 and 1945, the Japanese military murdered from nearly three to over ten million people, most likely six million Chinese, Indians, Koreans, Malaysians, Indonesians, Filipinos and Indochinese, among others.


title: Southeast Asia

text: Today, Southeast Asia is predominantly governed by independent states. Vietnam and Laos are some of the only countries in the world left that continue to follow the socialist or communist model.


title: Southeast Asia

text: The region, together with part of South Asia, was well known by Europeans as the East Indies or simply the Indies until the 20th century. Chinese sources referred the region as "Nanyang" (""), which literally means the "Southern Ocean". The mainland section of Southeast Asia was referred to as Indochina by European geographers due to its location between China and the Indian subcontinent and its having cultural influences from both neighboring regions. In the 20th century, however, the term became more restricted to territories of the former French Indochina (Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam). The maritime section of Southeast Asia is also known as the Malay Archipelago, a term derived from the European concept of a Malay race. Another term for Maritime Southeast Asia is "Insulindia" (Indian Islands), used to describe the region between Indochina and Australasia.


title: Southeast Asia

text: The term "Southeast Asia" was first used in 1839 by American pastor Howard Malcolm in his book "Travels in South-Eastern Asia". Malcolm only included the Mainland section and excluded the Maritime section in his definition of Southeast Asia. The term was officially used in the midst of World War II by the Allies, through the formation of South East Asia Command (SEAC) in 1943. SEAC popularised the use of the term "Southeast Asia," although what constituted Southeast Asia was not fixed; for example, SEAC excluded the Philippines and a large part of Indonesia while including Ceylon. However, by the late 1970s, a roughly standard usage of the term "Southeast Asia" and the territories it encompasses had emerged. Although from a cultural or linguistic perspective the definitions of "Southeast Asia" may vary, the most common definitions nowadays include the area represented by the countries (sovereign states and dependent territories) listed below.


title: Southeast Asia

text: Ten of the eleven states of Southeast Asia are members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), while East Timor is an observer state. Papua New Guinea has stated that it might join ASEAN, and is currently an observer. Sovereignty issues exist over some islands in the South China Sea.


title: Southeast Asia

text: Southeast Asia is geographically divided into two subregions, namely Mainland Southeast Asia (or the Indochinese Peninsula) and Maritime Southeast Asia.


title: Southeast Asia

text: While Peninsular Malaysia is geographically situated in Mainland Southeast Asia, it shares many similar cultural and ecological affinities with surrounding islands, thus it is often grouped with them as part of Maritime Southeast Asia. Geographically, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands of India is also considered a part of Maritime Southeast Asia. Eastern Bangladesh and Northeast India have strong cultural ties with Mainland Southeast Asia and are sometimes considered transregional areas between South Asia and Southeast Asia. To the east, Hong Kong is sometimes regarded as part of Southeast Asia. Similarly, Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands have strong cultural ties with Maritime Southeast Asia and are sometimes considered transregional areas between Southeast Asia and Australia/Oceania. On some occasions, Sri Lanka has been considered a part of Southeast Asia because of its cultural and religious ties to Mainland Southeast Asia. The eastern half of the island of New Guinea, which is not a part of Indonesia, namely, Papua New Guinea, is sometimes included as a part of Maritime Southeast Asia, and so are Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and Palau, which were all parts of the Spanish East Indies with strong cultural and linguistic ties to the region, specifically, the Philippines.


title: Southeast Asia

text: East Timor and the eastern half of Indonesia (east of the Wallace Line in the region of Wallacea) are considered to be geographically associated with Oceania due to their distinctive faunal features. Geologically, the island of New Guinea and its surrounding islands are considered as parts of the Australian continent, connected via the Sahul Shelf. Both Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands are located on the Australian Plate, south of the Sunda Trench. Even though they are geographically closer to Maritime Southeast Asia than mainland Australia, these two Australian external territories are not geologically associated with Asia as none of them is actually on the Sunda Plate. The United Nations geoscheme has classified both island territories as parts of Oceania, under the Australia and New Zealand (Australasia) subregion.


title: Southeast Asia

text: Some definitions of Southeast Asia may include Taiwan. Taiwan has sometimes been included in Southeast Asia as well as East Asia but is not a member of ASEAN. Likewise, a similar argument could be applied to some southern parts of Mainland China, as well as Hong Kong and Macau, may also considered as part of Southeast Asia as well as East Asia but are not members of ASEAN.


title: Southeast Asia

text: The region was already inhabited by "Homo erectus" from approximately 1,500,000 years ago during the Middle Pleistocene age. Distinct "Homo sapiens" groups, ancestral to East-Eurasian (East Asian-related) populations, and South-Eurasian (Papuan-related) populations, reached the region by between 50,000BC to 70,000BC, with some arguing earlier. Rock art (parietal art) dating from 40,000 years ago (which is currently the world's oldest) has been discovered in the caves of Borneo. "Homo floresiensis" also lived in the area up until at least 50,000 years ago, after which they became extinct. During much of this time the present-day islands of western Indonesia were joined into a single landmass known as Sundaland due to lower sea levels.


title: Southeast Asia

text: Ancient remains of hunter-gatherers in Maritime Southeast Asia, such as one Holocene hunter-gatherer from South Sulawesi, had ancestry from both, the South-Eurasian lineage (represented by Papuans and Aboriginal Australians), and the East-Eurasian lineage (represented by East Asians). The hunter-gatherer individual had approximately ~50% "Basal-East Asian" ancestry, and was positioned in between modern East Asians and Papuans of Oceania. The authors concluded that East Asian-related ancestry expanded from Mainland Southeast Asia into Maritime Southeast Asia much earlier than previously suggested, as early as 25,000BC, long before the expansion of Austroasiatic and Austronesian groups.


title: Southeast Asia

text: Distinctive Basal-East Asian (East-Eurasian) ancestry was recently found to have originated in Mainland Southeast Asia at ~50,000BC, and expanded through multiple migration waves southwards and northwards respectively. Geneflow of East-Eurasian ancestry into Maritime Southeast Asia and Oceania could be estimated to ~25,000BC (possibly also earlier). The pre-Neolithic South-Eurasian populations of Maritime Southeast Asia were largely replaced by the expansion of various East-Eurasian populations, beginning about 50,000BC to 25,000BC years ago from Mainland Southeast Asia. The remainders, known as Negritos, form small minority groups in geographically isolated regions. Southeast Asia was dominated by East Asian-related ancestry already in 15,000BC, predating the expansion of Austroasiatic and Austronesian peoples.


title: Southeast Asia

text: In the late Neolithic, the Austronesian peoples, who form the majority of the modern population in Brunei, Indonesia, East Timor, Malaysia, and the Philippines, migrated to Southeast Asia from Taiwan in the first seaborne human migration known as the Austronesian Expansion. They arrived in the northern Philippines between 7,000 BC to 2,200 BC and rapidly spread further into the Northern Mariana Islands and Borneo by 1500 BC; Island Melanesia by 1300 BC; and to the rest of Indonesia, Malaysia, southern Vietnam, and Palau by 1000 BC. They often settled along coastal areas, replacing and assimilating the diverse preexisting peoples.


title: Southeast Asia

text: The Austronesian peoples of Southeast Asia have been seafarers for thousands of years. They spread eastwards to Micronesia and Polynesia, as well as westwards to Madagascar, becoming the ancestors of modern-day Malagasy people, Micronesians, Melanesians, and Polynesians. Passage through the Indian Ocean aided the colonisation of Madagascar, as well as commerce between Western Asia, eastern coast of India and Chinese southern coast. Gold from Sumatra is thought to have reached as far west as Rome. Pliny the Elder wrote in his Natural History about Chryse and Argyre, two legendary islands rich in gold and silver, located in the Indian Ocean. Their vessels, such as the vinta, were capable to sail across the ocean. Magellan's voyage records how much more maneuverable their vessels were, as compared to the European ships. A slave from the Sulu Sea was believed to have been used in Magellan's voyage as a translator.


title: Southeast Asia

text: Studies presented by the Human Genome Organisation (HUGO) through genetic studies of the various peoples of Asia show empirically that there was a single migration event from Africa, whereby the early people travelled along the south coast of Asia, first entered the Malay peninsula 50,000–90,000 years ago. The Orang Asli, in particular the Semang who show Negrito characteristics, are the direct descendants of these earliest settlers of Southeast Asia. These early people diversified and travelled slowly northwards to China, and the populations of Southeast Asia show greater genetic diversity than the younger population of China.


title: Southeast Asia

text: Solheim and others have shown evidence for a "Nusantao" maritime trading network ranging from Vietnam to the rest of the archipelago as early as 5000 BC to 1 AD. The Bronze Age Dong Son culture flourished in Northern Vietnam from about 1000 BC to 1 BC. Its influence spread to other parts Southeast Asia. The region entered the Iron Age era in 500 BC, when iron was forged also in northern Vietnam still under Dong Son, due to its frequent interactions with neighboring China.


