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Holidays in Cambodia |
A Brief
Cambodian History
What makes Cambodia such a fantastic place is the thousands of years
of history and legends going all the way back to the 9th Century.
Cambodia has gone from the wonders of being the most powerful and
successfully advanced culture in the Asian peninsular during the
Angkor times to the bleak occupation by the Thai and Vietnamese and
the desperate and humiliating rule of the Khmer Rouge and Pol Pot to
the exciting Cambodia we see today. This history has created a
fantastically vibrant and unique country.
Despite all that the country and people have been through Cambodia
has an infectious energy and life to it that almost everyone feels
within minutes of stepping off the plane. As they have rebuilt their
country they have been able to step away from any darkness in the
past and focus on the opportunity and vibrancy of today.
Here is a brief history to wet your appetite but there are a number
of fantastic books which can be purchased in the local markets for
$2-5 each or from our ‘online shop’ and make great holiday reading.
Nobody knows for certain how long people have lived in the lands we
now call Cambodia, where they came from or what languages they
spoke. Recent finds do however suggest that they were a
comparatively sophisticated culture living in organised structures
with domestic animals. There are suggestions that the first rice
cultivation and first bronze castings happened in the region. It is
also clear that the languages of the time where closely related to
the present Cambodian language of Khmer.
Funan (68 AD – 550 AD)
At about the time that Western Europe was absorbing the classical
culture and institutions of the Mediterranean. The people of
Southeast Asia were responding to the stimulus of a civilization
that had arisen in India during the previous millennium as a
consequence of the increasing trade in the Indian Ocean. Vedic and
Hindu religion, political thought, literature, mythology and
artistic motifs gradually became integral elements in local
cultures. The caste system was never adopted, but Indianization
stimulated the rise of highly-organized, centralized states.
Funan, the earliest of the Indianized states, is generally
considered to have been the first kingdom in the area. Founded in
the first century, Funan was located on the lower reaches of the
Mekong River delta area, in what is today southeast Cambodia and the
extreme south of Vietnam. The area was a natural region for the
development of an economy based on fishing and rice cultivation.
There is considerable evidence that the Funanese economy depended on
rice surpluses produced by an extensive inland irrigation system.
Maritime trade played an extremely important role in the development
of Funan, and the remains of what is believed to have been the
kingdom’s main port, Oc Eo (now part of Vietnam), contain Roman as
well as Persian, Indian, and Greek artefacts.
Chenla (550 AD – 802 AD)
King Strutavarman managed to break free from Funan’s control and
founded the kingdom of Chenla. A later Chenla king, Bhavarman,
invaded Funan annexing it to his domains. They then embarked on a
course of conquest that continued for three centuries. They
subjugated central and upper Laos, annexed portions of the Mekong
Delta, and brought what are now western Cambodia and southern
Thailand under their direct control. The people of Chenla were Khmer
and wrote in Khmer script, as opposed to the Funan practice of
writing in Sanskrit.
In the 8th century factional disputes at the Chenla court resulted
in the splitting of the kingdom into rival northern and southern
halves. According to Chinese chronicles, the two parts were known as
Land (or Upper) Chenla and Water (or Lower) Chenla. Land Chenla
maintained a relatively stable existence, but Water Chenla underwent
a period of constant turbulence, partly because of attacks from the
sea by the Javanese and others.
The Sailendra dynasty in Java actively tried to establish control on
Water Chenla territories and eventually forced the kingdom to vassal
status. The last of the Water Chenla kings allegedly was killed
around 790 by a Javanese monarch whom he had offended. The ultimate
victor in the strife that followed was the ruler of a small Khmer
state located north of the Mekong Delta. His assumption of the
throne as Jayavarman II marked the liberation of the Khmer people
from Javanese suzerainty and the beginning of a Khmer empire.
The Great Angkor Kingdom (802 AD – 1431 AD)
The Angkorian period or Khmer Empire began in 802 AD, when the
monarch Jayavarman II declared himself a ‘universal monarch’ and
‘god-king’. During this time the Khmer empire was flourishing
through programs of military campaigns, alliances, marriages and
land grants, a unification had occurred creating a kingdom bordered
by China (to the north), Champa (now Central Vietnam, to the east),
the ocean (to the south) and a place identified by a stone
inscription as the land of cardamoms and mangoes (to the west) which
included present Thailand, Laos and parts of Burma.
