Winner of the 2000 Yomiuri Yoshino Sakuzo Prize for academic writing on politics, economics, and history, this book locates the modern history of Southeast Asia within the framework of a "maritime Asia" which emerged from trade and commerce, state formation, imperial/global hegemonic ambitions, and popular resistance. It examines the rise of British-led collective imperialism in the nineteenth century and Pax Americana in the mid-twentieth century, and looks closely at the ways in which Japan navigated the evolving regional system. In its pages, the maritime Asia experience is examined comparatively across Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Thailand. A new author's note brings this English-language edition up to date on regional developments since the original publication.