The Calendars of Southeats Asia: 1: Introduction

In this chapter we examine calendars in general and also give a condensed political history of the region. We then discuss the influences of Indian, Chinese, and Islamic astronomy in Southeast Asia. In subsequent papers in this series we will examine in detail the astronomy and calendars found in Burma (Myanmar), Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia, and the inscriptions, manuscripts and horoscopes associated with them.
We have already written about most of these regions previously, but in this series of papers we will update our earlier publications and synthesize them in order to present a detailed coherent picture of the calendars of SE Asia.