A brief historical introduction to Cambodia
Brief History of Cambodia
The Kingdom of Cambodia is a constitutional monarchy situated in Southeast Asia and counting a population of more than 13 million people. Most Cambodians are Theravada Buddhists of Khmer extraction, but the country is home also to a substantial number of Cham and small hill tribes.
The country borders Thailand to its west, Laos to its north, Vietnam to its east, and the Gulf of Thailand to its south.From the 9th century to the 15th century, Cambodia represented the center of the Khmer Empire, with Angkor as a capital.
The Angkor Wat, the empire’s main spiritual site, is a symbolic reminder of the time when Cambodia was a major powerrulung most of the Indochinese peninsule, and remains the country’s top tourist attraction.
From 1863 the country was a protectorate of France, which lasted until 1953, when the country received independence.
During the Second World War Cambodia was under Japanese occupation. During the 1950s and 1960s the country was governed by King Norodom Sihanouk, and maintained a fragile balance during the Vietnam War.
In 1969 the United States Nixon administration started B-52 bombing operations in Cambodia to destroy Viet Cong on Cambodian territory, which continued until 1973. Estimates of the number of Cambodians killed during the bombing raids vary from 30,000 to 500 000. Despite of the exact number of casualties, however, the bombings lead to the strengthening of anti-American sentiments, as well as of sentiments towards the military monarchist regime of Lon Nol. Tensions finally resulted into a civil war, which was won by the communist party (the so called Khmer Rouge), headed by Pol Pot.
Pol Pot and the communist government perpetrated an unbelievable genocide over their own population, the victims of which count at least 1.7 million people, mainly children and women. Hundreds of thousands more fled across the border with neighbouring Thailand and Vietnam.
In 1978 Vietnam invaded Cambodia to stop the frequent Khmer Rouge incursions into its territory, in spite of the US protests. The brutal civil war, however, continued to as late as the late 90s.
After the brutality of the 1970s and 1980s, and the total destruction of the cultural, social, economic and political life of Cambodia, it was not until recent years that reconstruction efforts have been undertaken and some political stability has finally returned to Cambodia. In 2004, following democratic elections, a coalition between the Cambodian People’s Party and the royalists’ FUNCINPEC came to power, with a prime minister Hun Sen.
Cambodia’s geographical statistics
Cambodia covers an area of about 181,040 square kilometers. It has 443 kilometers of coastline along the Gulf of Thailand.
The most distinctive geographical feature are the lacustrine plains formed by the inundations of the Great Lake. It measures about 2 500 square kilometers during the dry season and expands to about 24 000 during the rainy season. This densely populated plain, devoted to wet rice cultivation, is the heart of Cambodia.
Most of the country’s territory lies at elevations of less than 100 meters above the sea level, the exceptions being the Cardamom Mountains (1,813 meters of elevation) and the steep escarpment of the Dângrêk Mountains situated along the border with Thailand’s Isan region.
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