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History of Cambodia
The long history of Cambodia began
with the first Khmer empire called
Funan known not only as Khmer’s but
also as southeast Asia’s oldest
state. And it seems like today’s
Khmer customs and culture are,
though not much, influenced by such
a great dynasty.
Established in the first century,
Funan is believed to have followed
the Indian civilization and thus
used Sanskrit as the written and
spoken language and Hinduism as the
formal religion. The prosperity of
Funan Dynasty lasted approximately
600 years before passing to another
kingdom of Chenla and then to the
powerful Angkor Empire whose
reputation and legacy visually
remained till the
 resent day.
Angkor Empire is most renowned for
its spectacular temples huge in size
built throughout the territory that
covered almost what is currently
South East Asia. The extreme power
of Angkor is marked on top of the
list of all other periods in
Cambodian history thanks to most
successful kings like Preah Bat Jaya
Varman II, Preah Bat Indra Varman I,
Preah Bat Surya VarmanII, and
especially Preah Bat Jaya Varman
VII.
Angkor, a state with the most
predominant creations on earth,
began to develop aggressively in all
areas, especially agricultural and
architectural field that included
intricate irrigation systems, water
reservoirs, and countless magical
and religious temples that in turn
brought about a unique civilization
to Khmer people. Unfortunately, No
one stays on the top forever, and
Angkor is no exceptional case.
The golden age of Angkor era lasted
peacefully and proudly for about 650
years before an immediate fall down
after the death of the most achieved
and famous king Preah Bat Jaya
Varman VII in the 13th century,
which marked the sudden shift of
Angkor’s power. Not long after the
loss of the king came the invasion
from Siam(Thai) on the west frontier
and the Annam on the east, which
left the kingdom insecure for
centuries. The war then continued
further enough for Cambodia to loss
three western provinces to Siam and
Cochin China to the Annam in 17th
century.
The continually invaded Angkor
later, not surprisingly, experienced
an abandonment as the whole
Cambodian capital population
migrated to the new city of Long Vek
where had been home to the
sympathetic Khmer empire until it
was captured by Siam in 1594.
Shortly thereafter, the Cambodian
 capital was transferred to Oudong
and then Phnom Penh eventually.
Tensions and wars in Cambodian
territory continued till 19th
century when the king Norodom signed
a Protectorate Treaty with France in
1863, which ensured to keep Cambodia
into existence with no more threat
from the neighboring Vietnam and
Thailand. Following the king
Norodom’s death in 1904, the thrown
was passed to his cousin, Preah Bat
Sisowath before returning to the
18-year-old Norodom Sihanouk in
1941.
A few years later during the Second
World War in 1945, King Sihanouk
took the advantage of French’s
defeat to Japanese, working
tirelessly for years to earn
Cambodia independency on its own.
Consequently, his devotions had been
rewarded as Cambodia was granted the
full independence in 1953, which
made his name, Preah Bat Norodom
Sihanouk, place in the most
successful kings list of Cambodia’s
history.
After its independence granted,
Cambodia seemed to enjoy the wealth
of peace once again under the rule
of King Sihanouk. However, the
prosperous period sadly ended as
soon as King Sihanouk was overthrown
by General Lonol in 1970. Since
then, the country had become
completely chaotic and involved in
series of civil wars before the
communist forces, known as Khmer
Rough, seized the power from the
American-backed government in 1975
and made the situation even worse.
Khmer Rough government, headed by
Pol Pot, wasting no time, began to
implement a genocidal reign by
evacuating all city residents from
their home and making an entire
population work as slaves in farming
fields. People were forced to work
from dawn till dark with inadequate
food and care. The pain and sorrow
are beyond descriptions; while some
were tortured or starved to death,
others died
 of curable diseases.
Finally, 2 millions of lives were
estimated to have been lost during
this 3-year-8-month-20-day period.
In 1979, the genocidal regime came
to an end thanks to the intervention
from Vietnam troops. After attacking
Khmer Rough and liberating the
capital, Vietnam established a
10-year protectorate in Cambodia.
Then throughout the 1980’s, Cambodia
backed by Vietnam rebuilt the whole
nation.
Following the withdrawal of
Vietnamese, under the peace
agreements signed in Paris in 1991,
Cambodia was granted the warm
protection from United Nations
troops to prepare the first, free,
and fair general election in 1993.
Since then, Cambodia has become a
constitutional monarchy under the
rule of coalition government. There
were also two other general
elections held in 1993 and 1998 that
were supervised by the Cambodian
government on its own.
Today, Cambodia is in general sense
considered a safe and fascinating
country to explore for every
traveler. In the process of the vast
development, Cambodia’s economy was
supported by the 2 important sectors
of garment and tourism industry as
well as the indispensable sources of
foreign aids.
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