Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) Regional defense organization (1955-77) comprising Australia, France, New Zealand, Pakistan, the Philippines, Thailand, Britain, and the U.S. It was founded as part of the Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty in order to protect the region from communism. Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos were not considered for membership, and other countries in the region preferred membership in the nonaligned movement. SEATO had no stand¬
ing forces, but its members engaged in combined military exercises. Paki¬ stan withdrew in 1968, and France suspended financial support in 1975. The organization was disbanded officially in 1977.
Southeast Asian arts Literary, performing, and visual arts of Myan¬ mar (Burma), Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines. The “classical” literatures of Southeast Asia can be divided into three major regions: the Sanskrit region of Cambodia and Indonesia; the region of Burma where Pali, a dialect related to Sanskrit, was used as a literary and religious language; and the Chinese region of Vietnam. The Mahabharata, Ramayana, Jatakas, and local legendary tales are expounded in the performing arts of the region. Dance techniques of the region minimize the mudras (gestures) of Indian classicism to emphasize grace of movement over theme. Regional variations of temple and court dance vie with local developments. Numerous theatrical forms are vehicles for social criticism; most remarkable is wayang, or shadow play, in which puppetry has been fused with dance and drama in a unique form of entertainment. Music is generally coordinated with the dramatic arts, resulting in great rhythmic but slight melodic content. The earliest visual arts of the region were wood carvings featuring supernatural and animal imagery developed and shared by the various tribal peoples. A second tradition emerged after Indian artists and artisans followed trad¬ ers to Southeast Asia in the first centuries ad. Within a short time, South¬ east Asians were producing their own distinctive local versions of Indian styles, sometimes rivaling Indian artists with their skill, finesse, and inven¬ tion on a colossal scale. With the introduction of Hinduism and Buddhism, temple building, sculpture, and painting flourished from the 1st through the 13th century. The Indian royal temple, which dominated Southeast Asian culture, typically stood on a terraced plinth, upon which towered shrines could multiply. About ad 800 the Cambodian king Jayavarman II built a brick mountain for a temple group. This plan was furthered when foundations were laid for Angkor, a scheme based on a grid of reservoirs and canals. Successive kings built more temple mountains there, culmi¬ nating in Angkor Wat. Among Southeast Asia’s most impressive sites is the city of Pagan in Burma, with many brick and stucco Buddhist temples and stupas built 1056-1287.
Southeast Indian Any member of the aboriginal North American Indians who inhabited what is now the southeastern U.S. The Southeast was one of the more densely populated areas of native North America, having an aboriginal population conservatively estimated at 120,000. The bulk of this population resided inland, where advantage could be taken of extensive game resources, wild plant foods, and an abundance of arable land. Only the non-horticultural peoples of south Florida appear to have satisfactorily adjusted to a basically maritime way of life. Groups within this region included the Caddo, Catawba, Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, Natchez, and Seminole.
Southend-on-Sea Town and unitary authority (pop., 2001: 160,256), geographic and historic county of Essex, southeastern England. It lies on the Thames estuary and the North Sea. The nearest seaside resort to Lon¬ don, it attracts millions of visitors, and there are many resident commut¬ ers. It is noted for its 1.3-mi (2.2-km) pier as well as its beaches and gardens; yachting is popular. A 12th-century priory houses a museum.
Southern Alps Mountain range, South Island, New Zealand. It extends almost the entire length of the island, and it is the highest range in Aus¬ tralasia. It has elevations from 3,000 ft (900 m) to over 10,000 ft (3,050 m), culminating in Mount Cook at 12,316 ft (3,754 m) high. Glaciers descend from the permanently snow-clad top of the range. The range divides the island climatically: the forested western slopes and narrow coastal plain are much wetter than the eastern slopes and wide Canter¬ bury Plains. Much of the southwest area was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1990.
Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) U.S. non¬ sectarian agency founded by Martin Luther King, Jr., and others in 1957 to assist local organizations working for equal rights for African Ameri¬ cans. Operating primarily in the South, it conducted leadership-training programs, citizen-education projects, and voter-registration drives. It played a major role in the historic March on Washington in 1963 and in the campaigns to urge passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. After King’s assassination in 1968, Ralph Aber¬ nathy became president. In the early 1970s the SCLC was weakened by several schisms, including the departure of Jesse Jackson, who founded Operation PUSH in Chicago.
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1792 I Southey ► Soyinka
Southey Vsau-the, 'sa-theV Robert (b. Aug. 12,1774, Bristol, Glouces¬ tershire, Eng.—d. March 21, 1843, Keswick, Cumberland) English poet and prose writer. In youth Southey ardently embraced the ideals of the French Revolution, as did Samuel Taylor Coleridge, with whom he was associated from 1794. Like Coleridge, he gradually became more con¬ servative. About 1799 he devoted himself to writing; later he was obliged to produce unremittingly to support both his and Coleridge’s family. In 1813 he was appointed poet laureate. His poetry is now little read, but his prose style is masterly in its ease and clarity, as seen in such works as Life of Nelson (1813), Life of Wesley (1820), and The Doctor (1834^47), a fantastic, rambling miscellany.
Southwest Indians Any of the American Indians who inhabit what is now the southwestern U.S. Though highly diversified culturally and lin¬ guistically, the Southwest Indians divide roughly into four groupings: the Yuman tribes, the Pima and Papago, the Pueblo, and the Navajo and Apache.
Soutine \sii-'ten\, Chaim (b. 1893/94?, Smilovichi, near Minsk, Rus¬ sian Empire—d. Aug. 9, 1943, Paris, Fr.) Russian-born French painter. After studying art in Vilnius, he went to Paris in 1913 to study at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. An art dealer enabled him to paint for three years in southern France, where his mature style emerged. His highly individu¬ alistic style, stimulated by Expressionism, is characterized by thick impasto, agitated brushwork, convulsive compositional rhythms, and disturbing psychological content. Best known are his studies of choirboys and cooks, his series of page boys, and his paintings of hung poultry and beef car¬ casses, which vividly convey the colour and luminosity of putrescence.
Souvanna Phouma Vsu-'va-na-'pii-maV (b. Oct. 7, 1901, Luang Pra- bang, Laos—d. Jan. 10, 1984, Vientiane) Premier of Laos (1951-54, 1960, 1962, 1974-75). Nephew of King Sisavangvong of Laos, Souvanna did not support his uncle’s decision to welcome back French rule after the end of World War II. With his half brother Souphanouvong, he joined the Free Laos movement and went into exile when the French reoccupied Laos. In 1949, when the French began to concede authority, he returned, and in 1951 he began his first term as premier. Civil war broke out between the communist Pathet Lao and rightist members of the govern¬ ment; Souvanna served as premier sporadically during that period. He tried to maintain Laotian neutrality during the Vietnam War but came to depend on U.S. military aid; Laos stabilized after the U.S. withdrawal from Vietnam. Souvanna remained an adviser to the government until his death.