Angkor the City
In 889 AD, Yasovarman I ascended to the throne. A great king and an
accomplished builder, he was celebrated by one inscription as ‘a
lion-man’. He tore the enemy with the claws of his grandeur; his
teeth were his policies and his eyes were the Veda. Near the old
capital of Hariharalaya, he constructed a new city called
Yasodharapura on the current site on Angkor. He also constructed a
massive reservoir called a baray, the significance of which has been
debated by modern scholars, some of them believe it was a means of
irrigating rice fields, and others regarded them as religiously
charged symbols. Yasovarman built his central temple on a low hill
known as Phnom Bakheng which can be visited today and is a great
spot to watch the sun set. He also built numerous other Hindu
temples.
Over the next 300 years, between 900 and 1200, the Khmer empire
produced some of the world’s most magnificent architectural
masterpieces in the Angkor area. Some 72 major temples or other
buildings are found within this area, and the remains of several
hundred additional minor temple sites are scattered throughout the
landscape beyond. Because of the dispersed, low-density nature of
the medieval Khmer settlement pattern, Angkor lacks a formal
boundary; however a specific area of at least 1,000 km² (386 square
miles) beyond the major temples is defined by a complex system of
infrastructure, including roads and canals. In terms of geographical
extent (not population) this makes it the largest urban
agglomeration in human history prior to the Industrial Revolution.
In fact, in terms of its urban sprawl, medieval Angkor even
approaches the size of modern Los Angeles.
Angkor Wat
The principal temple of the Angkorian period, Angkor Wat, was built
between 1113 and 1150 by King Suryavarman II. Suryavarman ascended
to the throne after prevailing in a battle with a rival prince. An
inscription says that, in the course of combat, Suryavarman leapt
onto his rival’s war elephant and killed him; just as the mythical
bird-man Garuda slays a serpent.
Breaking with the tradition of the Khmer kings and influenced
perhaps by the concurrent rise of Vaisnavism in India, he dedicated
Angkor Wat to Vishnu rather than to Siva. With walls nearly one-half
mile long on each side, Angkor Wat grandly portrays the Hindu
cosmology. The central towers represented Mount Meru, home of the
gods; the outer walls, the mountains enclosing the world; and the
moat, the oceans beyond.
Suryavarman had the walls of the temple decorated not only with
scenes from mythology, but also from the life of his own imperial
court. In one of the scenes, the king himself is portrayed as larger
in size than his subjects, sitting cross-legged on an elevated
throne and holding court, while a bevy of attendants make him
comfortable with the aid of parasols and fans.
Rebuilding of the Empire
Following the death of Suryavarman around 1150 A.D., the kingdom
fell into a period of internal strife. Its neighbours to the east,
the Cham of what is now southern Vietnam, took advantage of the
situation in 1177 to launch a seaborne invasion up the Mekong River
and across Tonle Sap. The Cham forces were successful in sacking the
Khmer capital of Yasodharapura and in killing the reigning king.
However, a Khmer prince rallied his people and defeated the Cham in
battles on the lake and on the land and then in 1181 King Jayavarman
VII assumed the throne.
He was to be the greatest of the Angkorian kings. Over the ruins of
Yasodharapura, he constructed the walled city of Angkor Thom, as
well as its geographic and spiritual center, the temple known as the
Bayon. Bas-reliefs at the Bayon depict not only the king’s battles
with the Cham, but also scenes from the life of Khmer villagers and
courtiers. In addition, Jayavarman constructed the well-known
temples of Ta Prohm and Preah Khan, dedicating them to his parents.
This massive program of construction coincided with a transition in
the state religion from Hinduism to Mahayana Buddhism. Jayavarman
had adopted the latter as his personal faith after it was introduced
by Theravada monks from Sir Lanka in the 12th century. During
Jayavarman’s reign, Hindu temples were altered to display images of
the Buddha, and Angkor Wat briefly became a Buddhist shrine.
