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Countryside
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The wonder of temple
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Small Business
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People's Life
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Outside Siem Reap
Cambodia's modern-day
culture has its roots in the 1st to 6th centuries in a state referred to as
Funan, know as the oldest Indianised state in Southeast Asia. It is from this
period that evolved Cambodia's language, part of the Mon-khmer family, which
contains elements of Sanskrit, its ancient religion of Hinduism and Buddhism.
Historians have noted, for example, that Cambodians can be distinguished from
their neighbours by their clothing - checkered scarves known as karmas are worn
instead of straw hats.
Funan gave way to the
Angkor Empire with the rise to power of King Jayavarman II in 802. The
following 600 years saw powerful Khmer kings dominate much of present-day
Southeast Asia, from the borders of Myanmar east to the South China Sea and
north to Laos
It was during this period
that the Khmer kings built the most extensive concentration of religious
temples in the world - the Angkor temple complex. This complex covers an area
of 400 square kilometers in the province of Siem Reap. The area contains more
that 100 temples and more than 1080 temples across the country. The most
successful of the Angkor's kings, Jayavarman II and Jayavarman I, Suryavarman
II and Jayavarman VII, also devised a masterpiece of ancient engineering: a sophisticated
irrigation system that includes barays (gigantic man-made lakes) and canals
that ensured as many as three rice crops a year. Part of this system is still
in use today.
As the Angkor period
ended, Cambodia's capital moved south to Longvek, then to Oudong, and finally
to the present-day capital pf Phnom Penh. Among the main features of the
post-Angkorean era, besides the movement of the capital, was a widespread
conversion to Theravada Buddhism, illustrated on temple carvings, where
Buddhist features gradually replaced Hindu features.
The 15th to 17th centuries
represented a time of foreign influence, when expansionist Siam and Vietnam
fought over Cambodia.
By the mid-1800s,
Cambodia, like most other countries in Asia, came under increasing pressure
from European colonial powers. In 1863, King Norodom signed a Protectorate
Treaty with France.
In 1945, the Japanese
briefly ousted the Frence. Encouraged, King Sihanouk campaigned tirelessly and
in 1953 he succeeded in winning independence for Cambodia, effectively ending
90 years under French protectorate. King Sihanouk abdicated the throne to his
father and took the reins of government himself as head of state.
Throughout the 1950s and
60s Cambodia was self-sufficient and prospered in many areas. However, the
quagmire of growing war in Vietnam spread relentlessly, and in 1970, as war
spilled over into Cambodia, Prince Sihanouk was overthrown by General Lon Nol.
On 17 April 1975, Lon
Nol's weak-ended government was itself overthrown by the Khmer Rouge. They
immediately emptied the capital of its residents and brought Prince Sihanouk
back, only to hold him under house arrest. The ensuing four years "Reign
of terror" under Pol Pot's democratic Kampuchea resulted in the deaths of
an estimated 1.7 milliion people.
In 1979, the Khmer Rouge
was overthrown and the Vietnamese-backed People's Republic of Kampuchea was
established. In 1989 the Vietnamese withdrew the last of their troops and the
government renamed the country State of Cambodia. The SOC ruled independently
until the Paris Peace Agreement of 1991 created the United Nations Transitional
Authority (UNTAC). Supported by the presence of some 22000 UN troops, UNTAC in
May 1993 supervised general eletions in Cambodia. A second general election was
held in 1998.
Cambodia today enjoys a
parliamentary system with one prime minister, Hun Sen. A constitution was
adopted in 1993, the same year King Norodom Sihanouk returned to the throne.
His Majesty remains a symbol of national unity to his people.
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