History of Cambodia: THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE TO MOVING TO SOUTHEAST ASIA

Cambodia is mostly known for its recent history of the 1970s, when the dictator Pol Pot seized power and inflicted genocide on the country, brutally killing almost two million of his own people. Everyone you meet in Cambodia has a story of losing relatives or friends to this mass execution, and the trials of the perpetrators are being conducted at the time of writing this book.
 
   Cambodia gained independence in 1953 and became a constitutional monarchy, but this happened only after centuries of conflict, territorial struggle, and invasion by other nations.
   
   Between the 9th and 15th centuries, Cambodia witnessed the rise and fall of the mighty Khmer Empire with Angkor as its center of power. During that period, widespread conversion to Theravada Buddhism took place.  This is the religion that the majority of Cambodians practice today.
   
   The period lasting from the 15th to the 19th century is known as the “dark ages,” since it consisted of four centuries of decline and territorial loss. During the 16th century, the country enjoyed a brief period of prosperity, when Spanish and Portuguese adventurers and missionaries came to visit, and the Cambodian kings promoted trade with other parts of Asia. The country contained flourishing trading communities from China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Japan, Spain, and Portugal, later joined by England and Holland, and created a cosmopolitan environment for business.  But in 1594, the Siamese conquest of the new capital of Longvek marked a downturn in the country’s fortunes, and Cambodia became caught in the power struggles between Siam (present-day Thailand) and Vietnam. As a result of the fall of Longvek, Siam ruled Cambodia for most of the next 300 years.



Vietnam’s settlement of the Mekong Delta led to its annexation of that area at the end of the 17th century, causing Cambodia to lose this rich territory and become cut off from the sea.
   
   By the 19th century, Cambodia had become a helpless pawn in the power struggles between Siam and Vietnam. Fortunately, France intervened (in competition with Britain, which shut it out of most parts of Southeast Asia) and provided the country with a new lease on life.
   
   It was during this time that the French naturalist Henri Mahout rediscovered the ruins at Angkor, thereby piquing the interest of the French for this part of the world. In 1863, the French concluded a treaty with King Norodom, providing them with the rights to explore and exploit the country’s mineral and forest resources. Cambodia continued as a protectorate of France from 1863 to 1953.
   
   In 1955, Sihanouk abdicated in favour of his father in order to participate in politics, and was elected Prime Minister. Upon his father’s death in 1960, Sihanouk again became head of state, and during the Vietnam War, adopted an official policy of neutrality in the Cold War (though considered to be sympathetic to the communist cause). He allowed the Vietnamese communists to use Cambodia as a sanctuary and supply route for their arms and aid to forces fighting in South Vietnam, but when visiting Beijing in 1970, was ousted by a military coup led by Prime Minister General Lon Nol.


   
   North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces launched armed attacks on the new government and civil war ensued.
   
   As the Vietnamese communists gained control of Cambodian territory, they imposed a new political infrastructure, which was eventually dominated by the Cambodian communists known as the Khmer Rouge.
Between 1969 and 1973, the Republic of Vietnam and the U.S. bombed and briefly invaded Cambodia. The Khmer Rouge reached Phnom Penh in 1975 and took power under the leadership of Pol Pot, who changed the name of the country to Democratic Kampuchea, modelling itself on Maoist China.
   
   During the next four years, Cambodia experienced a period of devastation. Cities were evacuated, people were brutally forced to work as slaves in the rice fields, and almost two million people were massacred. Education, religion, and culture were virtually wiped out and temples, libraries, and western-style structures were destroyed.


In 1979, the People’s Republic of Kampuchea, supported by the Vietnamese, liberated Phnom Penh. The refusal of Vietnam to withdraw from Cambodia led to economic sanctions by the U.S. and its allies, making reconstruction virtually impossible and leaving the country deeply impoverished.
   
   Throughout the 1980s, Cambodia rebuilt its economy with the assistance of the Vietnamese, which withdrew in 1989 when peace efforts began in Paris.


   
   In 1991, a Paris Peace Accord created the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC) and was backed by 22,000 UN troops in preparing the first free and fair general election that was held in 1993 under the leadership of King Norodom Sihanouk.This newly-won stability was shaken up in 1997 by a coup d’etat led by the co-Prime Minister Hun Sen against the non-communist parties in the government, and many non-communist politicians were murdered.



Since then, Cambodia has lived in relative peace. The second commune elections were held in April 2007, followed by National Assembly elections in July 2008 and, in both cases, there was little of the pre-election violence that preceded the 2002 and 2003 elections. Both polls resulted in victories for the Cambodian People's Party, with the Sam Rainsy Party emerging as the main opposition party, and the royalist parties showing weakening support.
   
   There are, however, constant problems with land rights, human trafficking, political rights, sexual crimes, and human rights. Hun Sen has been Prime Minister since 1985, making him the longest serving leader in Southeast Asia.