Following his death, a Hindu revival included a large-scale campaign
of desecrating Buddhist images, until Theravada Buddhism became
established as the land’s dominant religion from the 14th century.
An Important Visitor
The year 1296 marked the arrival at Angkor of the Chinese diplomat
Zhou Daguan. Zhou’s one-year sojourn in the Khmer capital during the
reign of King Indravarman III is historically significant, because
he penned a still-surviving account of approximately 40 pages
detailing his observations of Khmer society.
Some of the topics he addressed in the account were those of
religion, justice, kingship, agriculture, slavery, birds,
vegetables, bathing, clothing, tools, draft animals, and commerce.
In one passage, he described a royal procession consisting of
soldiers, numerous servant women and concubines, ministers and
princes, and finally, the sovereign, standing on an elephant,
holding his sacred sword in his hand. Together with the inscriptions
that have been found on Angkorian stelas, temples and other
monuments, and with the bas-reliefs at the Bayon and Angkor Wat,
Zhou’s journal is the most important source of information about
everyday life at Angkor. Filled with vivid anecdotes and sometimes
incredulous observations of a civilization that struck Zhou as
colorful and exotic, it is an entertaining travel memoir as well.
The End of the Angkorian Kingdom
The Angkorian civilization was in decline in the 13th and 14th
centuries and officially ended in 1431 AD when Angkor was sacked and
looted by Thai invaders. During the course of the 15th century,
nearly all of Angkor was abandoned, except for Angkor Wat, which
remained a Buddhist shrine.
Several theories have been advanced to account for the decline and
abandonment of Angkor:
War with the Thai
It is widely believed that the abandonment of the Khmer capital
occurred as a result of Siamese invasions. Ongoing wars with the
Siamese were already sapping the strength of Angkor at the time of
Zhou Daguan toward the end of the 13th century. In his memoirs, Zhou
reported that the country had been completely devastated by such a
war, in which the entire population had been obligated to
participate.
Erosion of the state religion
Some scholars have connected the decline of Angkor with the
conversion of Cambodia to Theravada Buddhism following the reign of
Jayavarman VII, arguing that this religious transition eroded the
Hindu conception of kingship that undergirded the Angkorian
civilization.
Neglect of public works
The weakening of Angkor’s royal government by ongoing war and the
erosion of the beliefs of Devaraja undermined the government’s
ability to engage in important public works, such as the
construction and maintenance of the waterways essential for
irrigation of the rice fields upon which Angkor’s large population
depended for its sustenance. As a result, Angkorian civilization
suffered from a reduced economic base, and the population was forced
to scatter.
Natural disaster
Other scholars attempting to account for the rapid decline and
abandonment of Angkor have hypothesized natural disasters such as
earthquakes, inundations, or drastic climate changes as the relevant
agents of destruction.
Recent research suggests that the decline may have been due to a
shortage of water caused by the transition from the Medieval Warm
Period to the Little Ice Age. Research has established tree-ring
chronologies indicating severe periods of drought across mainland
Southeast Asia in the early 1400s, raising the possibility that
Angkor’s canals and reservoirs ran dry and ended expansion of
available farmland.
The truth is probably a combination of these factors which sadly
bought the end to a magnificent empire and has left us the wonderful
monument of the temples of Ankor, almost all of which can be visited
and experienced today.
The Dark Ages (1431 AD – 1863)
After the fall of Ankor in 1432 the court moved the Capital to Lovek
near present day Phnom Penh where the kingdom sought to regain its
glory through maritime trade. The attempt was short-lived as
continued wars with the Thai and Vietnamese resulted in the loss of
more territory and Lovek was conquered in 1594. During the next
three centuries, the Khmer kingdom alternated as a vassal state of
the Thai and Vietnamese kings, with short-lived periods of relative
independence between.
The French Connection (1883 – 1955)
In 1863, King Norodom, who had been installed by Thailand, sought
the protection of France from the Thai and Vietnamese after tensions
grew between them. In 1867 the Thai king signed a treaty with France
renouncing suzerainty over Cambodia in exchange for the control of
Battambang and Siem Reap provinces which officially became part of
Thailand. The provinces were ceded back to Cambodia by a border
treaty between France and Thailand in 1906.
