No one knows for certain how long people have lived in what
is now Cambodia ,
as studies of its prehistory are undeveloped. A carbon-l4 dating from a cave in
northwestern Cambodia
suggests that people using stone tools lived in the cave as early as 4000 bc, and
rice has been grown on Cambodian soil since well before the 1st century ad. The
first Cambodians likely arrived long before either of these dates. They
probably migrated from the north, although nothing is known about their
language or their way of life.
By the beginning of the 1st century ad, Chinese traders
began to report the existence of inland and coastal kingdoms in Cambodia . These
kingdoms already owed much to Indian culture, which provided alphabets, art
forms, architectural styles, religions (Hinduism and Buddhism), and a
stratified class system. Local beliefs that stressed the importance of
ancestral spirits coexisted with the Indian religions and remain powerful today.
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 Khmer kings built the most extensive
concentration of religious temples in the world - the Angkor
temple complex. The most successful of Angkor 's
kings, Jayavarman II, Indravarman 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.
The Khmer
Kingdom
Early Chinese writers referred to a kingdom in Cambodia that
they called Funan. Modern-day archaeological findings provide evidence of a
commercial society centered on the Mekong Delta that flourished from the 1st
century to the 6th century. Among these findings are excavations of a port city
from the 1st century, located in the region of Oc-Eo in what is now southern Vietnam . Served
by a network of canals, the city was an important trade link between India and China . Ongoing excavations in
southern Cambodia have
revealed the existence of another important city near the present-day village of Angkor Borei
A group of inland kingdoms, known collectively to the
Chinese as Zhenla, flourished in the 6th and 7th centuries from southern Cambodia to southern Laos . The first stone inscriptions
in the Khmer language and the first brick and stone Hindu temples in Cambodia date
from the Zhenla period.
Bayon Temple, Angkor Thom The giant faces carved on the
Bayon temple at the Angkor Thum complex in northwestern Cambodia represent both
the Buddha and King Jayavarman VII (ruled about 1130-1219). Although a Buddhist
temple, Angkor Thum was modeled after the great Hindu temple complex of Angkor
Wat.
King Jayavarman VII
In the early 9th century a Khmer (ethnic Cambodian) prince
returned to Cambodia
from abroad. He probably arrived from nearby Java or Sumatra ,
where he may have been held hostage by island kings who had asserted control
over portions of the Southeast Asian mainland.
In a series of ceremonies at different sites, the prince
declared himself ruler of a new independent kingdom, which unified several
local principalities. His kingdom eventually came to be centered near present-day
Siemreab in northwestern Cambodia .
The prince, known to his successors as Jayavarman II, inaugurated a cult
honoring the Hindu god Shiva as a devaraja (Sanskrit term meaning "god-king").
The cult, which legitimized the king's rule by linking him with Shiva, persisted
at the Cambodian court for more than two hundred years.
Between the early 9th century and the early 15th century, 26
monarchs ruled successively over the Khmer kingdom (known as Angkor ,
the modern name for its capital city).
The successors of Jayavarman II built the great temples for
which Angkor is famous.
Historians have dated more than a thousand temple sites and
over a thousand stone inscriptions (most of them on temple walls) to this era.
Notable among the Khmer builder-kings were Suyavarman II, who
built the temple known as Angkor Wat in the mid-12th century, and Jayavarman
VII, who built the Bayon temple at Angkor Thum and several other large Buddhist
temples half a century later. Jayavarman VII, a fervent Buddhist, also built
hospitals and rest houses along the roads that crisscrossed the kingdom. Most of
the monarchs, however, seem to have been more concerned with displaying and
increasing their power than with the welfare of their subjects.
At its greatest extent, in the 12th century, the Khmer
kingdom encompassed (in addition to present-day Cambodia )
parts of present-day Vietnam ,
Laos , Thailand , Myanmar
(formerly Burma ), and the Malay Peninsula . Thailand
and Laos
still contain Khmer ruins and inscriptions. The kings at Angkor received
tribute from smaller kingdoms to the north, east, and west, and conducted trade
with China .
The capital city was the center of an impressive network of reservoirs and
canals, which historians theorize supplied water for irrigation. Many
historians believe that the abundant harvests made possible by irrigation
supported a large population whose labor could be drawn on to construct the
kings' temples and to fight their wars. The massive temples, extensive roads
and waterworks, and confident inscriptions give an illusion of stability that
is undermined by the fact that many Khmer kings gained the throne by conquering
their predecessors. Inscriptions indicate that the kingdom frequently suffered
from rebellions and foreign invasions.
