Cambodia

Cambodia flags

National arms

Cambodia
is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is 181,035 square kilometres (69,898 square miles) in area, bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the northeast, Vietnam to the east and the Gulf of Thailand to the southwest.

Capital:Phnom Penh
11°33′N 104°55′E
Official languages ÷Khmer
Recognised languages

Ethnic groups (2013)
97.6% Khmer, 1.2% Cham,
0.1% Vietnamese, 0.1% Chinese
1% other, Religion (2013)
97.9% Buddhism (official)
1.1% Islam, 0.5% Christianity
0.6% other
Demonym(s)
CambodianKhmer Government
Unitary dominant-party parliamentary elective constitutional monarchy under an authoritarian dictatorship
• King÷Norodom Sihamoni
• Prime Minister ÷Hun Sen
• President of the Senate Say Chhum
• President of the National Assembly÷ Heng Samrin
Legislature÷Parliament
• Upper house:Senate
• Lower house÷
National Assembly Formation
• Funan Empire ÷50/68 AD–550 AD
• Chenla Empire÷550–802
• Angkor Empire÷802–1431
• Middle Period (Dark Ages)
1431–1863
• Independence from french÷
9 November 1953
• Admitted to the United Nations
14 December 1955
• Paris Peace Accords÷
23 October 1991
• Current constitution÷
24 September 1993
• ASEAN Declaration÷
30 April 1999
#Area
• Total÷
181,035 km2 (69,898 sq mi) (88th)
• Water (%) 2.5
Population
• March 2019 census÷
Increase15,288,489[4] (72nd)
• Density
86/km2 (222.7/sq mi) (96th)
GDP (PPP) 2018 estimate
• Total÷ $70.242 billion
• Per capita÷ $4,322GDP(nominal)
2018 estimate
• Total÷ US$24.360 billion
• Per capita÷ US$1,559 Gini (2011)
31.8[6]
mediumHDI (2017)
Increase 0.582,medium · 146th
Currency÷ Riel (KHR)
Time zone÷ UTC+7 (ICT)
Date format÷dd/mm/yyyy
Driving side:right
Calling code÷ +855
ISO 3166 code÷ KH
Internet TLD.kh

You may need rendering support to display the Khmer text in this article correctly.
The sovereign state of Cambodia has a population of over 15 million. The official religion is Theravada Buddhism, practised by approximately 95 percent of the population. Cambodia's minority groups include Vietnamese, Chinese, Chams and 30 hill tribes.[9] The capital and largest city is Phnom Penh, the political, economic and cultural centre of Cambodia. The kingdom is an elective constitutional monarchy with a monarch, currently Norodom Sihamoni, chosen by the Royal Council of the Throne as head of state. The head of government is the Prime Minister, currently Hun Sen, the longest serving non-royal leader in Southeast Asia, ruling Cambodia since 1985.

In 802 AD, Jayavarman II declared himself king, uniting the warring Khmer princes of Chenla under the name "Kambuja".[10] This marked the beginning of the Khmer Empire, which flourished for over 600 years, allowing successive kings to control and exert influence over much of Southeast Asia and accumulate immense power and wealth. The Indianised kingdom facilitated the spread of first Hinduism and then Buddhism to much of Southeast Asia and undertook many religious infrastructural projects throughout the region, including the construction of more than 1,000 temples and monuments in Angkor alone. Angkor Wat is the most famous of these structures and is designated as a World Heritage Site.

After the fall of Angkor to Ayutthaya in the 15th century, a reduced and weakened Cambodia was then ruled as a vassal state by its neighbours. In 1863, Cambodia became a protectorate of France, which doubled the size of the country by reclaiming the north and west from Thailand.

Cambodia gained independence in 1953. The Vietnam War extended into the country with the US bombing of Cambodia from 1969 until 1973. Following the Cambodian coup of 1970 which installed the right-wing pro-US Khmer Republic, the deposed king gave his support to his former enemies, the Khmer Rouge. The Khmer Rouge emerged as a major power, taking Phnom Penh in 1975 and later carrying out the Cambodian genocide from 1975 until 1979, when they were ousted by Vietnam and the Vietnamese-backed People's Republic of Kampuchea, supported by the Soviet Union, in the Cambodian–Vietnamese War.

