In these four volumes, now published in paperback, twenty-two scholars of international reputation consider the whole of mainland and island Southeast Asia from Burma to Indonesia. Each volume has a new preface which points to the relationships with the other volumes. The prefaces also comment on some of the research into and thinking about the subject undertaken since the original contributions were completed for the first edition. 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. The volume also includes an essay on the historiography of Southeast Asia.