Historians have not been able to fully explain the decline
of the Khmer kingdom in the 13th and 14th centuries. However, it was probably
associated with the rise of powerful Thai kingdoms that had once paid tribute
to Angkor , and to population losses following
a series of wars with these kingdoms. Another factor may have been the
introduction of Theravada Buddhism, which taught that anyone could achieve
enlightenment through meritorious conduct and meditation. These egalitarian
ideas undermined the hierarchical structure of Cambodian society and the power
of prominent Hindu families. After a Thai invasion in 1431, what remained of
the Cambodian elite shifted southeastward to the vicinity of Phnom Penh .
Cambodia Dark Age
This map of Southeast Asia in the mid-16th century shows the
major centers of power in the region prior to the arrival of Europeans. During
this period, these kingdoms were constantly at war. Eventually the Kingdom of
Ayutthaya (modern Thailand) expanded to the north and east, absorbing much of
Lan Na and Lan Xang (modern Laos). Dai Viet (modern Vietnam) expanded to the
south, taking over the remaining territory of the Kingdom of Champa and the
southern tip of the Kingdom of Lovek (modern Cambodia). Toungoo evolved into
modern Myanmar.
The four centuries of Cambodian history following the
abandonment of Angkor are poorly recorded, and therefore historians know little
about them beyond the bare outlines. Cambodia retained its language and its
cultural identity despite frequent invasions by the powerful Thai kingdom of
Ayutthaya and incursions by Vietnamese forces. Indeed, for much of this period,
Cambodia was a relatively prosperous trading kingdom with its capital at Lovek,
near present-day Phnom Penh. European visitors wrote of the Buddhist piety of
the inhabitants of the Kingdom of Lovek. During this period, Cambodians
composed the country's most important work of literature, the Reamker (based on
the Indian myth of the Ramayana).
In the late 18th century, a civil war in Vietnam and
disorder following a Burmese invasion of Ayutthaya spilled over into Cambodia
and devastated the area. In the early 19th century, newly established dynasties
in Vietnam and Thailand competed for control over the Cambodian court. The
warfare that ensued, beginning in the l830s, came close to destroying Cambodia.
French Rule
Phnom Penh, as planned by the French, came to resemble a
town in provincial France. By the second half of the 19th century, France had
begun to expand its colonial penetration of Indochina (the peninsula between
India and China). In 1863 France accepted the Cambodian king's invitation to
impose a protectorate over his severely weakened kingdom, halting the country's
dismemberment by Thailand and Vietnam. For the next 90 years, France ruled
Cambodia. In theory, French administration was indirect, but in practice the
word of French officials was final on all major subjects-including the
selection of Cambodia's kings. The French left Cambodian institutions, including
the monarchy, in place, and gradually developed a Cambodian civil service, organized
along French lines. The French administration neglected education but built
roads, port facilities, and other public works. Phnom Penh, as planned by the
French, came to resemble a town in provincial France.
The French invested relatively little in Cambodia's economy
compared to that of Vietnam, which was also under French control. However, they
developed rubber plantations in eastern Cambodia, and the kingdom exported
sizable amounts of rice under their rule. The French also restored the Angkor
temple complex and deciphered Angkorean inscriptions, which gave Cambodians a
clear idea of their medieval heritage and kindled their pride in Cambodia's
past. Because France left the monarchy, Buddhism, and the rhythms of rural life
undisturbed, anti-French feeling was slow to develop.
King Sihanouk, through skillful maneuvering, managed to gain
Cambodia's independence peacefully in 1953. During World War II (1939-1945), Japanese
forces entered French Indochina but left the compliant French administration in
place.
King Norodom Sihanouk
On the verge of defeat in 1945, the Japanese removed their
French collaborators and installed a nominally independent Cambodian government
under the recently crowned young king, Norodom Sihanouk. France reimposed its
protectorate in early 1946 but allowed the Cambodians to draft a constitution
and to form political parties.
Soon afterward, fighting erupted throughout Indochina as
nationalist groups, some with Communist ideologies, struggled to win
independence from France. Most of the fighting took place in Vietnam, in a
conflict known as the First Indochina War (1946-1954). In Cambodia, Communist
guerrilla forces allied with Vietnamese Communists gained control of much of
the country. However, King Sihanouk, through skillful maneuvering, managed to
gain Cambodia's independence peacefully in 1953, a few months earlier than
Vietnam. The Geneva Accords of 1954, which marked the end of the First
Indochina War, acknowledged Sihanouk's government as the sole legitimate
authority in Cambodia.
Modern State
Sihanouk's campaign for independence sharpened his political
skills and increased his ambitions. In 1955 he abdicated the throne in favor of
his father to pursue a full-time political career, free of the constitutional
constraints of the monarchy. In a move aimed at dismantling Cambodia's
fledgling political parties, Sihanouk inaugurated a national political movement
known as the Sangkum Reastr Niyum (People's Socialist Community), whose members
were not permitted to belong to any other political group. The Sangkum won all
the seats in the national elections of 1955, benefiting from Sihanouk's
popularity and from police brutality at many polling stations. Sihanouk served
as prime minister of Cambodia until 1960, when his father died and he was named
head of state. Sihanouk remained widely popular among the people but was brutal
to his opponents.
