In these four volumes, now published in paperback, twenty-one scholars of international reputation consider the whole of mainland and island Southeast Asia from Burma to Indonesia. Volume 1 charts Southeast Asia's beginnings, from prehistory to c. 1500. Accounts are given of Southeast Asia's early development, based on archaeological and anthropological evidence; the establishment of kingdoms such as Sri Vijaya, Champa, Angkor, Pagan, and of the Vietnamese state; and the period's economic history, religions and popular beliefs.