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A Brief History of Cambodia
The Angkor Empire with its many powerful god-king's and impressive monument building started in the 9th century and lasted until the 15th century. In the year 1431, Ayuthaya forces from Thailand (then Siam) attacked the Khmer capital of Angkor and forced the Khmer king Pohea Yat to retreat south and found the city of Phnom Penh. The Khmer people had constant battles with the Thai's over Angkor for the next century or so.
Phnom Penh was little more than a small village however until in the late 1866's when king Norodom made the city the permanent royal and government centre and The Royal Palace was built in Phnom Penh. Cambodia was made a French protectorate in 1863, and the French put more pressure on king Norodom to sign another treaty in 1884 and virtually make Cambodia a French colony.
In the 1920's Phnom Penh was dubbed 'The Pearl of Asia' and was a hot destination for wealthy Europeans of the time, The Raffles Hotel was built in 1929, the city grew exponentially during this time under French control, the building of roads, a river port, a railway to Sihanoukville and the Pochentong Phnom Penh international airport. The French influence can be seen in many colonial buildings in Phnom Penh and the abundance of french bagettes for sale all over the country.
During the second world war (1941-5), Cambodia's French colonists were controlled by the Japanese, after the Japanese were defeated in 1945 Cambodia had a brief taste of independance before western forces reinstated the French control. In 1941 the French picked the 19 year old Prince Sihanouk as their successor to the Cambodian throne, chosen because the French thought of him as mallebal, but this backfired as the young king was soon on a crusade for independance and was negotiating agreeable terms with the French.
King Sihanouk returned to Phnom Penh In 1953 and King Norodom Sihanouk ruled the country until his surprise abdication in October 2004.
During the Vietnam war, in 1969, Cambodia was bombed by US B-52 bombers approved by the then new president Nixon. The US was trying to eradicate Viet Cong bases in Cambodia, Cambodia was briefly invaded by US troops in 1970 and the bombing lasted until 1973. Between 30,000 and 500,000 Cambodians were killed in the bombings, which did not suceed in eradicating the Viet Cong but instead drove the guerilla forces of the Khmer Rouge out of the countryside and into the spotlight.
The Khmer Rouge, an ultra-Maoist communist movement, took control of Phnom Penh in April 1975 after building up their forces for 5 years in the rural areas of the country. The Khmer Rouge, headed by leader Pol Pot, set about executing more than 1.7 million of their own Cambodian people. They targetted educated Cambodians, people who lived in cities and towns, civil servants, monks and religious people, and anyone else who disagreed with or was critical of the Khmer Rouge's regime. Religion, technology and education were outlawed in the Khmer Rouge's vision was for a rural, agriculture based society. City dwellers were evicted to newly created villages in the country, where they lacked both the tools and skills required to cultivate food and sustain their lives, many died of starvation, disease and overwork during the years.
The Killing Fields at Choeung Ek near Phnom Penh, where many mass graves were excavated and now stands a monument containing the skulls and clothes of the victims.
The Vietnamese invaded Cambodia in 1978 to stop Khmer Rouge incursions along the border, and the Khmer Rouge were also executing the Vietnamese people living in Cambodia. Vietnam continued its presence in Cambodia for the next ten years.
In 1993 the first UN Sponsored elections took place in Cambodia, this saw the first signs that the country was settling down after years of unrest but was not to last when a military coop in 1997 ended the coalition government and saw many flee the country from the Pochentong airport near Phnom Penh. A second UN sponsored election was held in 1998, and some political stability has been injected into Cambodia with Hun Sen of the Cambodian Peoples Party (CPP) as Prime Minister of Cambodia with majority support of the Khmer people.
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