This week in #geoweirdness it is back to Asia.
Previously we've covered Thailand 🇹🇭 and Vietnam 🇻🇳, so today we consider the geopolitical oddities of three countries with intertwined histories and unique geographies: Laos 🇱🇦, Cambodia 🇰🇭, and Myanmar 🇲🇲.
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2/ We'll start with Laos 🇱🇦, a nation of approximately 7.6 million people.
Its population is diverse, with over 60 different recognized ethnic groups. The largest ethnic group (53%) is the Lao, who live predominantly in the lowlands. 🇹🇭 Thailand’s northeastern Isan region is home to roughly 20 million people of Lao heritage, several times the ethnic Lao population of Laos itself.
3/ Laos 🇱🇦 is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia.
This historically limited its economic development but also forced it to be a key crossroads between neighboring: China 🇨🇳, Vietnam 🇻🇳, Cambodia 🇰🇭, Thailand 🇹🇭, and Myanmar 🇲🇲.
The Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone, on the Mekong where Laos, Thailand, and Myanmar meet, is a Chinese-run casino zone on a long-term lease. It largely runs on Beijing time and Chinese yuan.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Triangle_Special_Economic_Zone
4/ A bizarre feature of 🇱🇦 Laos's map is Si Phan Don, or the "4,000 Islands," a vast archipelago in the Mekong River in the country's southern border region with Cambodia 🇰🇭.
The river here widens dramatically and then splits to create thousands of small and large islands. It's a perfect example of a liquid border creating a unique and complex landscape.
5/ 🇱🇦 Laos, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is one of the world’s last communist one-party states, alongside CN 🇨🇳, VN 🇻🇳, CU 🇨🇺, and KP 🇰🇵.
Imprecise 🇫🇷 French colonial-era maps, covering remote regions, mean the border was never fully demarcated after independence, leading to periodic tensions and military standoffs over territorial claims.
In the late-80s Laos fought with neighbor Thailand 🇹🇭 over rival claims to forest resources.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laos%E2%80%93Thailand_relations
6/ Heading down the Mekong, we reach Cambodia 🇰🇭, which has a population of about 16.7 million people.
Part of the extended river system is the Tonle Sap lake. This unique lake expands and contracts dramatically with the seasons, growing from about 2,700 in the dry season to over 16,000 km² in the wet season.
7/ The border between Cambodia 🇰🇭 and Vietnam 🇻🇳 has long been a source of tension, particularly in the Gulf of Thailand.
Cambodia continues to hold a strong nationalist sentiment over what they call Koh Tral, known to the Vietnamese as Phú Quốc. This is rooted in history, with the 🇫🇷 French-drawn Brévié Line of 1939 being an administrative boundary that was never formally ratified by either nation after independence, leading to an ongoing maritime dispute.
8/ As mentioned in our Thailand 🇹🇭 thread, 🇰🇭 Cambodia's border with Thailand also has a history of disputes.
The dispute over the ancient temple of Preah Vihear saw the International Court of Justice rule in 1962 that the temple belonged to Cambodia. However, the area around it has remained a source of armed conflict and tension for decades.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambodian%E2%80%93Thai_border_dispute
10/ Finally, let's consider Myanmar 🇲🇲 (often still referred to as Burma) a country of about 54.2 million people. It is an ethnically diverse nation, with 135 distinct ethnic groups officially recognized, though a single group - the Bamar - makes up the majority.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnicity_in_Myanmar
Unlike Laos 🇱🇦 and Cambodia 🇰🇭, Myanmar was under British 🇬🇧 colonial rule.
10/ 🇲🇲 Myanmar’s coastline has its own geopolitical peculiarities. In the Bay of Bengal, the Coco Islands belong to Myanmar but are located just north of 🇮🇳 India’s Andaman Islands.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coco_Islands
Their strategic location has led to decades of rumors and reports of China 🇨🇳 building a signals intelligence facility there, creating diplomatic friction.
11/ In a major act of administrative weirdness, 🇲🇲 Myanmar's capital was moved from Yangon (also known in English as Rangoon) to the newly constructed city of Naypyidaw in 2005.
The new capital's remote, central location was chosen for strategic reasons,. Civil servants were given very little notice. Many people believe astrologers chose the timing. The city is famous for its enormous, nearly empty highways, some with 20 lanes.
12/ Myanmar 🇲🇲 is often listed with the US 🇺🇸 and Liberia 🇱🇷 (and, in some aspects of life, the UK 🇬🇧) as a country that hasn’t officially adopted the metric system.
Traditional units are still common in daily life, though the government has been slowly moving toward metric.
13/ The Wa State is a self-governing region and de facto independent state made up of two remote districts, one bordering China 🇨🇳, the other Thailand 🇹🇭
In practice Wa State operates like a small Chinese-influenced country, using the Chinese yuan and Mandarin, the central Myanmar 🇲🇲 government has little to no control here.
14/ That brings our look at the #geoweirdness of mainland Southeast Asia 🇲🇲🇱🇦🇰🇭 to a close! What have we missed?
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If you liked this you may enjoy our threads about:
🇻🇳 Vietnam: https://en.osm.town/@opencage/115133798226980951
🇨🇳 China https://en.osm.town/@opencage/114166463386958370
🇹🇭 Thailand https://en.osm.town/@opencage/115033422470732114
@opencage not only that, the river connecting it with the Mekong "flows" "upstream" in the rainy season:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonle_Sap?useskin=vector#Volume_fluctuation_and_flow_reversal