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The
Funan Kingdom, believed to have started around the first
century BC, is the first known kingdom of Cambodia.
The kingdom was strongly influenced by Indian culture by
shaping the culture, art and political system.
An
alphabetical system, religions and architectural styles
were also Indian contributions to the Funan Kingdom.
There is archeological evidence of a commercial society in
the Mekong Delta that prospered from the 1st to 6th
centuries.
Returning
from abroad, a Khmer prince declared himself the ruler of
a new kingdom during the 9th century. Known as
Jayavarman II, he started a cult that honored Shiva, a
Hindu god, as a devaraja (god-king) which then
linked the king to Shiva.
He also began the great achievements in architecture and
sculpture while his successors built an immense irrigation
system around Angkor.. His successors (26 from the
early 9th to the early 15th century), built a tremendous
number of temples - of which there are over a thousand
sites and stone inscriptions (on temple walls).
By the 12th century, Cambodia had spread into other areas,
now known as Thailand, Laos, Myanmar and Malaysia (the
peninsula). There is actually still evidence of
Khmer inhabitance in Thailand and Laos to this day.
The
13th and 14th centuries were not as successful for
Cambodia, some believe it was due to the increased power
of (and wars with) Thai kingdoms that had at one time paid
homage to Angkor. Others believe it was due to the
induction of Theravada Buddhism, which was totally
contrary to the Cambodian societal structure at that time.
After this time historical records are rather sketchy at
best regarding Cambodia and it is considered the
"Dark Ages" of Cambodian history.
Cambodia
was ravaged by Vietnamese and Thai invasions and wars up
until the 19th century, when new dynasties in these
countries fought over control of Cambodia. The war,
that began in the 1830's almost destroyed Cambodia.
King Norodom signed a treaty that enabled the French to be
a protectorate, thus effectively stopping the Viet-Thai
war within. For the next 90 years, France in essence
ruled over Cambodia.
Although officially they were just advisors, it was known
that the French had final say on all topics of interest.
Although the French built roadways and made other
improvements regarding trade and transportation, they
sadly neglected the Cambodian educational system, which is
still not effective to this day.
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In
1953, Cambodia managed to gain their independence in spite
of World War II and the First Indochina War. Their
independence was obtained through the political savvy of
King Sihanouk. Wanting to be released from the
pressures of the monarchy, Sihanouk abdicated the throne
and became a full time politician.
He started a political faction called the People's
Socialist Community (Sangkum Reastr Niyum) which then won
by a landslide in the 1955 national elections. In
part the success was due to his popularity, but also from
police brutality at the polling stations.
In 1960, when his father died he was named head of state
(up until then he'd been the prime minister).
Although he had remained neutral in a struggle between the
US and USSR regarding tensions in Vietnam, he changed his
position in 1965 and eliminated diplomatic relations with
the US.
At the same time he allowed the Communist Vietnamese
access to Cambodian soil to set up bases. With the
Cambodian economy becoming unstable, Sihanouk decided to
renew his relations with the US, who were secretly
planning on bombing Cambodian areas suspected of housing
Vietnamese Communists.
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While
Sihanouk was abroad in 1970, he was ousted from power and
fled to China. General Lon Nol, the prime minister,
had hoped for US aid, but the US was occupied with
Vietnamese troubles and didn't help. In the
meantime, since his army was ill-equipped, they couldn't
stop an invasion by the South Vietnamese, searching for
North Vietnamese.
To add to Lon Nol's problems, Sihanouk had been persuaded
to set up a government while in exile, called the Khmer
Rouge. The Khmer Rouge became a thorn in Lon
Nol's side along with the Vietnamese until the Khmer
regime collapsed. Another contributing factor to the
collapse was the repeated US bombing of the Cambodian
countryside. In 1975, the Khmer Rouge was able to
take over Phnom Penh and shortly thereafter, the North
Vietnamese were occupying South Vietnam.
The
Khmer Rouge felt antipathy toward Cambodians living in
urban areas and forced them to the countryside where they
were forced to work in various forms of agriculture.
