Cambodia¶

Area

Asia

The region of Cambodia was the centre of the culturally-advanced Khmer Empire that flourished from the 5th to the 12th century. Today, over one million visitors a year marvel at the Angkor ruins. By the middle of the 19th century, the king of Cambodia had secured the help of France to save the country from dissolution, and in 1885 Cambodia became a member of the French Indo-China Union.

France helped establish a constitutional monarchy for Cambodia, within the Indo-China Union, in 1949. Full independence was returned in 1954. In 1970, a bloodless coup saw the formation of the Khmer Republic. Five years later, the Khmer Rouge, led by the infamous Pol Pot, seized control and renamed the country Democratic Kampuchea. It was anything but democratic, and the start of one of the horrid episodes of humanity. The Khmer Rouge closed schools and hospitals, abolished banks and all money, outlawed religion, confiscated private property, and forced people from the cities to collective farms where they were subject to forced labour. During all this madness, the Khmer Rouge brutally killed almost 2 million people (about 20% of the population). By the start of 1979, the madness was ended with the help of the Vietnamese and the People's Republic of Kampuchea was established. The name changed to State of Cambodia in 1990, and Kingdom of Cambodia three years after that.

Cambodia on Wikipedia