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Founding
Founding of Cambodia
country in Southeast Asia
- 9 November 1953
- Phnom Penh
- Southeast Asia
Founding
country in Southeast Asia
Fetching the article from Wikipedia…
Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Mainland Southeast Asia. It is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, and Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline along the Gulf of Thailand in the southwest. It spans an area of about 181,035 km2 (69,898 sq mi), dominated by a low-lying plain and the confluence of the Mekong river and Tonlé Sap, Southeast Asia's largest lake. It is dominated by a tropical climate. Cambodia has a population of about 17 million people, the majority of whom are ethnically Khmer. A majority of its population adhere to Buddhism, with Islam and Christianity having a minor presence. Its capital and most populous city is Phnom Penh, followed by Siem Reap and Battambang.
Cambodia has been inhabited for over 5000 years, with its earliest recorded mandala known as Funan. In 802 AD, Jayavarman II declared himself king, uniting the warring Khmer princes of Chenla under the name "Kambuja". Cambodia with this became the centre of power of the Khmer Empire. Over 600 years, the Khmer Empire facilitated the spread of first Hinduism and then Buddhism across Southeast Asia and undertook vast infrastructural projects throughout the region, the most famous of which is Angkor Wat. In the 15th century, Cambodia saw a decline in power and territorial losses to its neighbours. In 1863, it became a French protectorate and later a part of French Indochina. During World War II, Cambodia was occupied by Japan. French rule was then restored until Cambodia secured independence in 1953.
Spillover of the Vietnam War in the 1960s destabilised Cambodia and contributed to internal conflict. The civil war ended with the takeover of the Khmer Rouge regime, which carried out the Cambodian genocide from 1975 to 1979. A Vietnamese intervention and occupation deposed the Khmer Rouge, although insurgencies continued until 1999. By 1993 a United Nations peacekeeping mission had restored Cambodia's monarchy, and established a new democratic constitution with elections. The 1997 coup d'état consolidated power under Prime Minister Hun Sen and the Cambodian People's Party (CPP).
Cambodia is a constitutional monarchy and a de jure multi-party state, although the CPP dominates the political system and rules the country as a de facto one-party state. The UN designates Cambodia as a least developed country, given the persistent socio-economic challenges. Agriculture remains its dominant economic sector, with growth in textiles, construction, garments, and tourism leading to increased foreign investment and international trade. Corruption, deforestation, human rights issues and organized crime have remained major challenges in Cambodia's post-conflict development. The official and most widely spoken language is Khmer, although non-Khmer ethnicities also use their own languages.
The Kingdom of Cambodia is the official English name of the country. The English Cambodia is an anglicisation of the French Cambodge, which in turn is the French transliteration of the Khmer កម្ពុជា (Kâmpŭchéa, pronounced [kampuciə]). Kâmpŭchéa is the shortened alternative to the country's official name in Khmer ព្រះរាជាណាចក្រកម្ពុជា (Preăh Réachéanachâkr Kâmpŭchéa, pronounced [preah riəciənaːcak kampuciə]). The Khmer endonym កម្ពុជា Kâmpŭchéa is derived from the Sanskrit name Kambujadeśa, composed of Kambuja (lit. 'the sons of Kambu') and Deśa (lit. 'land of'), and refers to the legendary sage Kambu Swayambhuva from whom the Khmer kings claimed descent; the name Kambujadeśa literally means "the land of the sons of Kambu". The country was known as Camogia in Europe as early as 1524, as mentioned by Antonio Pigafetta in his work Relazione del primo viaggio intorno al mondo (1524–1525).
There exists evidence for a Pleistocene human occupation of what later is Cambodia, which includes quartz and quartzite pebble tools found in terraces along the Mekong River, in Stung Treng and Kratié provinces, and in Kampot province. Some archaeological evidence shows communities of hunter-gatherers inhabited the region during the Holocene: the most ancient archaeological discovery site in Cambodia is considered to be the cave of Laang Spean, which belongs to the Hoabinhian period. Excavations in its lower layers produced a series of radiocarbon dates around 6000 BC. Upper layers in the same site gave evidence of transition to Neolithic, containing the earliest dated earthenware ceramics in Cambodia.