Leading the Khmer Rouge was a man by the name of Saloth
Sar, better known as Pol Pot. The government,
Democratic Kampochea (DK), was run in part by rural
Cambodians who were illiterate, but had fought along with
the Khmer Rouge in the war.
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The derision and ill-treatment felt towards the former
city dwellers was slightly better than the treatment of
anyone intellectual, religious, and those who were
believed to be against the regime - their punishment was
death. During Pol Pot's (Khmer Rouge's) regime over
twenty percent of Cambodia's population was murdered.
The
Khmer Rouge's plan to attack Vietnam and other areas
backfired when the Vietnamese surprised Cambodia with an
attack of over 100,000 troops. They were accompanied
by Cambodian Communist rebels and managed to invade Phnom
Penh, which had been vacated by the Khmer Rouge the day
before.
The Khmer Rouge, Pol Pot among them, fled to the
Thai-Cambodian border, where they were given asylum by the
Thai government, which was unfriendly to Vietnam.
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The
Vietnamese established a regime in Cambodia that included
many members of the Khmer Rouge as well as Cambodians who
had fled to Vietnam before 1975. Not to be swayed,
the Khmer Rouge and it's followers created a government
that was hostile to Vietnam while in exile, also known as
DK.
The UN upheld this government in exile, with the support
given to it by the US, China and Thailand. With more
ensuing conflicts between the two governments, many of
Cambodia's finest along with the general population,
totaling over half a million people, resettled in other
countries.
By
the end of 1989, the Cold War had ended which had the
Vietnamese exiting Cambodia. Without financial
support from the Soviets, the Vietnamese couldn't keep
their troops in the country.
This withdrawal made things difficult for Cambodians,
especially the prime minister, Hun Sen. The Khmer
Rouge had not disappeared, but had made their presence
known and were threatening military action. Since
Cambodia was without much needed foreign aid, they
discarded socialism and tried to get investors interested
in the country.
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Another major change was in the country's name, it was
changed to the State of Cambodia (SOC), while the KPRP
(who currently ruled Cambodia) changed their name to the
Cambodian People's Party. An attempt to have a
free-market economy just increased the gap between the
rich and the poor with many government officials becoming
millionaires.
In
1991, the UN, Cambodia, and other interested parties came
to an agreement to end the Cambodian conflict. A
United Nations Transitional Authority (UNTAC) and a
Supreme National Council (SNC) were formed and were
comprised of members from different factions within
Cambodia. The agreement in Paris and the UN
protectorate started competitive politics in Cambodia,
something they hadn't seen for about 40 years.
In May 1993, UNTAC sponsored an election for the national
assembly, which ended up ousting the military regime.
The Cambodians wanted a royalist party, FUNCINPEC, but Hun
Sen, who won the second largest number of seats, refused
to give up his power. Fortunately a compromise was
reached and a government was formed with two prime
ministers, FUNCINPEC had the first prime minister,
Prince Norodom Ranariddh and Hun Sen became the second
prime minister.
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A
name change for the country was in order, so in 1993
Cambodia became known as the Kingdom of Cambodia and
Sihanouk became the king once again after ratifying a new
constitution which re-established the monarchy.
After these changes were made, the UN no longer accepted
the DK as the ruling party, thus causing them (the DK) to
lose their seat and power in the UN.
The
tentative compromise between the FUNCINPEC and the CPP
fell apart in 1997 when Prince Ranariddh was overseas.
Hun Sen took advantage of the Prince's absence and
organized a violent takeover to replace him. He
replaced Prince Ranariddh with another member of the
FUNCINPEC, but this time with one who was more easily
manipulated and compliant. In spite of this
takeover, the elections of 1998 were carried out, but not
without foreign observations.
Although it was stated the voting was fair, the CPP
hassled it's opposition and following the elections many
were put in jail while a few others were killed.
Once again, the results were not accepted, but this time
it was Prince Ranariddh who opposed it. Yet again
another compromise was reached with Hun Sen as the only
prime minister and with Prince Ranariddh as the president
of the national assembly.