In the late 1950s the Cold War (period of tension between
the United States and its allies and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, or
USSR, and its allies) intensified in Asia. In this climate, foreign powers, including
the United States, the USSR, and China, courted Sihanouk. Cambodia's importance
to these countries stemmed from events in neighboring Vietnam, where tension
had begun to mount between a Communist regime in the north and a pro-Western
regime in the south. The USSR supported the Vietnamese Communists, while the
United States opposed them, and China wanted to contain Vietnam for security
reasons. Each of the foreign powers hoped that Cambodian support would bolster
its position in the region. Sihanouk pursued a policy of neutrality that drew
substantial economic aid from the competing countries.
In 1965, however, Sihanouk broke off diplomatic relations
with the United States. At the same time, he allowed North Vietnamese
Communists, then fighting the Vietnam War against the United States and the
South Vietnamese in southern Vietnam, to set up bases on Cambodian soil. As
warfare intensified in Vietnam, domestic opposition to Sihanouk from both
radical and conservative elements increased. The Cambodian Communist
organization, known as the Workers Party of Kampuchea (later renamed the
Communist Party of Kampuchea, or CPK), had gone underground after failing to
win any concessions at the Geneva Accords, but now they took up arms once again.
As the economy became unstable, Cambodia became difficult to govern single-handedly.
In need of economic and military aid, Sihanouk renewed diplomatic relations
with the United States. Shortly thereafter, in 1969, U.S. president Richard
Nixon authorized a bombing campaign against Cambodia in an effort to destroy
Vietnamese Communist sanctuaries there.
Khmer Republic
In March 1970 Cambodia's legislature, the National Assembly,
deposed Sihanouk while he was abroad. The conservative forces behind the coup
were pro-Western and anti-Vietnamese. General Lon Nol, the country's prime
minister, assumed power and sent his poorly equipped army to fight the North
Vietnamese Communist forces encamped in border areas. Lon Nol hoped that U.S. aid
would allow him to defeat his enemies, but American support was always geared
to events in Vietnam. In April U.S. and South Vietnamese troops invaded
Cambodia, searching for North Vietnamese, who moved deeper into Cambodia. Over
the next year, North Vietnamese troops destroyed the offensive capacity of Lon
Nol's army.
In October 1970 Lon Nol inaugurated the Khmer Republic. Sihanouk,
who had sought asylum in China, was condemned to death despite his absence. By
that time, Chinese and North Vietnamese leaders had persuaded the prince to
establish a government in exile, allied with North Vietnam and dominated by the
CPK, whom Sihanouk referred to as the Khmer Rouge (French for "Red Khmers").
In 1975, despite massive infusions of U.S. aid, the Khmer
Republic collapsed, and Khmer Rouge forces occupied Phnom Penh.
The United States continued bombing Cambodia until the
Congress of the United States halted the campaign in 1973. By that time, Lon
Nol's forces were fighting not only the Vietnamese but also the Khmer Rouge. The
general lost control over most of the Cambodian countryside, which had been
devastated by U.S. bombing. The fighting severely damaged the nation's
infrastructure and caused high numbers of casualties. Hundreds of thousands of
refugees flooded into the cities. In 1975, despite massive infusions of U.S. aid,
the Khmer Republic collapsed, and Khmer Rouge forces occupied Phnom Penh. Three
weeks later, North Vietnamese forces achieved victory in South Vietnam.
Democratic Kampuchea
Pol Pot Pol Pot is a pseudonym for the Cambodian guerrilla
commander Saloth Sar, who organized the Communist guerrilla force known as the
Khmer Rouge. The Khmer Rouge ousted General Lon Nol in 1975, establishing a
brutal Communist regime that ruled until 1979.
Immediately after occupying Cambodia's towns, the Khmer
Rouge ordered all city dwellers into the countryside to take up agricultural
tasks. The move reflected both the Khmer Rouge's contempt for urban dwellers, whom
they saw as enemies, and their utopian vision of Cambodia as a nation of busy, productive
peasants. The leader of the regime, who remained concealed from the public, was
Saloth Sar, who used the pseudonym Pol Pot. The government, which called itself
Democratic Kampuchea (DK), claimed to be seeking total independence from
foreign powers but accepted economic and military aid from its major allies, China
and North Korea.
Khmer Rouge Carnage The Khmer Rouge, led by Pol Pot, killed
close to 1.7 million people in the mid- to late 1970s. In this photo, human
bones and skulls fill a museum in Cambodia that had been used as a prison and
torture center during Pol Pot's reign, Sygma.
