Southeast Asia, Grouped and Ordered Quiz

Answer: Majority religions (Theravada Buddhism, Islam, Christianity, Mahayana Budhism)

In 2015, Indonesia was by far the most populous Muslim nation on Earth, and the population of Muslims in Southeast Asia was only slightly smaller than the total population of Muslims in the Arab world. Both Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism entered Southeast Asia from India in the first few centuries AD.

The Mahayana tradition mostly died out during the height of the Khmer empire, but Mahayana Buddhism was re-introduced to Vietnam during its period of Chinese domination. Catholicism was introduced to the Philippines by the Spaniards. Singapore does not have a single religion with majority support.

Answer: The course of the Mekong from the mountains to the sea

The Mekong is one of the world's great rivers. It is the twelfth-longest in the world, and only the Amazon has been confirmed to have higher biodiversity than the Mekong, although the Congo River is also in the same class (Mekong River Commission: http://www.mrcmekong.org/assets/Publications/basin-reports/MRC-SOB-report-2010full-report.pdf).

Answer: Richest to poorest, in nominal GDP per capita, 2015

The Southeast Asian nations have very different living standards. In 2015, Singapore was similar to the United States, while Cambodia was poorer than several sub-Saharan African languages. Here's the 2015 data:

Country Nominal GDP per Capita, 2015
Singapore 53224
Brunei 27759
Malaysia 10073
Thailand 5426
Indonesia 3415
East Timor 3330
Philippines 2951
Vietnam 2170
Laos 1785
Myanmar/Burma 1268
Cambodia 1139

source: Wikipedia.org

Answer: Language family of majority language (Tai-Kadai, Austronesian, etc.)

Southeast Asia has the highest diversity in national languages of any of the major world regions. Most language families that have developed literary languages cover pretty vast regions: The Indo-European language family covers most of Europe, Iran and India; the Niger-Congo languages cover almost all of sub-Saharan Africa.

However, there are four apparently unrelated major language families within the small confines of Southeast Asia. Thailand and Laos speak Tai-Kadai languages; Vietnam and Cambodia speak Austro-Asiatic languages; Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, and the Philippines speak Austronesian languages, and Myanmar speaks a language in the Tibeto-Burman branch of Sino-Tibetan.

In addition, minority groups spread across northern Southeast Asia speak a fifth family of languages, Hmong-Mien.

The Rohingya and a few other minorities in Myanmar speak Indo-European languages, Singapore has four official languages in four different language families, parts of Indonesia and East Timor speak Papuan languages, and the lingua franca of East Timor is Dili, which is a creole or mix of Portuguese (Indo-European) and Tetum (Austronesian).

Answer: Area, from largest to smallest

By area, Indonesia is the fourteenth-largest nation in the world. Singapore is the nineteenth-smallest.

Answer: Colonial power from which the country gained independence (France, Britain, the Netherlands, etc)

Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia were colonized by the French, and were collectively known as "French Indochina". The Philippines were colonized by the Spanish, and became a colony of the United States after the Spanish-American War. East Timor was a Portuguese colony. Malaysia, Singapore, and Burma were parts of the British Empire. Brunei was a British protectorate, but still technically independent. Thailand maintained its independence throughout the colonial era.

Answer: Differences in flora, fauna, and geology

Eastern Indonesia is on the same tectonic plate as Australia, and the animal species clearly share common ancestry with the Australian fauna. For instance, in New Guinea you can find tree kangaroos!

The rest of Southeast Asia has mostly Asian fauna.

The discovery of this division led Wallace to independently propose evolution by natural selection at almost exactly the same time as Darwin.

Answer: The elevation of their highest point, from highest to lowest

Myanmar borders the Himalayas, and contains some very high peaks: only 17 countries have a high-point higher than Myanmar's.

Indonesia's highest point is the massive volcano Puncak Jaya: since it is on the same continental plate as Australia, Puncak Jaya is often counted as the highest point on the Australian continent, and is often listed as one of the Seven Summits (the highest point on each of the seven continents).

Even tiny, coastal Singapore has a higher high-point than you might expect: Bukit Timah rises to 176 meters, higher than the high-point of 18 other nations.

Country Highest peak in meters
Myanmar/Burma Hkakabo Razi 5881
Indonesia Puncak Jaya 4884
Malaysia Kinabalu 4095
Vietnam Fan Si Pan 3142
East Timor Ramelau 2963
Philippines Mount Apo 2954
Laos Phou Bia 2830
Thailand Doi Inthanon 2580
Brunei Bukit Pagon 1850
Cambodia Phnom Aural 1813
Singapore Bukit Timah 176

(source:http://www.peakbagger.com/list.aspx?lid=1105)

Answer: maritime vs mainland (does it have a land connection to mainland Asia?)

Singapore is the only one that might be tricky here, but it's an island. It is generally counted as part of Maritime Southeast Asia.

Answer: Countries that have a land-border with a non-Southeast Asian nation vs. countries that do not

Vietnam and Laos border China. Myanmar borders China, India, and Bangladesh. Indonesia borders Papua New Guinea, which is not traditionally included in Southeast Asia.