The Evolution of Local Southeast Asian Astronomy and the Influence of China, India, the Islamic World and the West

Throughout Southeast Asia, over the centuries the original traditional local astronomical knowledge has been subjected to varying degrees of Chinese, Indian, Islamic and Western influences. In this chapter we will overview the astronomical traditions in Mainland Southeast Asia and island Southeast Asia, and identify their foreign elements. Vietnamese astronomy was largely influenced by Chinese astronomy. Other areas of Mainland Southeast Asia were influenced by Chinese and Indian astronomy, and the Indian influence was sometimes substantial. Island Southeast Asia was influenced mainly by Indian astronomy and Islamic astronomy. As Southeast Asian astronomy has its special features, it is necessary to compare it carefully with foreign astronomy, and we shall see that there are various examples of what we refer to as ‘multiplex astronomy’.