Things
are stabilizing in Cambodia, but not without the help and
support of foreign aid. With the outside world's
interest waning, it's help is steadily decreasing, hich is
discouraging any hopes for economic advancement and
democracy.
From
Wikipedia
Prehistory
The sparse evidence for a
Pleistocene human occupation of present day Cambodia are
quartz and quartzite pebble tools found in terraces along
Mekong River, in Stung Treng and Kratié provinces, and in
Kampot Province, but their dating is not reliable.[9]
Some slight archaeological evidence
shows communities of hunter-gatherers inhabited Cambodia
during Holocene: the most ancient Cambodian archeological
site is considered to be the cave of Laang Spean,
in Battambang Province, which belongs to the so-called
Hoabinhian period. Excavations in its lower layers
produced a series of radiocarbon dates as of 6000 BC.
Upper layers in the same site gave
evidence of transition to Neolithic, containing the
earliest dated earthenware ceramics in Cambodia
Archeological records for the period
between Holocene and Iron Age remain equally limited.
Other prehistoric sites of somewhat uncertain date are Samrong
Sen (not far from ancient capital of Oudong), where
first investigations started just in 1877, and Phum
Snay, in the northern province of Banteay Meanchey.
Prehistoric artifacts are often found during mining
activities in Ratanakiri.
The most outstanding prehistoric
evidence in Cambodia however are probably "circular
earthworks", discovered in the red soils near Memot
and in adjacent region of Vietnam as of the end of the
1950s. Their function and age are still debated, but some
of them possibly date from 2nd millennium BC at least.
A pivotal event in Cambodian
prehistory was the slow penetration of the first rice
farmers from North, which begun in the late 3rd millennium
BC. They probably spoke ancestral Mon-Khmer.
Iron was worked by about 500 BC. The
most part of evidence come from Khorat Plateau, Thai
country nowadays. In Cambodia some Iron Age settlement
were found beneath Angkorian temples, like Baksei
Chamkrong, others were circular earthworks, like Lovea,
a few kilometers north-west of Angkor. Burials, much
richer, testify improvement of food availability and trade
(even on long distances: in the 4th century BC trade
relations with India were already opened) and the
existence of a social structure and labor organization.
[edit]
Pre-Angkorian
and Angkorian polities
Southeast Asia circa 1100 AD.
Khmer Empire lands in light grey
During the 3rd, 4th, and 5th
centuries, the Indianised states of Funan and Chenla
coalesced in what is now present-day Cambodia and
southwestern Vietnam. These states are assumed by most
scholars to have been Khmer.
For more than 2,000 years, Cambodia
absorbed influences from India and China passing them on
to other Southeast Asian civilisations that are now
Thailand, Vietnam, and Laos. The Khmer Empire flourished
in the area from the 9th to the 13th century. Around the
13th century, Theravada Buddhism was introduced to the
area through monks from Sri Lanka.
From then on Theravada Buddhism grew
and eventually became the most popular religion. The Khmer
Empire declined yet remained powerful in the region until
the 15th century. The empire's centre of power was Angkor,
where a series of capitals was constructed during the
empire's zenith. Angkor could have supported a population
of up to one million people. Angkor, the world's largest
pre-industrial settlement complex, and Angkor Wat, the
most famous and best-preserved religious temple at the
site, are reminders of Cambodia's past as a major regional
power.
Dark
ages of Cambodia
After a long series of wars with
neighboring kingdoms, Angkor was sacked by the Ayutthaya
Kingdom and abandoned in 1432 because of ecological
failure and infrastructure breakdown. The court moved the
capital to Lovek where the kingdom sought to regain its
glory through maritime trade. The attempt was short-lived
however, as continued wars with the Ayutthaya and
Vietnamese resulted in the loss of more territory and
Lovek being conquered in 1594. During the next three
centuries, the Khmer kingdom alternated as a vassal state
of the Ayutthaya Kingdom and Vietnamese kings, as well as
short-lived periods of relative independence.
Modernity
and French Indochina
King Norodom is credited for
saving Cambodia from disappearing altogether
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, though 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, a maternal grand-son of king
Sisowath, who was eighteen years old at the time, was
enthroned. 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.
