Cambodia history, government, economy, essential infor for travellers: Little is
known of the early history of Cambodia, although there is evidence of
habitation in parts of the country as far back as 4000BC. It is also
known that Chinese and Indian traders exchanged goods with people living
on the coasts of present-day Cambodia and Vietnam in the early AD
centuries. According to Chinese chroniclers, a kingdom known as ‘Funan’
flourished between AD300–600. A dynasty founded by the prince Jayavarman
– possibly descended from the rulers of Funan – ruled from settlements
in the eastern part of the country between around AD790 and the 11th
century. Cambodian power spread westwards during this period into parts
of Thailand.
The succeeding dynasty, which ruled throughout the
12th and early-13th centuries, was based at the famous temple complex of
Angkor Wat. Under King Suryavarman, the Cambodians extended their
influence still further into southern Vietnam and northern Thailand.
However, from 1220 onwards, Angkor came under concerted military
pressure from the Chinese to the north and the newly emergent kingdoms
of northern Thailand. By the end of the 15th century, Angkor had been
abandoned and fell into ruin. It has remained unoccupied ever since,
with the exception of a brief period during the early-16th century. From
then until the establishment of the French protectorate, Cambodia was
in thrall to its more powerful Thai and Vietnamese neighbors.
French involvement in Cambodia came about through its
colonial engagement in Vietnam, and was largely intended to forestall
possible British or Thai incursions along the Mekong river. The unstable
ruling family in Cambodia at the time, headed by King Norodom, needed
little persuasion to accept French protection and control over its
foreign and security policies. A brief attempt to reassert Cambodia’s
independence in the 1880s was put down by the French, who then absorbed
Cambodia into what became French Indochina. It became an Associated
State of the French Union in 1949, achieving full independence in 1953.
In 1955, King Norodom Sihanouk abdicated in favor of
his father, Norodom Suramarit, to allow himself to enter politics. Using
the title Prince Sihanouk, he founded a mass movement, the Popular
Socialist Community, which held power between 1955–1966. Prince Sihanouk
became Head of State in 1960, following the death of his father. The
overspill of the Vietnam war, in particular the massive secret bombing
campaign conducted by the Americans against Vietnamese guerrilla bases
inside Cambodia, served to destabilize the Sihanouk government. In March
1970, two years after the bombing began, Prince Sihanouk was overthrown
by a right-wing coup, which proclaimed a Khmer Republic under the rule
of General Lon Nol. Khmer Rouge Communist guerrillas, allied with their
Vietnamese counterparts, stepped up their military campaign against the
government. In 1975, they took control.
The real power behind the Khmer Rouge was the new
Prime Minister Pol Pot, who had manufactured a unique ideology based on
elements of Maoist thought and Medieval quasi-mysticism, rooted in the
history of the Angkor state. The practical effect was the establishment
of ‘Year Zero’ (in 1975), under which Cambodia was to be converted into a
pure Communist state centered on basic agricultural production.
Currency was abolished, intellectuals purged, churches and temples
destroyed and thousands of urban dwellers driven into the countryside
for ‘re-education’ and primitive agricultural labor. The outcome was a
regime of horrific brutality, which was responsi