Following the 1991 Paris Peace Accords, Cambodia was governed briefly by a United Nations mission (1992–93). The UN withdrew after holding elections in which around 90 percent of the registered voters cast ballots. The 1997 factional fighting resulted in the ousting of the government by Prime Minister Hun Sen and the Cambodian People's Party, who remain in power as of 2019.

Cambodia is a member of the United Nations since 1955, ASEAN, the East Asia Summit, the WTO, the Non-Aligned Movement and La Francophonie. According to several foreign organisations, the country has widespread poverty,] pervasive corruption,lack of political freedoms, low human development and a high rate of hunger. Cambodia has been described by Human Rights Watch's Southeast Asian Director, David Roberts, as a "relatively authoritarian coalition via a superficial democracy". Constitutionally a multi-party liberal democracy, the country is effectively governed under one-party rule as of 2018.

While per capita income remains low compared to most neighboring countries, Cambodia has one of the fastest growing economies in Asia, with growth averaging 7.6 percent over the last decade. Agriculture remains the dominant economic sector, with strong growth in textiles, construction, garments and tourism leading to increased foreign investment and international trade. The United Nations designates Cambodia as a least developed country. The US World Justice Project's 2015 Rule of Law Index ranked Cambodia 125th out of 126 countries, far lower compared to other countries in the region.

Main article: Names of Cambodia
The "Kingdom of Cambodia" is the official English name of the country. The English "Cambodia" is an anglicisation of the French "Cambodge", which in turn is the French transliteration of the Khmer កម្ពុជា kampuciə. Kampuchea is the shortened alternative to the country's official name in Khmer ព្រះរាជាណាចក្រកម្ពុជា prĕəh riəciənaacak kampuciə. The Khmer endonym Kampuchea derives from the Sanskrit name kambojadeśa, composed of deśa ("land of" or "country of") and kamboja, which alludes to the foundation myths of the first ancient Khmer kingdom. The term Cambodia was already in use in Europe as early as 1524, since Antonio Pigafetta (an Italian explorer who followed Ferdinand Magellan in his circumnavigation of the globe) cites it in his work Relazione del primo viaggio intorno al mondo (1524-1525) as Camogia.

Colloquially, Cambodians refer to their country as either srok khmae (Khmer pronunciation: [srok ˈkʰmae]), meaning "Khmer's Land", or the slightly more formal prɑteih kampuciə (Khmer pronunciation: [prɑ.ˈteih kam.pu.ciə]), literally "Country of Kampuchea". The name "Cambodia" is used most often in the Western world while "Kampuchea" is more widely used in the East. Official names

DateNameNotes 50/68 AD – 550 ADFunan EmpireNokor Phnom – (alternate name)
550–802Chenla EmpireDivision of Land Chenla and Water Chenla in the 8th century AD.
802–1431Khmer EmpireOne of the most powerful empires in Southeast Asia.
1431–1863CambodiaMiddle Period (Chaktomuk era, Longvek era, Oudong era)
1863–1941, 1945–1953Kingdom of Cambodia (French Protectorate)
1941–1945Under Japanese occupation
1953–1970Kingdom of CambodiaThe period of Sangkum Reastr Niyum (People's Socialist Community)
1970–1975Khmer Republic(US bombing, Civil War)
1975–1976Kampuchea(Khmer Genocide)
1976–1982Democratic Kampuchea(Khmer Genocide) – Retained UN recognition[28][29]
1982–1990Coalition Government of Democratic KampucheaRetained UN recognition
1990–1993National Government of CambodiaRetained UN recognition
1979–1989People's Republic of KampucheaNot recognized by the UN
1989–1991State of Cambodia
1991–1993United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia
1993–presentKingdom of Cambodia

There exists sparse evidence for a Pleistocene human occupation of present-day Cambodia, which includes quartz and quartzite pebble tools found in terraces along the Mekong River, in Stung Treng and Kratié provinces, and in Kampot Province, although their dating is unreliable.[30] Some slight archaeological evidence shows communities of hunter-gatherers inhabited the region during Holocene: the most ancient archaeological discovery site in Cambodia is considered to be the cave of L'aang Spean, in Battambang Province, which belongs to the Hoabinhian period. Excavations in its lower layers produced a series of radiocarbon dates around 6000 BC.[30][31] Upper layers in the same site gave evidence of transition to Neolithic, containing the earliest dated earthenware ceramics in Cambodia[32]

