Everything about Cambodia totally explained
The
Kingdom of Cambodia (formerly known as
Kampuchea (/kampuˈtɕiːə/),,
transliterated:
Preăh Réachéanachâkr Kâmpŭchea) is a country in
South East Asia with a population of over 13 million people. Cambodia is the
successor state of the once powerful
Hindu and
Buddhist Khmer Empire, which ruled most of the
Indochinese Peninsula between the eleventh and fourteenth centuries.
A citizen of Cambodia is usually identified as "Cambodian" or "Khmer," though the latter strictly refers to
ethnic Khmers. Most Cambodians are
Theravada Buddhists of Khmer extraction, but the country also has a substantial number of predominantly
Muslim Cham, as well as ethnic Chinese, Vietnamese and small
animist hill tribes.
The country borders
Thailand to its west and northwest,
Laos to its northeast, and
Vietnam to its east and southeast. In the south it faces the
Gulf of Thailand. The geography of Cambodia is dominated by the
Mekong river (colloquial
Khmer:
Tonle Thom or "the great river") and the
Tonlé Sap ("the fresh water lake"), an important source of fish.
Cambodia's main industries are
garments,
tourism, and construction. In 2007, foreign visitors had surpassed the 2 million mark. In 2005, oil and natural gas deposits were found beneath Cambodia's territorial water, and once commercial extraction begins in 2011, the oil revenues could profoundly affect Cambodia's economy.
History
The first advanced civilizations in present-day Cambodia appeared in the
1st millennium AD. During the
3rd,
4th, and
5th centuries, the Indianised states of
Funan and
Chenla coalesced in what is now present-day Cambodia and southwestern Vietnam. These states, which are assumed by most scholars to have been Khmer, had close relations with
China and
India. Their collapse was followed by the rise of the
Khmer Empire, a civilization which flourished in the area from the
9th century to the
13th century.
The
Khmer Empire declined yet remained powerful in the region until the 15th century. The empire's center of power was
Angkor, where a series of capitals was constructed during the empire's zenith.
Angkor Wat, the most famous and best-preserved religious temple at the site, is a reminder of Cambodia's past as a major regional power.
After a long series of wars with neighbouring kingdoms, Angkor was sacked by the
Thai and abandoned in 1432. The court moved the capital to
Lovek where the kingdom sought to regain its glory through maritime trade. The attempt was short-lived, however, as continued wars with the Thai and
Vietnamese resulted in the loss of more territory and the conquering of Lovek in 1594. During the next three centuries, The Khmer kingdom alternated as a vassal state of the Thai and Vietnamese kings, with short-lived periods of relative independence between.
In 1863
King Norodom, who had been installed by Thailand, sought the protection of France. In 1867, the Thai king signed a treaty with France, renouncing
suzerainty over Cambodia in exchange for the control of
Battambang and
Siem Reap provinces which officially became part of
Thailand. The provinces were ceded back to Cambodia by a border treaty between
France and
Thailand in 1906.
Cambodia continued as a
protectorate of
France from 1863 to 1953, administered as part of the French
colony of
Indochina. After war-time occupation by the
Japanese empire from 1941 to 1945, Cambodia gained independence from
France on
November 9 1953. It became a constitutional monarchy under
King Norodom Sihanouk.
In 1955, Sihanouk abdicated in favour of his father in order to be elected Prime Minister. Upon his father's death in 1960, Sihanouk again became head of state, taking the title of Prince. As the
Vietnam War progressed, Sihanouk adopted an official policy of
neutrality until
ousted in 1970 by a military
coup led by Prime Minister General
Lon Nol and Prince Sisowath
Sirik Matak, while on a trip abroad. From
Beijing, Sihanouk realigned himself with the
communist Khmer Rouge rebels who had been slowly gaining territory in the remote mountain regions and urged his followers to help in overthrowing the pro-
United States government of Lon Nol, hastening the onset of
civil war.
Operation Menu, a series of secret
B-52 bombing raids by the
United States on alleged
Viet Cong bases and supply routes inside Cambodia, was acknowledged after Lon Nol assumed power; U.S. forces
briefly invaded Cambodia in a further effort to disrupt the Viet Cong. The bombing continued and, as the Cambodian communists began gaining ground, eventually included strikes on suspected Khmer Rouge sites until halted in 1973.
