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History of Cambodia
Post-Angkor period
Cambodia's Struggle for Survival, 1432-1887
The more than four centuries that passed from the abandonment of Angkor around the mid-fifteenth century to the establishment of a protectorate under the French in 1863 are considered by historians to be Cambodia's "dark ages," a period of economic, social, and cultural stagnation when the kingdom's internal affairs came increasingly under the control of its aggressive neighbors, the Thai and the Vietnamese. Cambodia probably would have been completely absorbed by one or the other if France had not intervened
Following the fall of Angkor Thom, the Cambodian court abandoned the region north of the Tonle Sap, never to return except for a brief interlude in the late sixteenth century. By this time however, the Khmer penchant for monument building had ceased.
During the sixteenth century, the Khmer established a new capital several hundred kilometers to the southeast on the site of what is now Phnom Penh. This new center of power was located at the confluence of the Mekong and the Tonle Sab rivers. Thus, it controlled the river commerce of the Khmer heartland and the Laotian kingdoms and had access, by way of the Mekong Delta, to the international trade routes that linked the China coast, the South China Sea, and the Indian Ocean.
King Ang Chan (1516-66), one of the few great Khmer monarchs of the post-Angkorian period, moved the capital from Phnom Penh to Lovek. Portuguese and Spanish travelers who visited the city, located on the banks of the Tonle Sab, a river north of Phnom Penh, described it as a place of fabulous wealth.
The Thai, however, had dealt a fatal blow to Cambodian independence by capturing Lovek in 1594. With the posting of a Thai military governor in the city, a degree of foreign political control was established over the kingdom for the first time. Cambodian chronicles describe the fall of Lovek as a catastrophe from which the nation never fully recovered.
The French Colonial Period, 1887-1953
In 1863, the king of Cambodia placed the country under French protection. In October 1887, the French proclaimed the Union Indochinoise, or Indochina Union, comprising Cambodia and Vietnam. Laos was added to the Indochina Union after being separated from Thai suzerainty in 1893. In 1897, the chief colonial official complained to Paris that Norodom was no longer capable of ruling and received permission to assume the king's authority to issue decrees, collect taxes, and appoint royal officials. Norodom and his successors were left with hollow, figurehead roles as head of state. The colonial bureaucracy expanded rapidly.
When Norodom died in 1904, the French passed over his sons and set his brother Sisowath (1904-27) on the throne. Sisowath's branch of the royal family was considered more cooperative than that of Norodom. During their generally peaceful reigns, Sisowath and his son Monivong (1927-41) were pliant instruments of French rule. A measure of the monarchs' status was the willingness of the French to provide them annually with complimentary rations of opium. One of the few highlights of Sisowath's reign was French success in getting Thailand's King Chulalongkorn to sign a new treaty in 1907 returning the northwestern provinces of Batdambang and Siemreap to Cambodia.
The French established the Angkor Conservation Centre in 1908 to conduct archaeological studies of the Angkor civilization as well as to restore the various Khmer temples.
The Khmer were fortunate in escaping the suffering endured by most other Southeast Asian peoples during World War II. After the establishment of the Vichy regime in France in 1940, Japanese forces moved into Vietnam and displaced French authority.
Modern history of Cambodia
The modern history of Cambodia is one of turmoil and takeovers during World War II, by communist infiltrators from Vietnam, by Poll Pot and his cronies, and finally by a non-communist, relatively stable government.
At the end of the War, Cambodia was once again independent within the French Union and gained full independence in 1953.
After a five-year struggle, communist Khmer Rouge forces captured Phnom Penh in April 1975 and ordered the evacuation of all cities and towns. As a result of this order, over 1.5 million people died or were killed by execution, enforced hardships, or starvation. A 1978 Vietnamese invasion drove the Khmer Rouge into the countryside and began almost 13 years of civil war. The 1991 Paris Peace Accords mandated democratic elections and a ceasefire, which was not honored by the Khmer Rouge.
The UN-sponsored elections in 1993 helped restore some semblance of normalcy and the final elements of the Khmer Rouge surrendered in early 1999. Factional fighting in 1997 ended the first coalition government, but a second round of national elections in 1998 led to the formation of another coalition government and renewed political stability.
The July 2003 elections were relatively peaceful, but it took a full year of negotiations between contending political parties before a coalition government was formed.
For further details about the history of Cambodia under Sihanouk (1954-70), the March 1970 Coup d'Etat, the war 1967-75, the Khmer Rouge regime (1975-78), the Vietnamese occupation (1979-89), read the Country Study about Cambodia , Federal Research Division of the U. S. Library of Congress. As for the history of Cambodia after the fall of the Pol Pot regime (1990-present), read the Modern Cambodia article from Wikipedia.
Pre-Angkor Period
The Angkor Kings (802 – 1000)
The Angkor Kings (1001 -1431)
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