Archaeological records for the period between the Holocene and Iron Age remain equally limited. An event in prehistory was the penetration of the first rice farmers from the north, which began in the third millennium BC. Prehistoric evidence are the "circular earthworks" discovered in the red soil near Memot and in the adjacent region of Vietnam in the latter 1950s. Their function and age are still debated, and some of them possibly date from the second millennium BC. Other prehistoric sites of somewhat uncertain date are Samrong Sen (not far from the ancient capital of Oudong), where the first investigations began in 1875, and Phum Snay, in the northern province of Banteay Meanchey.
Iron was worked by about 500 BC, with supporting evidence coming from the Khorat Plateau, in what later is Thailand. In Cambodia, some Iron Age settlements were found beneath Prasat Baksei Chamkrong and other Angkorian temples while circular earthworks were discovered at the site of Lovea kilometres north-west of Angkor. Burials testify to improvement of food availability and trade, and the existence of a social structure and labour organisation. Kinds of glass beads recovered from sites, such as the Phum Snay site in the northwest and the Prohear site in the southeast, suggest that there were two main trading networks at the time. The two networks were separated by time and space, which indicate that there was a shift from one network to the other at about the 2nd–4th century AD, probably due to changes in socio-political powers.
During the 3rd, 4th, and 5th centuries, the Indianised kingdoms of Funan and its successor, Chenla, coalesced in what later is Cambodia and southwestern Vietnam. For more than 2,000 years, what was to become Cambodia absorbed influences from India, passing them on to other Southeast Asian civilisations that later became Thailand and Laos.
The scholar George Cœdès refers to the 10th-century Baksei Chamkrong inscription, narrating the Cambodian dynastic legend in which the hermit Kambu Swayambhuva and the celestial nymph Mera unite and establish the Cambodian royal dynasty, first of whom were the Chenla rulers Srutavarman and his son Sreshthavarman. The Khmer Empire grew out of the remnants of Chenla, becoming firmly established in 802 when Jayavarman II (reigned c. 790 – c. 835) declared independence from Java and proclaimed himself a devaraja. Khmer kings and their followers instituted the cult of the God-king and began a series of conquests that formed an empire which flourished in the area from the 9th to the 15th centuries. During the rule of Jayavarman VIII the Angkor Empire was attacked by the Mongol army of Kublai Khan; the king was able to buy peace. Around the 13th century, Theravada missionaries from Sri Lanka reintroduced Theravada Buddhism to Southeast Asia, having previously sent missionaries in the 1190s. The religion spread and eventually displaced Hinduism and Mahayana Buddhism as the popular religion of Angkor, although it did not officially become state religion until 1295 when Indravarman III took power.
The Khmer Empire was the largest Southeast Asian empire during the 12th century. Its centre of power was Angkor, where a series of capitals were constructed during the empire's zenith. In 2007, an international team of researchers using satellite photographs and other modern techniques concluded Angkor to have been the largest pre-industrial city in the world with an urban sprawl of 2,980 km2 (1,151 sq mi). The city could have supported a population of up to 1 million people.
After a series of wars with neighbouring kingdoms, Angkor was sacked by the Ayutthaya Kingdom and abandoned in 1432 because of ecological failure and infrastructure breakdown. The kingdom's capital was eventually moved to Longvek, which prospered as an integral part of the 16th century Asian maritime trade network. The rivalry with the Ayutthaya Kingdom resulted in several conflicts, including the Siamese conquest of Longvek in 1594.
The hill tribe people were "hunted incessantly and carried off as slaves by the Siamese (Thai), the Annamites (Vietnamese), and the Cambodians".
Formerly part of the Khmer Empire, the Mekong Delta came under Vietnamese control in 1698, with King Chey Chettha II having granted the Vietnamese permission to settle in the area decades before.
Siamese and Vietnamese dominance intensified during the 17th and 18th century, provoking frequent displacements of the seat of power as the Khmer monarch's authority decreased to the state of a vassal. Both powers alternately demanded subservience and tribute from the Cambodian court.