Cambodia continued as a protectorate of France from 1863 to 1953,
administered as part of the colony of French Indochina although they
were briefly occupied by the Japanese empire from 1941 to 1945.
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, who was
eighteen years old at the time, was enthroned and so started a long
and complicated relationship with his country.
The French thought young Sihanouk would be easy to control. They
were wrong, however, and under the reign of King Norodom Sihanouk,
Cambodia gained independence from France on November 9, 1953. During
this time Cambodia officially lost control over the Mekong Delta
when it was awarded to Vietnam as it had been controlled by them
since 1698 when King Chey Chettha II granting Vietnamese permission
to settle in the area decades before. This remains an issue with
many Cambodia’s to this day.
The Cold War (1955 – 1975)
In 1955, Sihanouk abdicated in favour of his father in order to be
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.
However, Cambodians began to take sides and he was ousted while on a
trip abroad in 1970 by a military coup led by Prime Minister General
Lon Nol and Prince Sisowath Sirik Matak with the back-up support of
the United States. Settling in Beijing, China, Sihanouk was forced
to realign himself with the Chinese communists. Soon the Khmer Rouge
rebels would use him for gaining territory in the regions. The King
urged his followers to help in overthrowing the pro-United States
government of Lon Nol, hastening the onset of civil war.
Between 1969 and 1973, Republic of Vietnam forces and U.S. forces
bombed and briefly invaded Cambodia in an effort to disrupt the Viet
Cong and Khmer Rouge. Some two million Cambodians were made refugees
by the war and fled to Phnom Penh. Estimates of the number of
Cambodians killed during the bombing campaigns vary widely, as do
views of the effects of the bombing. The US Seventh Air Force argued
that the bombing prevented the fall of Phnom Penh in 1973 by killing
16,000 of 25,500 Khmer Rouge fighters besieging the city. However,
it is also argued that the bombing drove peasants to join the Khmer
Rouge. Others argue that the Khmer Rouge would have won anyway.
In 1967 the North Vietnamese army laid the first landmines in
Cambodia, and continued to do so throughout the Vietnam War period
to protect bases and supply routes, which were established along the
border on Cambodian territory. The United States responded with
covert operations from 1969 to 1973, dropping bombs and laying mines
well within neutral Cambodia. Following the coup in 1970 the war
between Khmer Rouge forces and the US-backed Lon Nol regime saw
landmines used across extensive areas of Cambodia.
As the Vietnamese war ended in 1975, a US AID report observed that
the country faced famine, with 75% of its draft animals destroyed,
and that rice planting for the next harvest would have to be doneby
the hard labour of seriously malnourished people.
Khmer Rouge (1975 – 1979)
The Khmer Rouge reached Phnom Penh and took power in 1975. The
regime, led by Pol Pot immediately evacuated the cities and sent the
entire population on forced marches to rural work projects. They
attempted to rebuild the country’s agriculture on the model of the
11th century; discarded Western medicine, and destroyed temples,
libraries, and anything considered Western.
During this time between 1 and 3 million Cambodians, out of a total
population of 8 million died from executions, overwork, starvation
and disease. This era gave rise to the Killing Fields, and the
prison Tuol Sleng (S21) became notorious for its history of mass
killing. Hundreds of thousands fled across the border into
neighbouring countries. The regime disproportionately targeted
ethnic minority groups such as Cham Muslims and ethnic Chinese and
anyone educated included doctors, lawyers, monks and teachers. While
in power from 1975 to 1979, the Khmer Rouge used mines extensively
along the borders with Vietnam and Thailand, turning the country
into what was called a prison without walls.
Independence (1979 – Present)
By December 1978, due of several years of border conflict and the
flood of refugees fleeing Cambodia, relations between Cambodia and
Vietnam collapsed. Pol Pot, fearing a Vietnamese attack, ordered a
pre-emptive invasion of Vietnam. His Cambodian forces crossed the
border and looted nearby villages. These Cambodian forces were
repulsed by the Vietnamese.
The Kampuchean United Front for National Salvation, an organization
that included many dissatisfied former Khmer Rouge members and the
Vietnamese armed forces then invaded Cambodia, capturing Phnom Penh
on January 7, 1979. Despite a traditional Cambodian fear of
Vietnamese domination, defecting Khmer Rouge activists assisted the
Vietnamese.