Some two million Cambodians were made refugees by the bombing and fighting and fled to Phnom Penh. Estimates of the number of Cambodians killed during the bombing campaigns vary widely. Views of the effects of the bombing also vary widely. The US Seventh Air Force argued that the bombing prevented the fall of Phnom Penh in 1973 by killing 16,000 of 25,500
Khmer Rouge fighters besieging the city.Journalist
William Shawcross and Cambodia specialists
Milton Osborne,
David P. Chandler and
Ben Kiernan argued that the bombing drove peasants to join the
Khmer Rouge. Chandler writes that the bombing provided "the psychological ingredients of a violent, vengeful and unrelenting social revolution."Cambodia specialist Craig Etcheson argued that it's "untenable" to assert that the
Khmer Rouge wouldn't have won but for US intervention, and that while the bombing did help
Khmer Rouge recruitment, they "would have won anyway."
As the war ended, a draft US AID report observed that the country faced famine in 1975, with 75% of its draft animals destroyed by the war, and that rice planting for the next harvest would have to be done "by the hard labor of seriously malnourished people." The report predicted that
without large-scale external food and equipment assistance there will be widespread starvation between now and next February... Slave labor and starvation rations for half the nation's people (probably heaviest among those who supported the republic) will be a cruel necessity for this year, and general deprivation and suffering will stretch over the next two or three years before Cambodia can get back to rice self-sufficiency.
The
Khmer Rouge reached Phnom Penh and took power in 1975, changing the official name of the country to
Democratic Kampuchea, led by
Pol Pot. They immediately evacuated the cities and sent the entire population on forced marches to rural work projects. They attempted to rebuild the country's agriculture on the model of the 11th century. They also discarded Western medicine, with the result that while hundreds of thousands died from starvation and disease there were almost no drugs in the country.
Estimates vary as to how many people were killed by the
Khmer Rouge regime, ranging from approximately one to three million. Hundreds of thousands more fled across the border into neighbouring
Thailand.
In November 1978,
Vietnam invaded Cambodia to stop Khmer Rouge incursions across the border and the genocide of
Vietnamese in Cambodia. Violent occupation and warfare between the Vietnamese and Khmer Rouge holdouts continued throughout the 1980s.
Peace efforts began in
Paris in 1989, culminating two years later in October 1991 in a comprehensive peace settlement. The
United Nations was given a mandate to enforce a ceasefire, and deal with refugees and disarmament.
After the brutality of the 1970s and the 1980s, and the destruction of the cultural, economic, social and political life of Cambodia, it's only in recent years that reconstruction efforts have begun and some political stability has finally returned to Cambodia. The stability established following the conflict was shaken in 1997 during a coup d'état, but has otherwise remained in place. Cambodia has been aided by a number of more developed nations like Japan, France, Canada, Australia and the United States, primarily economically. Money raised in schools and community groups in these countries has gone towards the rebuilding of infrastructure and housing.
Politics and government
The politics of Cambodia formally take place, according to the nation's
constitution of 1993, in the framework of a
constitutional monarchy operated as a
parliamentary representative democracy. The
Prime Minister of Cambodia is the
head of government, and of a pluriform
multi-party system, while the
king is the
head of state. The Prime Minister is appointed by the King, on the advice and with the approval of the
National Assembly; the Prime Minister and his or her ministerial appointees exercise
executive power in government.
Legislative power is vested in both the executive and the two chambers of parliament, the
National Assembly of Cambodia and the
Senate.
On
October 14,
2004, King
Norodom Sihamoni was selected by a special nine-member throne council, part of a selection process that was quickly put in place after the surprise abdication of King Norodom Sihanouk a week before. Sihamoni's selection was endorsed by Prime Minister
Hun Sen and National Assembly Speaker Prince
Norodom Ranariddh (the new king's brother), both members of the throne council. He was crowned in Phnom Penh on
October 29. The monarchy is symbolic and doesn't exercise political power. Norodom Sihamoni was trained in Cambodian classical dance. Due to his long stay in the
Czech Republic (then part of
Czechoslovakia) Norodom Sihamoni is fluent in the
Czech language.