title: Southeast Asia

text: Most Southeast Asian people were originally animist, engaged in ancestors, nature, and spirits worship. These belief systems were later supplanted by Hinduism and Buddhism after the region, especially coastal areas, came under contact with Indian subcontinent during the first century. Indian Brahmins and traders brought Hinduism to the region and made contacts with local courts. Local rulers converted to Hinduism or Buddhism and adopted Indian religious traditions to reinforce their legitimacy, elevate ritual status above their fellow chief counterparts and facilitate trade with South Asian states. They periodically invited Indian Brahmins into their realms and began a gradual process of Indianisation in the region. Shaivism was the dominant religious tradition of many southern Indian Hindu kingdoms during the first century. It then spread into Southeast Asia via Bay of Bengal, Indochina, then Malay Archipelago, leading to thousands of Shiva temples on the islands of Indonesia as well as Cambodia and Vietnam, co-evolving with Buddhism in the region. Theravada Buddhism entered the region during the third century, via maritime trade routes between the region and Sri Lanka. Buddhism later established a strong presence in Funan region in the fifth century. In present-day mainland Southeast Asia, Theravada is still the dominant branch of Buddhism, practiced by the Thai, Burmese, and Cambodian Buddhists. This branch was fused with the Hindu-influenced Khmer culture. Mahayana Buddhism established presence in Maritime Southeast Asia, brought by Chinese monks during their transit in the region en route to Nalanda. It is still the dominant branch of Buddhism practiced by Indonesian and Malaysian Buddhists.


title: Southeast Asia

text: The spread of these two Indian religions confined the adherents of Southeast Asian indigenous beliefs into remote inland areas. Maluku Islands and New Guinea were never Indianised and its native people were predominantly animists until the 15th century when Islam began to spread in those areas. While in Vietnam, Buddhism never managed to develop strong institutional networks due to strong Chinese influence. In present-day Southeast Asia, Vietnam is the only country where its folk religion makes up the plurality. Recently, Vietnamese folk religion is undergoing a revival with the support of the government. Elsewhere, there are ethnic groups in Southeast Asia that resisted conversion and still retain their original animist beliefs, such as the Dayaks in Kalimantan, the Igorots in Luzon, and the Shans in eastern Myanmar.


title: Southeast Asia

text: After the region came under contact with the Indian subcontinent circa 400 BCE, it began a gradual process of Indianisation where Indian ideas such as religions, cultures, architectures, and political administrations were brought by traders and religious figures and adopted by local rulers. In turn, Indian Brahmins and monks were invited by local rulers to live in their realms and help transforming local polities to become more Indianised, blending Indian and indigenous traditions. Sanskrit and Pali became the elite language of the region, which effectively made Southeast Asia part of the Indosphere. Most of the region had been Indianised during the first centuries, while the Philippines later Indianised circa ninth century when Kingdom of Tondo was established in Luzon. Vietnam, especially its northern part, was never fully Indianised due to the many periods of Chinese domination it experienced.


title: Southeast Asia

text: The first Indian-influenced polities established in the region were the Pyu city-states that already existed circa second century BCE, located in inland Myanmar. It served as an overland trading hub between India and China. Theravada Buddhism was the predominant religion of these city states, while the presence of other Indian religions such as Mahayana Buddhism and Hinduism were also widespread. In the first century, the Funan states centered in Mekong Delta were established, encompassed modern-day Cambodia, southern Vietnam, Laos, and eastern Thailand. It became the dominant trading power in mainland Southeast Asia for about five centuries, provided passage for Indian and Chinese goods and assumed authority over the flow of commerce through Southeast Asia. In maritime Southeast Asia, the first recorded Indianised kingdom was Salakanagara, established in western Java circa second century CE. This Hindu kingdom was known by the Greeks as "Argyre" (Land of Silver).


title: Southeast Asia

text: By the fifth century CE, trade networking between East and West was concentrated in the maritime route. Foreign traders were starting to use new routes such as Malacca and Sunda Strait due to the development of maritime Southeast Asia. This change resulted in the decline of Funan, while new maritime powers such as Srivijaya, Tarumanagara, and Mataram emerged. Srivijaya especially became the dominant maritime power for more than 5 centuries, controlling both Strait of Malacca and Sunda Strait. This dominance started to decline when Srivijaya were invaded by Chola Empire, a dominant maritime power of Indian subcontinent, in 1025. The invasion reshaped power and trade in the region, resulted in the rise of new regional powers such as the Khmer Empire and Kahuripan. Continued commercial contacts with the Chinese Empire enabled the Cholas to influence the local cultures. Many of the surviving examples of the Hindu cultural influence found today throughout Southeast Asia are the result of the Chola expeditions.


title: Southeast Asia

text: As Srivijaya influence in the region declined, The Hindu Khmer Empire experienced a golden age during the 11th to 13th century CE. The empire's capital Angkor hosts majestic monuments—such as Angkor Wat and Bayon. Satellite imaging has revealed that Angkor, during its peak, was the largest pre-industrial urban centre in the world. The Champa civilisation was located in what is today central Vietnam, and was a highly Indianised Hindu Kingdom. The Vietnamese launched a massive conquest against the Cham people during the 1471 Vietnamese invasion of Champa, ransacking and burning Champa, slaughtering thousands of Cham people, and forcibly assimilating them into Vietnamese culture.


title: Southeast Asia

text: During the 13th century CE, the region experienced Mongol invasions, affected areas such as Vietnamese coast, inland Burma and Java. In 1258, 1285 and 1287, the Mongols tried to invade Đại Việt and Champa. The invasions were unsuccessful, yet both Dai Viet and Champa agreed to become tributary states to Yuan dynasty to avoid further conflicts. The Mongols also invaded Pagan Kingdom in Burma from 1277 to 1287, resulted in fragmentation of the Kingdom and rise of smaller Shan States ruled by local chieftains nominally submitted to Yuan dynasty. However, in 1297, a new local power emerged. Myinsaing Kingdom became the real ruler of Central Burma and challenged the Mongol rule. This resulted in the second Mongol invasion of Burma in 1300, which was repulsed by Myinsaing. The Mongols would later in 1303 withdrawn from Burma. In 1292, The Mongols sent envoys to Singhasari Kingdom in Java to ask for submission to Mongol rule. Singhasari rejected the proposal and injured the envoys, enraged the Mongols and made them sent a large invasion fleet to Java. Unbeknownst to them, Singhasari collapsed in 1293 due to a revolt by Kadiri, one of its vassals. When the Mongols arrived in Java, a local prince named Raden Wijaya offered his service to assist the Mongols in punishing Kadiri. After Kadiri was defeated, Wijaya turned on his Mongol allies, ambushed their invasion fleet and forced them to immediately leave Java.


title: Southeast Asia

text: After the departure of the Mongols, Wijaya established the Majapahit Empire in eastern Java in 1293. Majapahit would soon grow into a regional power. Its greatest ruler was Hayam Wuruk, whose reign from 1350 to 1389 marked the empire's peak when other kingdoms in the southern Malay Peninsula, Borneo, Sumatra, and Bali came under its influence. Various sources such as the Nagarakertagama also mention that its influence spanned over parts of Sulawesi, Maluku, and some areas of western New Guinea and southern Philippines, making it one of the largest empire to ever exist in Southeast Asian history. By the 15th century CE however, Majapahit's influence began to wane due to many war of successions it experienced and the rise of new Islamic states such as Samudera Pasai and Malacca Sultanate around the strategic Strait of Malacca. Majapahit then collapsed around 1500. It was the last major Hindu kingdom and the last regional power in the region before the arrival of the Europeans.


title: Southeast Asia

text: Islam began to make contacts with Southeast Asia in the eighth-century CE, when the Umayyads established trade with the region via sea routes. However its spread into the region happened centuries later. In the 11th century, a turbulent period occurred in the history of Maritime Southeast Asia. The Indian Chola navy crossed the ocean and attacked the Srivijaya kingdom of Sangrama Vijayatungavarman in Kadaram (Kedah); the capital of the powerful maritime kingdom was sacked and the king was taken captive. Along with Kadaram, Pannai in present-day Sumatra and Malaiyur and the Malayan peninsula were attacked too. Soon after that, the king of Kedah Phra Ong Mahawangsa became the first ruler to abandon the traditional Hindu faith, and converted to Islam with the Sultanate of Kedah established in 1136. Samudera Pasai converted to Islam in 1267, the King of Malacca Parameswara married the princess of Pasai, and the son became the first sultan of Malacca. Soon, Malacca became the center of Islamic study and maritime trade, and other rulers followed suit. Indonesian religious leader and Islamic scholar Hamka (1908–1981) wrote in 1961: "The development of Islam in Indonesia and Malaya is intimately related to a Chinese Muslim, Admiral Zheng He."


title: Southeast Asia

text: There are several theories to the Islamization process in Southeast Asia. Another theory is trade. The expansion of trade among West Asia, India and Southeast Asia helped the spread of the religion as Muslim traders from Southern Yemen (Hadramout) brought Islam to the region with their large volume of trade. Many settled in Indonesia, Singapore, and Malaysia. This is evident in the Arab-Indonesian, Arab-Singaporean, and Arab-Malay populations who were at one time very prominent in each of their countries. Finally, the ruling classes embraced Islam and that further aided the permeation of the religion throughout the region. The ruler of the region's most important port, Malacca Sultanate, embraced Islam in the 15th century, heralding a period of accelerated conversion of Islam throughout the region as Islam provided a positive force among the ruling and trading classes. Gujarati Muslims played a pivotal role in establishing Islam in Southeast Asia.


title: Southeast Asia

text: Trade among Southeast Asian countries has a long tradition. The consequences of colonial rule, struggle for independence, and in some cases war influenced the economic attitudes and policies of each country.


title: Southeast Asia

text: From 111 BC to 938 AD northern Vietnam was under Chinese rule. Vietnam was successfully governed by a series of Chinese dynasties including the Han, Eastern Han, Eastern Wu, Cao Wei, Jin, Liu Song, Southern Qi, Liang, Sui, Tang, and Southern Han.


title: Southeast Asia

text: Records from Magellan's voyage show that Brunei possessed more cannon than European ships, so the Chinese must have been trading with them.


