South-East Asia, an area rich in minerals, is situated at a cross-roads. River-borne trade from China linked at many points here with sea-borne trade from South Asia.
The town of Oc Eo in the Mekong delta, with its large number of ramparts and moats, sets the pattern for trading and manufacturing centres in South-East Asia: similar towns appear throughout the area some centuries later.
It was in the Mekong delta that the Chinese located the 'state' of Funan. China's interest in South-East Asia grew tremendously after AD 222 when nomads overran northern China, closing the Central Asian trade routes, and Chinese rulers fled south.
Strong Chinese influences on architecture, technology and funerary practices can be seen in the area they controlled around the Gulf of Bac Bo and also in the neighbouring independent region of Linyi.
Indian texts, unlike those of China, are vague and generalized in their references to South-East Asia, which they called Suvarnabhumi, Land of Gold. We rely far more heavily on archaeology for our knowledge of Indian interaction with South-East Asia: important settlements and many burials in this region contain numerous west imports.
The establishment of the Roman Empire at this time led to a great increase in demand for eastern luxuries. South Asia, too, was increasing its interest in overseas trade, importing South-East Asian minerals, especially gold and tin, commodities also widely traded between the regions of South-East Asia itself.
But both local and international trade also involved large amounts of perishable goods leaving no archaeological trace: Indian cloth and South-East Asian spices, for example.
Less tangible, but archaeologically well attested, is the importation of Indian religions and political ideas. Inscriptions show many rulers took Indian names, and religious buildings, sculptures and inscriptions shown the growing popularity of Buddhism and Indian deities, especially Shiva and Vishnu.