In 1863, King Norodom signed a treaty of protection with France. The protectorate of France period lasted until 1953, with a brief interruption while the kingdom was occupied by the Japanese empire from 1941 to 1945 and simultaneously existing as the puppet state of Kingdom of Kampuchea in 1945. Between 1874 and 1962, the total population increased from about 946,000 to 5.7 million. After King Norodom's death in 1904, France manipulated the choice of king and Sisowath, Norodom's brother, was placed on the throne. The throne became vacant in 1941 with the death of Monivong, Sisowath's son, and France passed over Monivong's son, Monireth, feeling he was too independently minded. Instead, Norodom Sihanouk, a maternal grandson of King Sisowath was enthroned. The French thought young Sihanouk would be easy to control. Under the reign of King Norodom Sihanouk, Cambodia gained independence from France on 9 November 1953.
In 1955, Sihanouk abdicated in favour of his father to participate in politics and was elected Prime Minister. Upon his father's death in 1960, Sihanouk again became head of state, taking the title of prince. As the Vietnam War progressed, Sihanouk adopted an official policy of neutrality in the Cold War. He allowed the Vietnamese communists to use Cambodia as a sanctuary and a supply route for their arms and other aid to their armed forces fighting in South Vietnam. In December 1967, Washington Post journalist Stanley Karnow was told by Sihanouk that if the U.S. wanted to bomb the Vietnamese communist sanctuaries, he would not object unless Cambodians were killed.
The same message was conveyed to U.S. president Lyndon B. Johnson emissary Chester Bowles in January 1968. In public Sihanouk refuted the right of the U.S. to use air strikes in Cambodia, and on 26 March he said "these criminal attacks must immediately and definitively stop". On 28 March a press conference was held and Sihanouk appealed to the international media: "I appeal to you to publicise abroad this very clear stand of Cambodia – that is, I will, in any case, oppose all bombings on Cambodian territory under whatever pretext." Nevertheless, the bombing continued.
While visiting Beijing in 1970 Sihanouk was ousted by a military coup led by PM General Lon Nol and Prince Sisowath Sirik Matak. Once the coup was completed, the new regime, which demanded that the Vietnamese communists leave Cambodia, gained the political support of the United States. The North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces launched armed attacks on the new government to retain their sanctuaries and supply lines from North Vietnam. The king urged his followers to help in overthrowing this government, hastening the onset of civil war.
Khmer Rouge rebels began using the king to gain support. From 1970 until 1972, the Cambodian conflict was largely between the government and army of Cambodia, and the armed forces of North Vietnam. As they gained control of Cambodian territory, the Vietnamese communists imposed a new political infrastructure, which was eventually dominated by the Cambodian communists now referred to as the Khmer Rouge.
Documents uncovered from the Soviet archives after 1991 reveal that the North Vietnamese attempt to overrun Cambodia in 1970 was launched at the explicit request of the Khmer Rouge and negotiated by then second-in-command Nuon Chea. North Vietnamese Army (NVA) units overran Cambodian army positions while the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK) expanded their attacks on lines of communication. In response to the North Vietnamese invasion, U.S. President Richard Nixon announced that U.S. and South Vietnamese ground forces had entered Cambodia in a campaign aimed at destroying NVA base areas in Cambodia .
On New Year's Day 1975, Communist troops launched an offensive which, in 117 days, led to the collapse of the Khmer Republic. Simultaneous attacks around the perimeter of Phnom Penh pinned down Republican forces, while other CPK units overran fire bases controlling the vital lower Mekong resupply route. A U.S.-funded airlift of ammunition and rice ended when Congress refused additional aid for Cambodia. The Lon Nol government in Phnom Penh surrendered on 17 April 1975, 5 days after the U.S. mission evacuated Cambodia.
Estimates as to how many people were killed by the Khmer Rouge regime range from approximately 1 to 3 million; a cited figure is 2 million (about a quarter of the population). This era gave rise to the term Killing Fields, and the prison Tuol Sleng became known for its history of mass killing. Hundreds of thousands fled across the border into neighbouring Thailand.
While the regime targeted ethnic minority groups at disproportionately higher rates relative to their population size, the absolute majority of victims were ethnic Khmer. The Cham Muslims underwent purges with as much as half of their population exterminated, while forced repatriation in 1970 and deaths during the regime reduced the Vietnamese population in Cambodia from between 250,000 and 300,000 in 1969 to a reported 56,000 in 1984. Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot was determined to keep his power and disenfranchise any potential threats, escalating violence against the general population.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Cambodia”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.