title: Southeast Asia

text: Malaysian legend has it that a Chinese Ming emperor sent a princess, Hang Li Po, to Malacca, with a retinue of 500, to marry Sultan Mansur Shah after the emperor was impressed by the wisdom of the sultan. Hang Li Poh's Well (constructed 1459) is now a tourist attraction there, as is Bukit Cina, where her retinue settled.


title: Southeast Asia

text: The strategic value of the Strait of Malacca, which was controlled by Sultanate of Malacca in the 15th and early 16th century, did not go unnoticed by Portuguese writer Duarte Barbosa, who in 1500 wrote: "He who is lord of Malacca has his hand on the throat of Venice." (Venice was a major European trading partner, and goods were transported there via the Straight.)


title: Southeast Asia

text: Western influence started to enter in the 16th century, with the arrival of the Portuguese in Malacca, Maluku and the Philippines, the latter being settled by the Spanish years later, which they used to trade between Asia and Latin America. Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries the Dutch established the Dutch East Indies; the French Indochina; and the British Strait Settlements. By the 19th century, all Southeast Asian countries were colonised except for Thailand.


title: Southeast Asia

text: European explorers were reaching Southeast Asia from the west and from the east. Regular trade between the ships sailing east from the Indian Ocean and south from mainland Asia provided goods in return for natural products, such as honey and hornbill beaks from the islands of the archipelago.


title: Southeast Asia

text: Before the eighteenth and nineteenth century, the Europeans mostly were interested in expanding trade links. For the majority of the populations in each country, there was comparatively little interaction with Europeans and traditional social routines and relationships continued. For most, a life with subsistence-level agriculture, fishing and, in less developed civilizations, hunting and gathering was still hard.


title: Southeast Asia

text: Europeans brought Christianity allowing Christian missionaries to become widespread. Thailand also allowed Western scientists to enter its country to develop its own education system as well as start sending Royal members and Thai scholars to get higher education from Europe and Russia.


title: Southeast Asia

text: During World War II, Imperial Japan invaded most of the former western colonies under the concept of "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere". However, the Shōwa occupation regime committed violent actions against civilians such as the Manila massacre and the implementation of a system of forced labour, such as the one involving four to ten million "romusha" in Indonesia. A later UN report stated that four million people died in Indonesia as a result of famine and forced labour during the Japanese occupation. The Allied powers who then defeated Japan (and other allies of Axis) in the South-East Asian theatre of World War II then contended with nationalists to whom the occupation authorities had granted independence.


title: Southeast Asia

text: Gujarat, India had a flourishing trade relationship with Southeast Asia in the 15th and 16th centuries. The trade relationship with Gujarat declined after the Portuguese invasion of Southeast Asia in the 17th century.


title: Southeast Asia

text: The United States took the Philippines from Spain in 1898. Internal autonomy was granted in 1934, and independence in 1946.


title: Southeast Asia

text: Most countries in the region maintain national autonomy. Democratic forms of government are practiced in most Southeast Asian countries and human rights is recognised but dependent on each nation state. Socialist or communist countries in Southeast Asia include Vietnam, Laos. ASEAN provides a framework for the integration of commerce and regional responses to international concerns.


title: Southeast Asia

text: China has asserted broad claims over the South China Sea, based on its nine-dash line, and has built artificial islands in an attempt to bolster its claims. China also has asserted an exclusive economic zone based on the Spratly Islands. The Philippines challenged China in the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague in 2013, and in "Philippines v. China" (2016), the Court ruled in favor of the Philippines and rejected China's claims.


title: Southeast Asia

text: Indonesia is the largest country in Southeast Asia and is also the largest archipelago in the world by size (according to the CIA World Factbook). Geologically, the Indonesian Archipelago is one of the most volcanically active regions in the world. Geological uplifts in the region have also produced some impressive mountains, culminating in Puncak Jaya in Papua, Indonesia at , on the island of New Guinea; it is the only place where ice glaciers can be found in Southeast Asia. The highest mountain in Southeast Asia is Hkakabo Razi at and can be found in northern Burma sharing the same range of its parent peak, Mount Everest.


title: Southeast Asia

text: The South China Sea is the major body of water within Southeast Asia. The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia, and Singapore, have integral rivers that flow into the South China Sea.


title: Southeast Asia

text: Mayon Volcano, despite being dangerously active, holds the record of the world's most perfect cone which is built from past and continuous eruption.


title: Southeast Asia

text: Geographically, Southeast Asia is bounded to the southeast by the Australian continent, the boundary between these two regions is most often considered to run through Wallacea.


title: Southeast Asia

text: Geopolitically, the boundary lies between Papua New Guinea and the Indonesian region of Western New Guinea (Papua and West Papua). Both countries share the island of New Guinea.


title: Southeast Asia

text: Islands to the east of the Philippines make up the region of Micronesia. These islands are not biogeographically, geologically or historically linked to mainland Asia, and are considered part of Oceania by the United Nations, The World Factbook and other organizations. The Oceania region is politically represented through the Pacific Islands Forum, a governing body which, up until 2022, included Australia, New Zealand and all independent territories in Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia. Several countries of Maritime Southeast Asia, such as Indonesia and the Philippines, are dialogue partners of the Pacific Islands Forum, but none have full membership.


title: Southeast Asia

text: Maritime Southeast Asia was often grouped with Australia and Oceania in the mid to late 1800s, rather than with mainland Asia. The term Oceania came into usage at the beginning of the 1800s, and the earlier definitions predated the advent of concepts such as Wallacea.


title: Southeast Asia

text: The non-continental Australian external territories of Christmas Island and Cocos (Keeling) Islands are sometimes considered part of Maritime Southeast Asia, as they lie in much closer proximity to western Indonesia than they do to mainland Australia. They have a multicultural mix of inhabitants with Asian and European Australian ancestry, and were uninhabited when discovered by the British during the 17th century. The islands lie within the bounds of the Australian Plate, and are defined by the World Factbook as the westernmost extent of Oceania. The United Nations also include these islands in their definition of Oceania, under the same subregion as Australia and New Zealand.


title: Southeast Asia

text: The climate in Southeast Asia is mainly tropical–hot and humid all year round with plentiful rainfall. Northern Vietnam (including Hanoi), mostly Northern Laos, and mostly Northern Myanmar are the only three regions in Southeast Asia that feature a subtropical climate; which have a milder winter with maxima as low as . The majority of Southeast Asia has a wet and dry season caused by seasonal shifts in winds or monsoon. The tropical rain belt causes additional rainfall during the monsoon season. The rainforest is the second largest on Earth (with the Amazon rainforest being the largest). Exceptions to this rainforest climate and vegetation are:


title: Southeast Asia

text: Southeast Asia is one of the most vulnerable regions to climate change in the world. Climate change will have a big effect on agriculture in Southeast Asia such as irrigation systems will be affected by changes in rainfall and runoff, and subsequently, water quality and supply. Climate change is also likely to pose a serious threat to the fisheries industry in Southeast Asia. Despite being one of the most vulnerable regions to the effects of climate change in the world, Southeast Asian countries are lagging behind in terms of their climate mitigation measures.


title: Southeast Asia

text: The vast majority of Southeast Asia falls within the warm, humid tropics, and its climate generally can be characterised as monsoonal.


title: Southeast Asia

text: The animals of Southeast Asia are diverse; on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra, the orangutan, the Asian elephant, the Malayan tapir, the Sumatran rhinoceros and the Bornean clouded leopard can also be found. Six subspecies of the binturong or "bearcat" exist in the region, though the one endemic to the island of Palawan is now classed as vulnerable.


title: Southeast Asia

text: Tigers of three different subspecies are found on the island of Sumatra (the Sumatran tiger), in peninsular Malaysia (the Malayan tiger), and in Indochina (the Indochinese tiger); all of which are endangered species.


title: Southeast Asia

text: The Komodo dragon is the largest living species of lizard and inhabits the islands of Komodo, Rinca, Flores, and Gili Motang in Indonesia.


title: Southeast Asia

text: The Philippine eagle is the national bird of the Philippines. It is considered by scientists as the largest eagle in the world, and is endemic to the Philippines' forests.


title: Southeast Asia

text: The wild Asian water buffalo, and on various islands related dwarf species of "Bubalus" such as anoa were once widespread in Southeast Asia; nowadays the domestic Asian water buffalo is common across the region, but its remaining relatives are rare and endangered.


title: Southeast Asia

text: The mouse deer, a small tusked deer as large as a toy dog or cat, mostly can be found on Sumatra, Borneo (Indonesia), and in Palawan Islands (Philippines). The gaur, a gigantic wild ox larger than even wild water buffalo, is found mainly in Indochina. There is very little scientific information available regarding Southeast Asian amphibians.


title: Southeast Asia

text: Birds such as the green peafowl and drongo live in this subregion as far east as Indonesia. The babirusa, a four-tusked pig, can be found in Indonesia as well. The hornbill was prized for its beak and used in trade with China. The horn of the rhinoceros, not part of its skull, was prized in China as well.


title: Southeast Asia

text: The Indonesian Archipelago is split by the Wallace Line. This line runs along what is now known to be a tectonic plate boundary, and separates Asian (Western) species from Australasian (Eastern) species. The islands between Java/Borneo and Papua form a mixed zone, where both types occur, known as Wallacea. As the pace of development accelerates and populations continue to expand in Southeast Asia, concern has increased regarding the impact of human activity on the region's environment. A significant portion of Southeast Asia, however, has not changed greatly and remains an unaltered home to wildlife. The nations of the region, with only a few exceptions, have become aware of the need to maintain forest cover not only to prevent soil erosion but to preserve the diversity of flora and fauna. Indonesia, for example, has created an extensive system of national parks and preserves for this purpose. Even so, such species as the Javan rhinoceros face extinction, with only a handful of the animals remaining in western Java.


