Merchants and Religion on the Ocean ​

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With 17,508 islands in Indonesia, 7.640 in the Philippines, 1430 islands in Thailand, 800 islands in Myanmar and 60 islands in Cambodia it is safe to say that many people heavily associate idyllic island beaches with South East Asia. Though our focus is on the Highlands of Zomia and the Southeast Asian Massif we thought it would be criminal not to show our finds from the many Islands of Southeast Asia with you. We feel like the Zomian identity is in many ways found throughout Malaysia, Indonesia, Papua, Timor and the Philippines. Better that our Zomian passion for indigenous people be at the forefront of attempts to describe and catalogue the landraces of these regions than not. For organisational purposes we have included strains found in coastal regions on the mainland and in Peninsular Malaysia as a part of our Island Collection. 

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For millennia, seafaring has been a way of life for coastal peoples in Southeast Asia. Due to the relative ease of travel on the water compared to across the densely forested interior, the most successful civilisations of the region all featured prominent if not dominant coastal settlements within them. They made use of the abundance of vast rivers, mangroves and deltas rich in resources nearby and welcomed traders from as far away as coastal Africa and the Red sea. With the constant contact with the influential Indian cultures just across the Bay of Bengal and overland via modern Myanmar - the coastal and Island landraces of Island South East Asia were likely spread at the same time as merchants from modern day Bengal, Sri Lanka and Odisha in particular spread religious and political concepts.

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Today, the Islands and coasts of Southeast Asia are completely degraded. What was once largely mangrove over thousands of kilometres of coastline is now densely populated in squalid cities or otherwise developed for Tourism in some way. Tourists from around the world visit famous Islands such as Koh Phangan or Koh Tao in Thailand and enjoy some of the best ganja in all of Asia. Strains found here have been clocked with absurdly high THC levels and terpene profiles are as exquisite and poised as any great artwork. 

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Why this is exactly, remains conjecture at this point but we are happy to enjoy the high incidence of THC rich strains all over coastal South East Asia and it's Islands.

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Join us as we explore the Zomia Islands!