Archaeological records for the period between Holocene and Iron Age remain equally limited. A pivotal event in Cambodian prehistory was the slow penetration of the first rice farmers from the north, which began in the late 3rd millennium BC.[33] The most curious prehistoric evidence in Cambodia are the various "circular earthworks" discovered in the red soils near Memot and in the adjacent region of Vietnam in the latter 1950s. Their function and age are still debated, but some of them possibly date from 2nd millennium BC.

Khmer army going to war against the Cham, from a relief on the Bayon
Other prehistoric sites of somewhat uncertain date are Samrong Sen (not far from the ancient capital of Oudong), where the first investigations began in 1875, and Phum Snay, in the northern province of Banteay Meanchey. An excavation at Phum Snay revealed 21 graves with iron weapons and cranial trauma which could point to conflicts in the past, possible with larger cities in Angkor.Prehistoric artefacts are often found during mining activities in Ratanakiri.

Iron was worked by about 500 BC, with supporting evidence coming from the Khorat Plateau, in modern-day Thailand. In Cambodia, some Iron Age settlements were found beneath Baksei Chamkrong and other Angkorian temples while circular earthworks were found beneath Lovea a few kilometres north-west of Angkor. Burials, much richer than other types of finds, testify to 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 labour organisation.[40]

Among the artefacts from the Iron Age, glass beads are important evidence. Different kinds of glass beads recovered from several sites across Cambodia, such as the Phum Snay site in northwest and the Prohear site in southeast, show that there were two main trading networks at the time. The two networks were separated by time and space, which indicate that there was a shift from one network to the other at about 2nd–4th century AD, probably with changes in socio-political powers.

Pre-Angkorian and Angkorian era
Main articles: Kingdom of Funan, Chenla, and Khmer Empire

Angkor Wat.

Faces of Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara at Prasat Bayon.
During the 3rd, 4th, and 5th centuries, the Indianised states of Funan and its successor, Chenla, coalesced in present-day Cambodia and southwestern Vietnam. For more than 2,000 years, what was to become Cambodia absorbed influences from India, passing them on to other Southeast Asian civilisations that are now Thailand and Laos.[41] Little else is known for certain of these polities, however Chinese chronicles and tribute records do make mention of them. It is believed that the territory of Funan may have held the port known to Alexandrian geographer Claudius Ptolemy as "Kattigara". The Chinese chronicles suggest that after Jayavarman I of Chenla died around 690, turmoil ensued which resulted in division of the kingdom into Land Chenla and Water Chenla which was loosely ruled by weak princes under the dominion of Java.

The Khmer Empire grew out of these remnants of Chenla, becoming firmly established in 802 when Jayavarman II (reigned c790-850) declared independence from Java and proclaimed himself a Devaraja. He and his followers instituted the cult of the God-king and began a series of conquests that formed an empire which flourished in the area from the 9th to the 15th centuries.[42] During the rule of Jayavarman VIII the Angkor empire was attacked by the Mongol army of Kublai Khan, however the king was able to buy peace.[43] Around the 13th century, monks from Sri Lanka introduced Theravada Buddhism to Southeast Asia.[44] The religion spread and eventually displaced Hinduism and Mahayana Buddhism as the popular religion of Angkor; however it was not the official state religion until 1295; when Indravarman III took power.[45]

The Khmer Empire was Southeast Asia's largest empire during the 12th century. The empire's centre of power was Angkor, where a series of capitals were constructed during the empire's zenith. In 2007 an international team of researchers using satellite photographs and other modern techniques concluded that Angkor had been the largest pre-industrial city in the world with an urban sprawl of 2,980 square kilometres (1,151 square miles).[46] The city, which could have supported a population of up to one million people[47] and Angkor Wat, the best known and best-preserved religious temple at the site, still serves as a reminder of Cambodia's past as a major regional power. The empire, though in decline, remained a significant force in the region until its fall in the 15th century.

More Options..

Some photos of Cambodia
Angkor Wat