title: Southeast Asia

text: The shallow waters of the Southeast Asian coral reefs have the highest levels of biodiversity for the world's marine ecosystems, where coral, fish, and molluscs abound. According to Conservation International, marine surveys suggest that the marine life diversity in the Raja Ampat (Indonesia) is the highest recorded on Earth. Diversity is considerably greater than any other area sampled in the Coral Triangle composed of Indonesia, the Philippines, and Papua New Guinea. The Coral Triangle is the heart of the world's coral reef biodiversity, the Verde Passage is dubbed by Conservation International as the world's "center of the center of marine shorefish biodiversity". The whale shark, the world's largest species of fish and 6 species of sea turtles can also be found in the South China Sea and the Pacific Ocean territories of the Philippines.


title: Southeast Asia

text: The trees and other plants of the region are tropical; in some countries where the mountains are tall enough, temperate-climate vegetation can be found. These rainforest areas are currently being logged-over, especially in Borneo.


title: Southeast Asia

text: While Southeast Asia is rich in flora and fauna, Southeast Asia is facing severe deforestation which causes habitat loss for various endangered species such as orangutan and the Sumatran tiger. Predictions have been made that more than 40% of the animal and plant species in Southeast Asia could be wiped out in the 21st century. At the same time, haze has been a regular occurrence. The two worst regional hazes were in 1997 and 2006 in which multiple countries were covered with thick haze, mostly caused by "slash and burn" activities in Sumatra and Borneo. In reaction, several countries in Southeast Asia signed the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution to combat haze pollution.


title: Southeast Asia

text: The 2013 Southeast Asian Haze saw API levels reach a hazardous level in some countries. Muar experienced the highest API level of 746 on 23 June 2013 at around 7 am.


title: Southeast Asia

text: Even prior to the penetration of European interests, Southeast Asia was a critical part of the world trading system. A wide range of commodities originated in the region, but especially important were spices such as pepper, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg. The spice trade initially was developed by Indian and Arab merchants, but it also brought Europeans to the region. First, Spaniards (Manila galleon) who sailed from the Americas and Kingdom of Portugal, then the Dutch, and finally the British and French became involved in this enterprise in various countries. The penetration of European commercial interests gradually evolved into annexation of territories, as traders lobbied for an extension of control to protect and expand their activities. As a result, the Dutch moved into Indonesia, the British into Malaya and parts of Borneo, the French into Indochina, and the Spanish and the US into the Philippines. An economic effect of this imperialism was the shift in the production of commodities. For example, the rubber plantations of Malaysia, Java, Vietnam, and Cambodia, the tin mining of Malaya, the rice fields of the Mekong Delta in Vietnam, and the Irrawaddy River delta in Burma, were a response to the powerful market demands.


title: Southeast Asia

text: The overseas Chinese community has played a large role in the development of the economies in the region. The origins of Chinese influence can be traced to the 16th century, when Chinese migrants from southern China settled in Indonesia, Thailand, and other Southeast Asian countries. Chinese populations in the region saw a rapid increase following the Communist Revolution in 1949, which forced many refugees to emigrate outside of China.


title: Southeast Asia

text: The region's economy greatly depends on agriculture; rice and rubber have long been prominent exports. Manufacturing and services are becoming more important. An emerging market, Indonesia is the largest economy in this region. Newly industrialised countries include Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines, while Singapore and Brunei are affluent developed economies. The rest of Southeast Asia is still heavily dependent on agriculture, but Vietnam is notably making steady progress in developing its industrial sectors. The region notably manufactures textiles, electronic high-tech goods such as microprocessors, and heavy industrial products such as automobiles. Oil reserves in Southeast Asia are plentiful.


title: Southeast Asia

text: Seventeen telecommunications companies contracted to build the Asia-America Gateway submarine cable to connect Southeast Asia to the US This is to avoid disruption of the kind caused by the cutting of the undersea cable from Taiwan to the US in the 2006 Hengchun earthquakes.


title: Southeast Asia

text: Tourism has been a key factor in economic development for many Southeast Asian countries, especially Cambodia. According to UNESCO, "tourism, if correctly conceived, can be a tremendous development tool and an effective means of preserving the cultural diversity of our planet." Since the early 1990s, "even the non-ASEAN nations such as Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Burma, where the income derived from tourism is low, are attempting to expand their own tourism industries." In 1995, Singapore was the regional leader in tourism receipts relative to GDP at over 8%. By 1998, those receipts had dropped to less than 6% of GDP while Thailand and Lao PDR increased receipts to over 7%. Since 2000, Cambodia has surpassed all other ASEAN countries and generated almost 15% of its GDP from tourism in 2006. Furthermore, Vietnam is considered as a growing power in Southeast Asia due to its large foreign investment opportunities and the booming tourism sector.


title: Southeast Asia

text: By the early 21st century, Indonesia had grown to an emerging market economy, becoming the largest economy in the region. It was classified a newly industrialised country and is the region's singular member of the G-20 major economies. Indonesia's estimated gross domestic product (GDP) for 2020 was US$1,088.8 billion (nominal) or $3,328.3 billion (PPP) with per capita GDP of US$4,038 (nominal) or $12,345 (PPP).


title: Southeast Asia

text: Stock markets in Southeast Asia have performed better than other bourses in the Asia-Pacific region in 2010, with the Philippines' PSE leading the way with 22 percent growth, followed by Thailand's SET with 21 percent and Indonesia's JKSE with 19 percent.


title: Southeast Asia

text: Southeast Asia's GDP per capita is US$4,685 according to a 2020 International Monetary Fund estimates, which is comparable to South Africa, Iraq, and Georgia.


title: Southeast Asia

text: Southeast Asia has an area of approximately . As of , around /1e6 round 0 million people live in the region, more than a fifth live (143 million) on the Indonesian island of Java, the most densely populated large island in the world. Indonesia is the most populous country with /1e6 round 0 million people, and also the fourth most populous country in the world. The distribution of the religions and people is diverse in Southeast Asia and varies by country. Some 30 million overseas Chinese also live in Southeast Asia, most prominently in Christmas Island, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand, and also as the Hoa in Vietnam. People of Southeast Asian origins are known as Southeast Asians or Aseanites.


title: Southeast Asia

text: The Aslians and Negritos were believed as one of the earliest inhabitants in the region. They are genetically related to the Papuans in Eastern Indonesia, East Timor and Australian Aborigines. In modern times, the Javanese are the largest ethnic group in Southeast Asia, with more than 100 million people, mostly concentrated in Java, Indonesia. The second-largest ethnic group in Southeast Asia is Vietnamese (Kinh people) with around 86 million population, mainly inhabiting in Vietnam, thus forming a significant minority in neighboring Cambodia and Laos. The Thais is also a significant ethnic group with around 59 million population forming the majority in Thailand. In Burma, the Burmese account for more than two-thirds of the ethnic stock in this country, with the Indo-Aryan Rohingya make up a significant minority in Rakhine State.


title: Southeast Asia

text: Indonesia is clearly dominated by the Javanese and Sundanese ethnic groups, with hundreds of ethnic minorities inhabited the archipelago, including Madurese, Minangkabau, Bugis, Balinese, Dayak, Batak and Malays. While Malaysia is split between more than half Malays and one-quarter Chinese, and also Indian minority in the West Malaysia however Dayaks make up the majority in Sarawak and Kadazan-dusun makes up the majority in Sabah which are in the East Malaysia. The Malays are the majority in West Malaysia and Brunei, while they forming a significant minority in Indonesia, Southern Thailand, East Malaysia and Singapore. In city-state Singapore, Chinese are the majority, yet the city is a multicultural melting pot with citizens of Malay, Indian, Eurasian and other ethnic descents.


title: Southeast Asia

text: The Chams form a significant minority in Central and South Vietnam, also in Central Cambodia. While the Khmers are the majority in Cambodia and form a significant minority in Southern Vietnam and Thailand, the Hmong people are the minority in Vietnam, China, and Laos.


title: Southeast Asia

text: Within the Philippines, the Tagalog, Visayan (mainly Cebuanos, Warays and Hiligaynons), Ilocano, Bicolano, Moro (mainly Tausug, Maranao, and Maguindanao) and Central Luzon (mainly Kapampangan and Pangasinan) groups are significant.


title: Southeast Asia

text: Countries in Southeast Asia practice many different religions. By population, Islam is the most practised faith, numbering approximately 240 million adherents, or about 40% of the entire population, concentrated in Indonesia, Brunei, Malaysia, Southern Thailand and in the Southern Philippines. Indonesia is the most populous Muslim-majority country in the world.


title: Southeast Asia

text: There are approximately 205 million Buddhists in Southeast Asia, making it the second-largest religion in the region, after Islam. Approximately 38% of the global Buddhist population resides in Southeast Asia. Buddhism is predominant in Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar and Singapore. Ancestor worship and Confucianism are also widely practised in Vietnam and Singapore.


title: Southeast Asia

text: Christianity is predominant in the Philippines, eastern Indonesia, East Malaysia, and East Timor. The Philippines has the largest Roman Catholic population in Asia. East Timor is also predominantly Roman Catholic due to a history of Indonesian and Portuguese rule. In October 2019, the number of Christians, both Catholic and Protestant in Southeast Asia, reached 156 million, of which 97 million came from the Philippines, 29 million came from Indonesia, 11 million came from Vietnam, and the rest came from Malaysia, Myanmar, East Timor, Singapore, Laos, Cambodia and Brunei.