Independence
and Vietnam War
Cambodia became a constitutional
monarchy under King Norodom Sihanouk. When French
Indochina was given independence, Cambodia lost official
control over the Mekong Delta as it was awarded to
Vietnam. The area had been controlled by the Vietnamese
since 1698 with King Chey Chettha II granting Vietnamese
permission to settle in the area decades before.
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 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, while on a trip abroad. Settling in the
next alternative country, 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,
journalist William Shawcross and Cambodia specialists
Milton Osborne, David P. Chandler and Ben Kiernan argued
that the bombing drove peasants to join the Khmer Rouge.
Cambodia specialist Craig Etcheson argued that the Khmer
Rouge "would have won anyway", even without US
intervention driving recruitment although the US secretly
played a major role behind the leading cause of the Khmer
Rouge.
Khmer
Rouge rule
As the war ended, a draft US AID
report observed that the country faced famine in 1975,
with 75% of its draft animals destroyed, and that rice
planting for the next harvest would have to be done
"by the hard labour of seriously malnourished
people". The report predicted that
"Without large-scale
external food and equipment assistance there will be
widespread starvation between now and next February ...
Slave labour and starvation rations for half the
nation's people (probably heaviest among those who
supported the republic) will be a cruel necessity for
this year, and general deprivation and suffering will
stretch over the next two or three years before Cambodia
can get back to rice self-sufficiency".
A stupa which houses the skulls
of those killed at Choeung Ek.
The Khmer Rouge reached Phnom Penh
and took power in 1975. The regime, led by Pol Pot,
changed the official name of the country to Democratic
Kampuchea. They 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. Over a million Cambodians,
out of a total population of 8 million, died from
executions, overwork, starvation and disease.
Estimates as to how many people were
killed by the Khmer Rouge regime range from approximately
one to three million. This era gave rise to the term
Killing Fields, and the prison Tuol Sleng became notorious
for its history of mass killing. Hundreds of thousands
fled across the border into neighbouring Thailand. The
regime disproportionately targeted ethnic minority groups.
The Cham Muslims suffered serious purges with as much as
half of their population exterminated.
In the late 1960s, an estimated
425,000 ethnic Chinese lived in Cambodia, but by 1984, as
a result of Khmer Rouge genocide and emigration, only
about 61,400 Chinese remained in the country. The
professions, such as doctors, lawyers, and teachers, were
also targeted. According to Robert D. Kaplan,
"eyeglasses were as deadly as the yellow star"
as they were seen as a sign of intellectualism.
End
of Khmer Rouge rule and transition
In November 1978, Vietnamese troops
invaded Cambodia. The People's Republic of Kampuchea, a
Pro-Soviet state led by the Salvation Front, a group of
Cambodian leftists dissatisfied with the Khmer Rouge, was
established.
In 1981, three years after the
Vietnamese invasion, the country was divided up between a
further three factions that the United Nations
euphemistically referred to as the Coalition Government of
Democratic Kampuchea. This consisted of the Khmer Rouge, a
royalist faction led by Sihanouk, and the Khmer People's
National Liberation Front. The Khmer Rouge representative
to the United Nations, Thiounn Prasith was retained.
Throughout the 1980s the Khmer
Rouge, supplied by Thailand, the United States and the
United Kingdom continued to control much of the country
and attacked territory not under their dominance. These
attacks, compounded by total economic sanctions from the
United States and its allies, made reconstruction
virtually impossible and left the country deeply
impoverished.
Peace efforts began in Paris in 1989
under the State of Cambodia, 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 known as the United
Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC).
Restoration
of the constitutional monarchy
In recent years, reconstruction
efforts have progressed and led to some political
stability under the form of a multiparty democracy under a
constitutional monarchy. Norodom Sihanouk was restored as
King of Cambodia in 1993.
The stability established following
the conflict was shaken in 1997 by a coup d'état, but has
otherwise remained in place. Cambodia has been aided by a
number of more developed nations like Japan, France,
Germany, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, the
United States and the United Kingdom
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