A Brief History
The kingdom of Cambodia is heir to the mighty empire of Angkor, once holding sway over Cambodia, Siam, Laos, Vietnam and parts of Burma.
The Angkorian era began in 802 A.D. under King Jayavarman-II, who declared himself a ‘god king.’ Many great temples were erected during Angkor's golden age, including the famous Angkor Wat, today counted among the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
By the French arrival in 1863, the empire had been reduced to a regional dictatorship. Both the Thais and the Vietnamese grappled for control over Cambodia, so the Cambodian king signed a treaty of protectorate with French colonialists. With the signing of this treaty, the Khmer empire dissolved.
Cambodia became independent in 1953, and for the next decade it was considered to be the most advanced country in South-East Asia. The short-lived kingdom enjoyed stability under a monarchy until the U.S. instigated a military coup to bring Cambodia into its orbit during the Vietnam War.
Due to the rise of Communism in the region, Cambodia’s bordering countries had fallen into war, which eventually spread over into parts of its own territory. The US began bombing areas of Cambodia where North Vietnamese Communist base camps were suspected to be located.
In April 1975, after a five-year struggle, Communist Khmer Rouge forces captured Phnom Penh and evacuated all cities and towns. At least 1.5 million Cambodians died from execution, forced hardships, or starvation during the Khmer Rouge regime under Pol Pot.
A December 1978 Vietnamese invasion ended the Khmer Rouge's "ethnic cleansing" of Cambodia, and later UN-sponsored elections helped restore some semblance of normalcy under a coalition government.
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