title: Southeast Asia

text: No individual Southeast Asian country is religiously homogeneous. Some groups are protected "de facto" by their isolation from the rest of the world. In the world's most populous Muslim nation, Indonesia, Hinduism is dominant on islands such as Bali. Christianity also predominates in the rest of the part of the Philippines, New Guinea, Flores and Timor. Pockets of Hindu population can also be found around Southeast Asia in Singapore, Malaysia, etc. Garuda, the phoenix who is the mount ("vahanam") of Vishnu, is a national symbol in both Thailand and Indonesia; in the Philippines, gold images of Garuda have been found on Palawan; gold images of other Hindu gods and goddesses have also been found on Mindanao. Balinese Hinduism is somewhat different from Hinduism practised elsewhere, as Animism and local culture is incorporated into it. Christians can also be found throughout Southeast Asia; they are in the majority in East Timor and the Philippines, Asia's largest Christian nation. In addition, there are also older tribal religious practices in remote areas of Sarawak in East Malaysia, Highland Philippines, and Papua in eastern Indonesia. In Burma, Sakka (Indra) is revered as a "Nat". In Vietnam, Mahayana Buddhism is practised, which is influenced by native animism but with a strong emphasis on ancestor worship.


title: Southeast Asia

text: The religious composition for each country is as follows: Some values are taken from the "CIA World Factbook":


title: Southeast Asia

text: Each of the languages has been influenced by cultural pressures due to trade, immigration, and historical colonization as well. There are nearly 800 native languages in the region.


title: Southeast Asia

text: The culture in Southeast Asia is very diverse: on mainland Southeast Asia, the culture is a mix of Burmese, Cambodian, Laotian, and Thai (Indian) and Vietnamese (Chinese) cultures. While in Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Malaysia the culture is a mix of indigenous Austronesian, Indian, Islamic, Western, and Chinese cultures. Also Brunei shows a strong influence from Arabia. Vietnam and Singapore show more Chinese influence in that Singapore, although being geographically a Southeast Asian nation, is home to a large Chinese majority and Vietnam was in China's sphere of influence for much of its history. Indian influence in Singapore is only evident through the Tamil migrants, which influenced, to some extent, the cuisine of Singapore. Throughout Vietnam's history, it has had no direct influence from India – only through contact with the Thai, Khmer and Cham peoples. Moreover, Vietnam is also categorized under the East Asian cultural sphere along with China, Korea, and Japan due to a large amount of Chinese influence embedded in their culture and lifestyle.


title: Southeast Asia

text: Rice paddy agriculture has existed in Southeast Asia for millennia, ranging across the subregion. Some dramatic examples of these rice paddies populate the Banaue Rice Terraces in the mountains of Luzon in the Philippines. Maintenance of these paddies is very labour-intensive. The rice paddies are well-suited to the monsoon climate of the region.


title: Southeast Asia

text: Stilt houses can be found all over Southeast Asia, from Thailand and Vietnam to Borneo, to Luzon in the Philippines, to Papua New Guinea. The region has diverse metalworking, especially in Indonesia. This includes weaponry, such as the distinctive kris, and musical instruments, such as the gamelan.


title: Southeast Asia

text: The region's chief cultural influences have been from some combination of Islam, India, and China. Diverse cultural influence is pronounced in the Philippines, derived particularly from the period of Spanish and American rule, contact with Indian-influenced cultures, and the Chinese and Japanese trading era.


title: Southeast Asia

text: As a rule, the peoples who ate with their fingers were more likely influenced by the culture of India, for example, than the culture of China, where the peoples ate with chopsticks; tea, as a beverage, can be found across the region. The fish sauces distinctive to the region tend to vary.


title: Southeast Asia

text: The arts of Southeast Asia have an affinity with the arts of other areas. Dance in much of Southeast Asia includes movement of the hands as well as the feet, to express the dance's emotion and meaning of the story that the ballerina is going to tell the audience. Most of Southeast Asia introduced dance into their court; in particular, Cambodian royal ballet represented them in the early seventh century before the Khmer Empire, which was highly influenced by Indian Hinduism. Apsara Dance, famous for strong hand and feet movement, is a great example of Hindu symbolic dance.


title: Southeast Asia

text: Puppetry and shadow plays were also a favoured form of entertainment in past centuries, a famous one being Wayang from Indonesia. The arts and literature in some of Southeast Asia are quite influenced by Hinduism, which was brought to them centuries ago. Indonesia, despite conversion to Islam which opposes certain forms of art, has retained many forms of Hindu-influenced practices, culture, art, and literature. An example is the Wayang Kulit (Shadow Puppet) and literature like the Ramayana. The wayang kulit show has been recognized by UNESCO on 7 November 2003, as a Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.


title: Southeast Asia

text: It has been pointed out that Khmer and Indonesian classical arts were concerned with depicting the life of the gods, but to the Southeast Asian mind, the life of the gods was the life of the peoples themselves—joyous, earthy, yet divine. The Tai, coming late into Southeast Asia, brought with them some Chinese artistic traditions, but they soon shed them in favour of the Khmer and Mon traditions, and the only indications of their earlier contact with Chinese arts were in the style of their temples, especially the tapering roof, and in their lacquerware.


title: Southeast Asia

text: Traditional music in Southeast Asia is as varied as its many ethnic and cultural divisions. Main styles of traditional music can be seen: Court music, folk music, music styles of smaller ethnic groups, and music influenced by genres outside the geographic region.


title: Southeast Asia

text: Of the court and folk genres, Gong chime ensembles and orchestras make up the majority (the exception being lowland areas of Vietnam). "Gamelan" and "Angklung" orchestras from "Indonesia", "Piphat" /"Pinpeat" ensembles of Thailand and Cambodia and the "Kulintang" ensembles of the southern Philippines, Borneo, Sulawesi and Timor are the three main distinct styles of musical genres that have influenced other traditional musical styles in the region. String instruments also are popular in the region.


title: Southeast Asia

text: On 18 November 2010, UNESCO officially recognized angklung as a "Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity", and encourage the Indonesian people and government to safeguard, transmit, promote performances and to encourage the craftsmanship of angklung making.


title: Southeast Asia

text: The history of Southeast Asia has led to a wealth of different authors, from both within and without writing about the region.


title: Southeast Asia

text: Originally, Indians were the ones who taught the native inhabitants about writing. This is shown through Brahmic forms of writing present in the region such as the Balinese script shown on split palm leaf called "lontar" (see image to the left – magnify the image to see the writing on the flat side, and the decoration on the reverse side).


title: Southeast Asia

text: The antiquity of this form of writing extends before the invention of paper around the year 100 in China. Note each palm leaf section was only several lines, written longitudinally across the leaf, and bound by twine to the other sections. The outer portion was decorated. The alphabets of Southeast Asia tended to be abugidas, until the arrival of the Europeans, who used words that also ended in consonants, not just vowels. Other forms of official documents, which did not use paper, included Javanese copperplate scrolls. This material would have been more durable than paper in the tropical climate of Southeast Asia.


title: Southeast Asia

text: In Malaysia, Brunei, and Singapore, the Malay language is now generally written in the Latin script. The same phenomenon is present in Indonesian, although different spelling standards are utilised (e.g. 'Teksi' in Malay and 'Taksi' in Indonesian for the word 'Taxi').


title: Southeast Asia

text: The use of Chinese characters, in the past and present, is only evident in Vietnam and more recently, Singapore and Malaysia. The adoption of Chữ Hán in Vietnam dates back to around 111 B.C. when it was occupied by the Chinese. A Vietnamese script called Chữ Nôm used modified Chữ Hán to express the Vietnamese language. Both Chữ Hán and Chữ Nôm were used up until the early 20th century.


title: Southeast Asia

text: Association football is the most popular sport in the region, with the ASEAN Football Federation, the region's primary regulatory body, formed on 31 January 1984, in Jakarta, Indonesia. AFF Championship is the highest football competition in the region since its inaugural in 1996 with Thailand becoming the most title in the competition with 5 titles. The reigning winner is Thailand, who defeated Indonesia in the 2020 final. Thailand is the most numerous appearance in AFC Asian Cup with 7 while the highest-ranked result in the Asian Cup for a Southeast Asian team is second place in the 1968 by Myanmar in Iran. Indonesia is the only Southeast Asian team to be played at the in 1938 FIFA World Cup.


title: Morgan Freeman

text: Morgan Freeman (born June 1, 1937) is an American actor, director, and narrator. He is known for his distinctive deep voice and various roles in a wide variety of film genres. Throughout his career spanning over five decades, he has received multiple accolades, including an Academy Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a Golden Globe Award.


title: Morgan Freeman

text: Born in Memphis, Tennessee, Freeman was raised in Mississippi where he began acting in school plays. He studied theatre arts in Los Angeles and appeared in stage productions in his early career. He rose to fame in the 1970s for his role in the children's television series "The Electric Company." Freeman then appeared in the Shakespearean plays "Coriolanus" and "Julius Caesar", the former of which earned him an Obie Award. His breakout role was in "Street Smart" (1987), playing a hustler, which earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. He achieved further stardom in "Glory" (1989), the biographical drama "Lean on Me" (1989), and comedy-drama "Driving Miss Daisy" (1989), the latter of which garnered him his first Academy Award nomination for Best Actor.


title: Morgan Freeman

text: In 1992, Freeman starred alongside Clint Eastwood in the western revenge film "Unforgiven"; this would be the first of several collaborations with Eastwood. In 1994, he starred in the prison drama "The Shawshank Redemption" for which he received another Academy Award nomination. Freeman also starred in David Fincher's crime thriller "Se7en" (1995), and Steven Spielberg's historical drama "Amistad" (1997). Freeman won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Clint Eastwood's 2004 sports drama "Million Dollar Baby". In 2009, he received his fifth Oscar nomination for playing former South African President Nelson Mandela in Eastwood's "Invictus". Freeman is also known for his performance as Lucius Fox in Christopher Nolan's "The Dark Knight Trilogy" (2005–2012).