At the same time, the Khmer Rouge retreated west, and it continued
to control certain areas near the Thai border for the next decade.
These Khmer Rouge bases were not self-sufficient and were funded by
diamond and timber smuggling; military assistance from China
channelled by means of the Thai military and food from markets
across the border in Thailand. Violent occupation and warfare
between the Vietnamese and Khmer Rouge holdouts continued throughout
the 1980s.
In 1985 Vietnam declared that it would complete the withdrawal of
its forces from Cambodia by 1990 having allowed the government that
it had instated there to consolidate and gain sufficient military
strength however this did not bring peace.
Further peace efforts began in Paris in 1989, culminating two years
later in October 1991 in a comprehensive peace settlement. The
United Nations was given a mandate to enforce a ceasefire, and deal
with refugees and disarmament.
In 1992 the Khmer Rouge boycotted the election, rejected its results
and resumed fighting against the new Cambodian coalition government.
There was a mass defection in 1996, when around half the remaining
Khmer Rouge soldiers (about 4,000) left.
In 1997, a conflict between the two main participants in the ruling
coalition caused Prince Rannaridh to seek support from some of the
Khmer Rouge leaders, while refusing to have any dealings with Pol
Pot. This resulted in bloody factional fighting among the Khmer
Rouge leaders, ultimately leading to Pol Pot’s trial and
imprisonment by the Khmer Rouge. Pol Pot died in April 1998. By
1999, most members had surrendered or been captured, and the Khmer
Rouge as an organisation effectively ceased to exist.
Throughout this period Landmines were extensively deployed by all
groups across very fluid battle lines as a weapon of choice to
protect territory, channel enemy forces to vulnerable positions, and
demoralize communities. Millions of mines were laid especially in a
600-kilometer barrier along the Thai border.
Another major episode of mine laying followed the withdrawal of
Vietnamese troops in September 1989, in the military power vacuum
that resulted. Government forces laid an enormous quantity of mines
to hold back resistance forces on the Thai border. Resistance
fighters in turn launched an offensive bigger than any in the war
prior to this, and laid mines deep within the country. Mines
continued to be employed by the Khmer Rouge and by Government forces
even after the 1993 elections.
Cambodia along with Angola are the two worst landmine effect
countries. Landmines have caused considerable human damage and
unfortunately most of this is to innocent civilians. International
attention was raised by the Late Princess Diana among others through
the 90’s and since then an extensive clearing program has been in
operation run by a combination or Cambodia’s military and
international support especially from Japan. Mine clearing has been
a success with injuries dropping sharply over the last 10 years with
over 520 square kilometres clear and over 2.7 million mines
destroyed. Although there is still many years of work to be done the
area of land cleared per year is increasing. Although precautions
are required in some remote rural areas, areas visited by tourists
are safe and mine free.
Cambodia Today
Cambodia really is the hidden gem of South East Asia and compared to
their next door neighbours in Thailand and Vietnam, it is still
relatively unknown by the tourist hordes. However this is already
beginning to change as travellers get to hear about the incredible
Angkorian heritage and the warm welcome that lies behind the
bewitching Cambodian smile.
Cambodia is much like all developing countries and has its fair
share of problems and challenges to deal with. Thirty years of civil
war, the destruction caused by the Khmer Rouge genocide and
isolation from the rest of the world took a heavy toll. Cambodia has
a very young population and over three-quarters of Cambodians were
too young to remember the Khmer Rouge years. This means the country
has a young, go-ahead generation who are seeking to catch up as fast
as they can with their more illustrious neighbours. At the same
time, they are aware of their illustrious heritage, the
master-builders of World Heritage sites like Angkor Wat and Preah
Vihear and of the beguiling Apsara classical dance, these are
priceless cultural gems that must be woven into the fabric of the
today’s new Cambodia.
It’s a country that is experiencing change faster than anywhere else
in South East Asia and we recommend you come and see it for
yourself, both the old and the new, and become as enraptured by that
Cambodian smile as every other visitor, past and present.
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