Without identifying themselves as Communists, the Khmer
Rouge quickly introduced a series of far-reaching and often painful socialist
programs. The people given the most power in the new government were the
largely illiterate rural Cambodians who had fought alongside the Khmer Rouge in
the civil war. DK leaders severely restricted freedom of speech, movement, and
association, and forbade all religious practices. The regime controlled all
communications along with access to food and information. Former city dwellers,
now called "new people," were particularly badly treated. The Khmer
Rouge killed intellectuals, merchants, bureaucrats, members of religious groups,
and any people suspected of disagreeing with the party. Millions of other
Cambodians were forcibly relocated, deprived of food, tortured, or sent into
forced labor.
While in power, the Khmer Rouge murdered, worked to death, or
killed by starvation close to 1.7 million Cambodians.
The Khmer Rouge also attacked neighboring countries in an
attempt to reclaim territories lost by Cambodia many centuries before. After
fighting broke out with Vietnam (then united under the Communists) in 1977, DK's
ideology became openly racist. Ethnic minorities in Cambodia, including ethnic
Chinese and Vietnamese, were hunted down and expelled or massacred. Purges of
party members accused of treason became widespread. People in eastern Cambodia,
suspected of cooperating with Vietnam, suffered severely, and hundreds of
thousands of them were killed. While in power, the Khmer Rouge murdered, worked
to death, or killed by starvation close to 1.7 million Cambodians-more than one-fifth
of the country's population.
Recent Development
In October 1991 Cambodia's warring factions, the UN, and a
number of interested foreign nations signed an agreement in Paris intended to
end the conflict in Cambodia. The agreement provided for a temporary power-sharing
arrangement between a United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC)
and a Supreme National Council (SNC) made up of delegates from the various
Cambodian factions. Prince Norodom Sihanouk, the former king and prime minister
of Cambodia, served as president of the SNC.
The Paris accords and the UN protectorate pushed Cambodia
out of its isolation and introduced competitive politics, dormant since the
early 1950s. UNTAC sponsored elections for a national assembly in May 1993, and
for the first time in Cambodian history a majority of voters rejected an armed,
incumbent regime. A royalist party, known by its French acronym FUNCINPEC, won
the most seats in the election, followed by the CPP, led by Hun Sen. Reluctant
to give up power, Hun Sen threatened to upset the election results. Under a
compromise arrangement, a three-party coalition formed a government headed by
two prime ministers; FUNCINPEC's Prince Norodom Ranariddh, one of Sihanouk's
sons, became first prime minister, while Hun Sen became second prime minister.
In September 1993 the government ratified a new constitution
restoring the monarchy and establishing the Kingdom of Cambodia. Sihanouk
became king for the second time. After the 1993 elections, no foreign countries
continued to recognize the DK as Cambodia's legal government. The DK lost its
UN seat as well as most of its sources of international aid.
The unrealistic power-sharing relationship between Ranariddh
and Hun Sen worked surprisingly well for the next three years, but relations
between the parties were never smooth. The CPP's control over the army and the
police gave the party effective control of the country, and it dominated the
coalition government. In July 1997 Hun Sen staged a violent coup against
FUNCINPEC and replaced Prince Ranariddh, who was overseas at the time, with Ung
Huot, a more pliable FUNCINPEC figure. Hun Sen's action shocked foreign nations
and delayed Cambodia's entry into the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
By the end of 1997, Cambodia was the only nation in the region that was not a
member.
Despite the coup, elections scheduled for July 1998
proceeded as planned. Hundreds of foreign observers who monitored the elections
affirmed that voting was relatively free and fair; however, the CPP harassed
opposition candidates and party workers before and after the elections, when
dozens were imprisoned and several were killed. The election gave the CPP a
plurality of votes, but results, especially in towns, where voting could not be
dictated by local authorities, indicated that the party did not enjoy
widespread popular support. Prince Ranariddh and another opposition candidate, Sam
Rainsy, took refuge abroad and contested the outcome of the election. In
November the CPP and FUNCINPEC reached an agreement whereby Hun Sen became sole
prime minister and Ranariddh became president of the National Assembly. The
parties formed a coalition government, dividing control over the various
cabinet ministries. In early 1999 the constitution was amended to create a
Senate, called for in the 1998 agreement. These signs that Cambodia's political
situation was stabilizing encouraged ASEAN to admit Cambodia to its membership
a short time later.
Pol Pot died in 1998, and by early 1999 most of the
remaining Khmer Rouge troops and leaders had surrendered. Rebel troops were
integrated into the Cambodian army. In 1999 two Khmer Rouge leaders were
arrested and charged with genocide for their part in the atrocities.
Since the Paris Accords of 1991, Cambodia Cambodia Cambodia