title: Morgan Freeman

text: In addition to acting, Freeman has directed the drama "Bopha!" (1993)"." He also founded film production company Revelations Entertainment with business partner Lori McCreary. He is the recipient of the Kennedy Center Honor, the AFI Life Achievement Award, the Cecil B. DeMille Award, and the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award. For his performances in theatrical productions, he has won three Obie Awards, one of the most prestigious honors for recognizing excellence in theatre.


title: Morgan Freeman

text: Morgan Freeman was born on June 1, 1937, in Memphis, Tennessee. He is the son of Mamie Edna (née Revere; 1912–2000), a teacher, and Morgan Porterfield Freeman (July 6, 1915 – April 27, 1961), a barber, who died of cirrhosis in 1961. He has three older siblings. According to DNA analysis, some of his ancestors were from the Songhai and Tuareg people of Niger. Some of Freeman's great-great-grandparents were slaves who migrated from North Carolina to Mississippi. Freeman later discovered that his Caucasian maternal great-great-grandfather had lived with, and was buried beside Freeman's African-American great-great-grandmother in the segregated South, as the two could not legally marry at the time. The DNA test suggested that among all of his African ancestors, a little over one-quarter came from the area that stretches from present-day Senegal to Liberia and three-quarters came from the Congo-Angola region.


title: Morgan Freeman

text: As an infant, Freeman was sent to his paternal grandmother in Charleston, Mississippi. He moved frequently during his childhood, living in Greenwood, Mississippi; Gary, Indiana; and finally Chicago, Illinois. When Freeman was 16 years old, he contracted pneumonia. He made his acting debut at age nine, playing the lead role in a school play. He then attended Broad Street High School, a building which serves today as Threadgill Elementary School, in Greenwood, Mississippi. At age 12, he won a statewide drama competition, and while settling into school, discovered music and theatre.


title: Morgan Freeman

text: Freeman graduated high school in 1955, but turned down a partial drama scholarship from Jackson State University, opting instead to enlist in the United States Air Force. He served as an Automatic Tracking Radar repairman, rising to the rank of airman first class. After serving from 1955 to 1959, he moved to Los Angeles, California, and took acting classes at the Pasadena Playhouse. He also studied theatre arts at Los Angeles City College, where a teacher encouraged him to embark on a dance career.


title: Morgan Freeman

text: Freeman worked as a dancer at the 1964 World's Fair and was a member of the Opera Ring musical theatre group in San Francisco. He acted in a touring company version of "The Royal Hunt of the Sun", and also appeared as an extra in Sidney Lumet's 1965 drama film "The Pawnbroker" starring Rod Steiger. Between acting and dancing jobs, Freeman realized that acting was where his heart lay. "After ["The Royal Hunt of the Sun"], my acting career just took off," he later recalled. Freeman made his Off-Broadway debut in 1967, opposite Viveca Lindfors in "The Nigger Lovers", a show about the Freedom Riders during the American Civil Rights Movement, before debuting on Broadway in 1968's all-black version of "Hello, Dolly!" that also starred Pearl Bailey and Cab Calloway. In 1969, Freeman also performed on stage in "The Dozens".


title: Morgan Freeman

text: Beginning in 1971, Freeman starred in the PBS children's television show "The Electric Company", which gave him financial stability and recognition among American audiences. His work on the show was tiring, so he quit in 1975. Television producer Joan Ganz Cooney said that Freeman loathed appearing in "The Electric Company", saying "it was a very unhappy period in his life". Freeman later acknowledged that he does not think about the show, but he was grateful to have been a part of it. His first credited appearance in a feature film show in 1971's "Who Says I Can't Ride a Rainbow!", a family drama starring Jack Klugman. Also that year, Freeman performed in a theatre production of "Purlie." After a short career break, he returned to work in 1978, appearing in two stage productions: 1978's "The Mighty Gents", winning a Drama Desk Award and a Clarence Derwent Award for his role as a wino, and "White Pelicans." Freeman continued to work in theatre, and a year later, appeared in the Shakespearean tragedies "Coriolanus", receiving the Obie Award in 1980 for the title role, and "Julius Caesar".


title: Morgan Freeman

text: In 1980, he had a small role as Walter in the drama "Brubaker", which starred Robert Redford as a prison warden. Freeman next appeared in the television film, "Attica" (1980), which is about the 1971 Attica Prison riot and its aftermath. A year later, he starred in Peter Yates' "Eyewitness" with co-stars William Hurt and Sigourney Weaver. From 1982 to 1984, Freeman was a cast member of the soap opera "Another World", playing architect Roy Bingham. After several small roles in dramas, he starred in "Marie" (1985), a film adaptation of "Marie: A True Story" by Peter Maas, in which he portrayed Charles Traughber, and also appeared in the miniseries "The Atlanta Child Murders". Freeman also had a small role in the drama "That Was Then... This Is Now", based on the novel of the same name by S. E. Hinton. In the mid-1980s, he began accepting prominent supporting roles in feature films, earning him a reputation for depicting wise, fatherly characters.


title: Morgan Freeman

text: In addition to television films, in 1987, Freeman played a violent street hustler, a role that diverged from his previous roles, in "Street Smart" co-starring Christopher Reeve and Kathy Baker. Freeman's performance was praised by film critics, including Roger Ebert who wrote: "Freeman has the flashier role, as a smart, very tough man who can be charming or intimidating - whatever's needed...Freeman creates such an unforgettable villain." Freeman's performance earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Freeman later said he considered "Street Smart" to be his breakthrough role. In his next film, he played Craig in the drama "Clean and Sober" with co-stars Michael Keaton and Kathy Baker. Although the film was not a box-office hit, it gained fair reviews; Roger Ebert gave the film 4 out of 5 stars and called the performances "superb". Freeman also received Obie Awards for his roles as a preacher in the musical "The Gospel at Colonus", and as Hoke Colburn in the play "Driving Miss Daisy", respectively.


title: Morgan Freeman

text: Freeman had four film releases in 1989. In the first, he starred as Sergeant Major John Rawlins in "Glory", directed by Edward Zwick, about the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, the Union Army's second African-American regiment in the American Civil War. Writing for "The Washington Post", Desson Thomson praised Freeman and co-star Denzel Washington for their "warming sense of fraternity". "Glory" was nominated for five Academy Awards and won three: Best Supporting Actor for Washington, Best Cinematography, and Best Sound. Next, Freeman starred in the comedy-drama "Driving Miss Daisy", alongside Jessica Tandy and Dan Aykroyd. Based on Alfred Uhry's play of the same name, in which Freeman had appeared previously, he reprises his role of Hoke Colburn, chauffeur for a Jewish widow. The film was a commercial success and grossed US$145 million worldwide. Film critics were mainly positive; Henry Sheehan from "The Hollywood Reporter" opined that Freeman and Tandy's performances complemented each other while retaining their "individual star-quality". The film was nominated for nine Academy Awards, including Best Actor for Freeman.


title: Morgan Freeman

text: His third release was the biographical drama "Lean on Me", in which he portrays the principal of an under-performing and drug- and crime-ridden New Jersey high school. Jane Galbraith of "Variety" magazine thought Freeman's casting was "wonderful". Lastly in 1989, he starred in Walter Hill's "Johnny Handsome", a crime drama in which he plays a New Orleans police officer. In a 1990 interview, Freeman said that "Glory" was one of his favorite releases—"The Black legacy is as noble, is as heroic, is as filled with adventure and conquest and discovery as anybody else's. It's just that nobody knows it."


title: Morgan Freeman

text: In 1990, Freeman provided the voice of Frederick Douglass in "The Civil War", a television miniseries about the American Civil War. That year, he also starred in the critically panned "The Bonfire of the Vanities." According to the review aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 16% based on 51 reviews. In the summer of 1990, he played Petruchio, a role he had been thinking about for six years, in Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew", which opened at Delacorte theatre in New York City. "[Petruchio] seems to have a lot of fun in life," he said. In 1991, Freeman had a supporting role in "", an action-adventure starring Kevin Costner. The film was a commercial success, but garnered mixed reviews from critics; "The New York Times" Vincent Canby thought Freeman played Azeem with "wit and humor" despite the "muddled" plot. Freeman also narrated "The True Story of Glory Continues", a documentary about the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment.


title: Morgan Freeman

text: In 1992, he appeared in Clint Eastwood's western "Unforgiven", which won four Academy Awards including Best Picture. The film depicts William Munny (Eastwood), an aging outlaw and killer who takes on one more job with old friend Ned Logan (Freeman). "Unforgiven" was widely acclaimed, with one critic calling Freeman's performance "outstanding". "The Power of One" was Freeman's second film in 1992, a loose adaptation of Bryce Courtenay's 1989 novel of the same name, in which he plays boxing coach Geel Piet.


title: Morgan Freeman

text: In 1993, Freeman made his directorial debut with the drama "Bopha!", which tells the story of a black policeman (Danny Glover) during South Africa's apartheid era. "Bopha!" was well-received, in particular for Freeman's directing. Hal Hinson of "The Washington Post" wrote: "Freeman lays out the father-son dynamics with great skill and very little fuss. There's no hysteria in his approach; instead, he sticks to the facts, relying on his cast to provide the emotion. The result is a surprisingly powerful, insightful film." Kenneth Turan from "Los Angeles Times" also complimented Freeman's direction but thought the film was "more predictable than powerful".


title: Morgan Freeman

text: In 1994, Freeman portrayed Red, the redeemed convict in Frank Darabont's acclaimed drama "The Shawshank Redemption", with co-star Tim Robbins. It is based on the 1982 Stephen King novella "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption". Freeman was cast at the suggestion of producer Liz Glotzer, despite the novella's character of a white Irishman. Filming proved to be challenging, mainly because of Darabont's need for multiple takes. Freeman said: "The answer [I'd give him] was no ... having to do something again and again for no discernible reason tends to be a bit debilitating to the energy." Nevertheless, Freeman's performance was described as "quietly impressive" and "moving" by "The New York Times". At the 67th Academy Awards, he received a nomination for Best Actor. Since its release, "The Shawshank Redemption" has remained popular among audiences. In 1994, Freeman also served as a member of the jury at the 44th Berlin International Film Festival.


title: Morgan Freeman

text: "Outbreak" (1995), a medical thriller directed by Wolfgang Petersen, was Freeman's next film. He played General Billy Ford, a doctor dealing with an outbreak of a fictional virus in a small town. The film also stars Dustin Hoffman, Rene Russo, and Donald Sutherland. "Outbreak" was a box-office success, grossing $189.8 million worldwide, but gained a mixed critics' response. Mick LaSelle of the "San Francisco Chronicle" credited Freeman for his performance which may have been unappreciated by viewers. In 1995, Freeman also starred with Brad Pitt in David Fincher's crime thriller "Seven", the story of two detectives who attempt to identify a serial killer who bases his murders on the Christian seven deadly sins. Freeman's performance generated a positive response; Owen Gleiberman of "Entertainment Weekly" wrote: "Freeman plays nearly every scene in a doleful hush; he makes you lean in to hear his words, to ferret out the hints of anger and regret that haunt this weary knight." The critic from "Variety" magazine called Freeman's acting "supremely nuanced".


title: Morgan Freeman

text: A year later, Freeman appeared in "Chain Reaction" as Paul Shannon, a science-fiction thriller co-starring Keanu Reeves and Rachel Weisz. The film was a critical and commercial disappointment. Next, he was cast opposite Robin Wright in 1996's "Moll Flanders", a period drama based on the novel of the same name. The film received a mixed reception; Greg Evans from "Variety" magazine said Freeman gave a "sweet" performance, while "The New York Times" critic thought he was miscast.


title: Morgan Freeman

text: While filming "Outbreak", Freeman expressed an interest in starting a film production company. He turned to Lori McCreary, producer of "Bopha!", to be his business partner. Freeman explained to her that he wanted to achieve representation on screen, explore challenging issues and reveal hidden truths, so they chose to name their firm Revelations Entertainment.


title: Morgan Freeman

text: In 1997, Freeman narrated the Academy Award-winning documentary "The Long Way Home", about Jewish refugees' liberation after World War II and the establishment of Israel. He also appeared in Steven Spielberg's historical epic "Amistad" alongside Djimon Hounsou, Anthony Hopkins, and Matthew McConaughey. Based on the events in 1839 aboard the slave ship "La Amistad", the film was mostly well-received and earned four nominations at the Academy Awards. The critic from "Salon" magazine, however, thought the film lacked inspiration and Freeman's role was "utterly cryptic". In that same year, he was cast as psychologist Alex Cross in "Kiss the Girls", a thriller based on James Patterson's 1995 novel of the same name. In a mixed review, Peter Stack of "San Francisco Chronicle" thought Freeman and co-star Ashley Judd gave strong performances despite the lengthy plot.


title: Morgan Freeman

text: Freeman went on to star in "Deep Impact" (1998), a science-fiction disaster film in which he played President Tim Beck. The story depicts humanity's attempt to destroy a 7-mile (11 km) wide comet set to collide with Earth and cause a mass extinction. The film was a box-office hit, despite competition from "Armageddon", another summer blockbuster of the year. Continuing with the disaster genre, he then starred opposite Christian Slater in 1998's "Hard Rain", centering on a heist and man-made treachery amidst a natural disaster in a small Indiana town. The film was unpopular with critics; Lawrence Van Gelder of "The New York Times" called the characters "one-dimensional" and the film "routine".


title: Morgan Freeman

text: Freeman returned to the screen in 2000 with the lead role of Charlie in the comedy "Nurse Betty", featuring Renée Zellweger, Chris Rock, and Greg Kinnear. The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival to mainly positive reviews; the critic from "Variety" magazine thought Freeman and Rock had "wonderful chemistry". Next, he appeared in "Under Suspicion" (2000), a thriller remake of the 1981 French film "Garde à vue". The film had been "carting round" for twelve years before Freeman was able to produce it under Revelations Entertainment. He co-starred with Gene Hackman; "Working with Gene was wonderful. I didn't find it too hard working with an icon I so respected," Freeman said. Upon release, "Under Suspicion" was met with lukewarm reception; CNN's Paul Tatara praised the actors but thought the film was "too tawdry to be completely entertaining, and too static to generate much excitement". In 2001, Freeman reprised his role of Alex Cross in "Along Came a Spider", a sequel to 1997's "Kiss the Girls". The film received mixed-to-negative reviews. Susan Wloszczyna of "USA Today" observed that "Freeman strides with noble authority" but thought the overall film was unmemorable.


title: Morgan Freeman

text: In 2002, Freeman was cast opposite Ben Affleck in the spy thriller "The Sum of All Fears". It is based on Tom Clancy's 1991 novel of the same name, about a plot by an Austrian Neo-Nazi to trigger a nuclear war between the United States and Russia, so that he can establish a fascist superstate in Europe. "The Sum of All Fears" received moderate reviews, but was a commercial success, grossing $193.9 million worldwide. Next, Freeman starred alongside Ashley Judd and Jim Caviezel in "High Crimes" (2002), a legal thriller based on Joseph Finder's 1998 novel of the same name. The story follows lawyer Claire (Judd), whose husband (Caviezel) is arrested and placed on trial for the murder of villagers while he was in the Marines. Although several critics were unimpressed with the story, they credited Freeman and Judd for their chemistry and performances.


title: Morgan Freeman

text: In 2003, Freeman appeared as God in the hit comedy "Bruce Almighty" with Jim Carrey and Jennifer Aniston. Next, he starred in the science fiction horror "Dreamcatcher", adapted from Stephen King's 2001 novel of the same name. The film was a box-office flop, and garnered mostly negative reviews; "Dreamcatcher" has an approval rating of 28% on review aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes. Also in 2003, Freeman starred in two other dramas that were not widely seen, "Levity" and "Guilty by Association." His 2004 releases were comedy "The Big Bounce" and sports drama "Million Dollar Baby". In the latter, directed by Clint Eastwood, Freeman portrayed an elderly former boxer. The film won four Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress (Hilary Swank), and Best Supporting Actor, earning Freeman his first Academy Award. Freeman was also nominated for a Golden Globe Award in the same category. Roger Ebert complimented Freeman's "flat and factual" narration, and "Timeout" magazine thought the cast fully inhabited their roles.


title: Morgan Freeman

text: 2005 was a busy year for Freeman, making six appearances in various features. In the drama "An Unfinished Life", Freeman plays Mitch, a neighbor of a Wyoming rancher (Robert Redford). The film had a mixed response; "The Guardian" critic thought it was amiable but questioned the purpose of Freeman's "sidekick" role. Freeman's authoritative voice led to his narration of two documentaries; Steven Spielberg's "War of the Worlds" and the Academy Award-winning "March of the Penguins". He also appeared in Christopher Nolan's "Batman Begins", the first installment in what would become "The Dark Knight Trilogy", as the fictional Lucius Fox. After this, he co-starred with Jet Li in the action-thriller "Unleashed", playing Sam, a blind piano tuner who helps Li's character turn his life around. The film gained a mixed-to-positive reception; Peter Hartlaub of "San Francisco Chronicle" was confused with the genre and thought Freeman's character interrupted the narrative. Freeman's next role was in the thriller "Edison", which bombed at the box office. In his last release of 2005, he provided the voice of Neil Armstrong in the documentary "."


title: Morgan Freeman

text: Freeman starred in 2006's "The Contract", as assassin Frank Carden opposite John Cusack. The film was released direct-to-video, which critic John Cornelius suggests was unsurprising, considering the generic formula of the thriller. Freeman next appeared in "Lucky Number Slevin" (2006), a crime thriller directed by Paul McGuigan. Starring a principle cast of Josh Hartnett, Bruce Willis, Lucy Liu, Stanley Tucci, and Ben Kingsley, the film garnered mixed reception. David Mattin of BBC wrote: "Kingsley and Freeman shine individually, but their inevitable, climactic clash of heads lacks force. Like its leading man [Hartnett], this movie presents a charming façade with nothing much underneath." Next, Freeman portrayed himself in the low-budget comedy "10 Items or Less" opposite Paz Vega"." Two weeks after its theatrical release, "10 Items or Less" was made available for download from ClickStar, a film distribution company that Freeman co-founded that year.


title: Morgan Freeman

text: In 2007, Freeman reprised his role as God in "Evan Almighty", a sequel to 2003's "Bruce Almighty", with Steve Carell. "Evan Almighty" was a box-office failure and negatively received; "The Guardian" critic wrote: "A cast full of people who have been frequently funny elsewhere flounder in this deluge of sentimentality and CGI. Avoid like the Ten Plagues." The drama "Feast of Love" was Freeman's second release of 2007. It is based on the 2000 novel "The Feast of Love" by Charles Baxter, about a group of friends living in suburban Oregon who come into contact with a free spirit who changes their outlook on life; Peter Bradshaw of "The Guardian" sarcastically remarked that it was great to see Freeman in a challenging role. Freeman had a supporting part in "Gone Baby Gone" (2007), a mystery thriller that was also Ben Affleck's directorial debut. Adapted from the 1998 novel of the same name by Dennis Lehane, Freeman plays Captain Jack Doyle of the Boston Police Department. The story and cast performances were positively received; "Time Out" magazine called it "flawed but impressive". Afterward, he starred in Rob Reiner's 2007 comedy "The Bucket List" opposite Jack Nicholson. The plot follows two terminally ill men on a road trip with a list of things to do before they die. The film grossed a respectable $175 million worldwide.


title: Morgan Freeman

text: In 2008, Freeman was cast in the action-thriller "Wanted", a loose adaptation of the comic book miniseries by Mark Millar and J. G. Jones. The plot revolves around Wesley Gibson (James McAvoy), a frustrated account manager who discovers that he is the son of a professional assassin and decides to join the Fraternity, a secret society of which Sloan (Freeman) is the leader. Principal photography took place in Chicago; co-star rapper Common remarked on the set atmosphere: "Freeman is a cool guy. He’d be walking around joking and singing and just dancing. You know, artists are free and I just felt the freedom in him." The film received generally favorable reviews; Peter Howell of "Toronto Star" thought it was original and one of Freeman's bolder performances to date. Freeman narrated "The Love Guru" (2008), before appearing in "The Dark Knight" (2008), the second installment of Christopher Nolan's "Dark Knight Trilogy", in which he reprised his role as Lucius Fox. Freeman returned to Broadway in 2008 after an eighteen-year absence to co-star with Frances McDormand and Peter Gallagher in Clifford Odets' play, "The Country Girl", directed by Mike Nichols.


title: Morgan Freeman

text: Freeman continued to accept roles in a diverse range of genres. In 2009, Freeman starred opposite Antonio Banderas in the heist movie "Thick as Thieves". Next, he collaborated with Christopher Walken and William H. Macy for the comedy "The Maiden Heist". For some time, Freeman expressed a desire to do a film based on Nelson Mandela. Initially, he wanted to adapt Mandela's autobiography "Long Walk to Freedom" into a screenplay, but plans were never finalized. Instead, he purchased the film rights to John Carlin's book: "Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Made a Nation". The book was adapted into a film which Clint Eastwood directed, "Invictus", starring Freeman as Mandela and Matt Damon as rugby team captain Francois Pienaar. The biographical drama received positive reviews for Freeman's performance; Roger Ebert wrote: "Freeman does a splendid job of evoking the man Nelson Mandela ... He shows him as genial, confident, calming, over what was clearly a core of tempered steel." Freeman received Best Actor nominations at the Academy Awards and Golden Globes, as well as a nomination for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor at the Screen Actors Guild Awards. The same year he provided the narration for Janet Langhart's "Anne and Emmett", a play featuring an imaginary conversation between Emmett Till and Anne Frank, both killed as young teenagers because of racial persecution.


title: Morgan Freeman

text: Freeman's sole film release of 2010 was "Red" with co-stars Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren, and John Malkovich. "Red" is loosely adapted from the comic-book series Red, created by Warren Ellis and Cully Hamner and published by the DC Comics imprint Homage. Freeman plays CIA mentor Joe, who helps retired fellow agent Frank (Willis) to uncover some assassins. The film was a critical and commercial success; writing for Melbourne's "The Age", Jim Schembri praised Freeman and the cast who "bring an infectious comic energy to their roles".


title: Morgan Freeman

text: Besides film, Freeman worked on other projects. In January 2010, Freeman replaced Walter Cronkite as the voiceover introduction to the "CBS Evening News" presented by Katie Couric. CBS stated the need for consistency in introductions for regular news broadcasts and special reports as the basis for the change. Deborah Myers, head of Science Channel, approached Freeman to be the presenter of "Through the Wormhole" (2010–17)"." She had heard that he was "really interested in space and the universe," and the pair agreed to develop the series together.


title: Morgan Freeman

text: In 2011, Freeman narrated the fantasy "Conan the Barbarian" and appeared in the family drama "Dolphin Tale", as prosthetic specialist Dr. McCarthy. Returning to theatre in 2011, Freeman was featured with John Lithgow in the Broadway debut of Dustin Lance Black's play, "8", a staged reenactment of "Perry v. Brown", the federal trial that overturned California's Proposition 8 ban on same-sex marriage. Freeman played Attorney David Boies. The production was held at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre in New York City to raise money for the American Foundation for Equal Rights. Freeman had a lead role in the 2012 drama "The Magic of Belle Isle", as an alcoholic novelist trying to write again. The film fared poorly with critics, gaining only a 29% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Lastly in 2012, Freeman reprised his role as Lucius Fox for the third time in "The Dark Knight Rises."


title: Morgan Freeman

text: A number of box office hits were released in 2013. Freeman appeared in the action-thriller "Olympus Has Fallen", the first installment in what would become the "Has Fallen" film series; he portrays Speaker of the House Allan Trumbull. The "San Francisco Chronicle" critic gave "Olympus Has Fallen" 3 out of 4 stars and opined that Freeman gave an amicable supporting performance. He then starred in the science fiction drama "Oblivion", with co-star Tom Cruise, as veteran soldier Malcolm Beech, and appeared in the thriller "Now You See Me", as an ex-magician. Lastly, he played a retiree in "Last Vegas", with co-stars Michael Douglas, Robert De Niro, Kevin Kline, and Mary Steenburgen. Filmed in Las Vegas and Atlanta, "Last Vegas" was praised for its cast's chemistry, and one critic thought Freeman brought the most amusement.


title: Morgan Freeman

text: In 2014, Freeman voiced the character Vitruvius in "The Lego Movie", a commercially successful 3D animation. He starred in "Transcendence", a science fiction thriller directed by Wally Pfister in his directorial debut, in which Freeman plays scientist Joseph Tagger. Critic reviews of the film were generally mixed, according to Metacritic. Next, he co-starred in the action "Lucy" (2014), about a woman (Scarlett Johansson) who gains psychokinetic abilities when a nootropic drug is absorbed into her bloodstream. Freeman plays Professor Samuel Norman, who helps her research the condition. Producer Virginie Silla wanted Freeman for the part because of his experience in portraying a character of wisdom. "He was the perfect actor," she said. Upon the release of "Lucy", critical reception ranged from mixed-to-positive. Also that year, Freeman appeared in the sequel to 2011's "Dolphin Tale", "Dolphin Tale 2", and "5 Flights Up", a comedy-drama. At the end of 2014, Freeman appeared as himself, among other celebrities, in the documentary "Lennon or McCartney."


title: Morgan Freeman

text: Kazuaki Kiriya's action-thriller "Last Knights" was Freeman's first film of 2015, starring opposite Clive Owen. The plot centers on a band of warriors who seek to avenge the loss of their master at the hands of a corrupt minister. Reviews were largely underwhelming; Sara Stewart of "New York Post" called it "bloody bad," adding: "Once-proud box office names are its first casualties." Freeman next joined the cast of "Ted 2", a comedy sequel to "Ted", directed by Seth MacFarlane. The story follows the talking teddy bear Ted as he fights for civil rights in order to be recognized as a person. Freeman portrays Patrick Meighan, a highly respected civil rights attorney. A television series also occupied Freeman's time. He played Chief Justice Frawley of the United States Supreme Court in a recurring role in "Madam Secretary." He and his producing partner Lori McCreary served as executive producers. Freeman directed the first episode; of his directing style, McCreary remarked: "What's riveting is that he can achieve a complete tonal change in performance with the least amount of direction ... Everybody behaves better when Morgan is there ... but he's very fun." At the end of 2015, Freeman played a U.S senator in the thriller "Momentum".


title: Morgan Freeman

text: Reprising his role as Allan Trumbull, Freeman appeared in "London Has Fallen", the 2016 sequel to "Olympus Has Fallen". The film follows a plot to assassinate the world leaders of the G7 as they attend the British Prime Minister's funeral in London, as well as Secret Service agent Mike Banning's efforts to protect U.S President Benjamin Asher (Aaron Eckhart) from being killed. The film was a commercial success, however, writing for "A.V. Club", Ignatiy Vishnevetsky criticized the cheap filmmaking, saying, "The movie periodically cuts to overqualified supporting actors—including Freeman, Melissa Leo, and Robert Forster ... (it’s possible to write something that will sound like garbage even when spoken in Freeman’s sonorous voice.)" Next, Freeman reprised his role as Thaddeus Bradley, starring in "Now You See Me 2" (2016), the sequel to "Now You See Me", the sequel grossing a successful $334.9 million worldwide. Finally, he had a leading role in the historical drama "Ben-Hur", the fifth film adaptation of the 1880 novel "" by Lew Wallace. Freeman expressed interest in playing Sheik Ilderim, a wealthy Nubian sheik, stating: "This character has quite a bit of power in the story. And I like playing power. It's something about my own personal ego." "Ben-Hur" turned out to be one of 2016's biggest box-office bombs.


title: Morgan Freeman

text: In 2017, Freeman appeared in two comedies: "Going in Style" and "Just Getting Started." The first of these is a remake of the 1979 film of the same name, co-starring Michael Caine and Alan Arkin, in which they play bank robbers after their pensions are canceled. It opened to a mixed response; "The Telegraph"s Robbie Collin thought the trio of actors looked tired before the end of it. "Just Getting Started", in which Freeman starred with Tommy Lee Jones and Rene Russo, was critically panned by reviewers. The plot follows an ex-FBI agent (Jones) who must put aside his personal feud with a former mob lawyer (Freeman) at a retirement home when the mafia comes to kill the pair. Freeman hosted the National Geographic "The Story of God with Morgan Freeman" and "The Story of Us with Morgan Freeman", in 2016 and 2017, respectively.