In 2006, Transparency International's rating of corrupt countries rated Cambodia as 151st of 163 countries of their Corruption Perceptions Index. . The 2007 edition of the same list placed Cambodia at 162nd out of 179 countries . According to this same list, Cambodia is the 3rd most corrupt nation in the South-East Asia area, behind
Laos, at 168th, and
Myanmar, at joint 179th.
The BBC reports that corruption is rampant in the Cambodian political arena with international aid from the U.S. and other countries being illegally transferred into private accounts. Corruption has also added to the wide income disparity within the population.
Military
The king is the Supreme Commander of the
Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) and the country's prime minister effectively holds the position of commander-in-chief. The introduction of a revised command structure early in 2000 was a key prelude to the reorganization of the RCAF. This saw the ministry of national defense form three subordinate general departments responsible for logistics and finance, materials and technical services, and defense services. The High Command Headquarters (HCHQ) was left unchanged, but the general staff was dismantled and the former will assume responsibility over three autonomous infantry divisions. A joint staff was also formed, responsible for inter-service co-ordination and staff management within HCHQ.
The minister of National Defense is Tea Banh. Tea Banh has served as defense minister since 1979. The Secretaries of State for Defense are Chay Saing Yun and Por Bun Sreu.
Ke Kim Yan is the current commander of the RCAF. The
Army Commander is
Meas Sophea and the
Army Chief of Staff is Chea Saran.
Geography
Cambodia has an area of 181,035 square kilometres (69,898 sq mi), sharing an 800 kilometre (500 mi) border with
Thailand in the north and west, a 541 kilometre (336 mi) border with
Laos in the northeast, and a 1,228 kilometre (763 mi) border with
Vietnam in the east and southeast. It has 443 kilometres (275 mi) of coastline along the
Gulf of Thailand.
The most distinctive geographical feature is the
lacustrine plain, formed by the inundations of the
Tonle Sap (Great Lake), measuring about 2,590 square kilometres (1,000 sq mi) during the dry season and expanding to about 24,605 square kilometres (9,500 sq mi) during the rainy season. This densely populated plain, which is devoted to wet rice cultivation, is the heartland of Cambodia. Most (about 75%) of the country lies at elevations of less than 100 metres (330 ft) above sea level, the exceptions being the
Cardamom Mountains (highest elevation 1,813 m / 5,948 ft) and their southeast extension the
Dâmrei Mountains ("Elephant Mountains") (elevation range 500–1,000 m or 1,640–3,280 ft), as well the steep escarpment of the
Dângrêk Mountains (average elevation 500 m / 1,640 ft) along the border with Thailand's
Isan region. The highest elevation of Cambodia is
Phnom Aoral, near
Pursat in the centre of the country, at 1,813 metres (5,948 ft).
Climate
Cambodia's temperatures range from 10° to 38 °C (50° to 100 °F) and experiences tropical
monsoons. Southwest monsoons blow inland bringing moisture-laden winds from the
Gulf of Thailand and
Indian Ocean from May to October. The northeast monsoon ushers in the dry season, which lasts from November to March. The country experiences the heaviest precipitation from September to October with the driest period occurring from January to February.
It has two distinct seasons. The rainy season, which runs from May to October, can see temperatures drop to 22 °C and is generally accompanied with high humidity. The dry season lasts from November to April when temperatures can raise up to 40 °C around April. The best months to visit Cambodia are November to January when temperatures and humidity are lower.
City and province sizes
Foreign relations
Cambodia is a member of the United Nations and its specialized agencies such as the
World Bank and
International Monetary Fund. It is an
Asian Development Bank (ADB) member, a member of
ASEAN, and joined the
WTO on
13 October 2004. In 2005 Cambodia attended the inaugural
East Asia Summit.
Cambodia has established
diplomatic relations with numerous countries; the government reports twenty embassies in the country including many of its Asian neighbours and those of important players during the Paris peace negotiations, including the US, Australia, Canada, China, the European Union (EU), Japan, and Russia.
While the violent ruptures of the 1970s and 80s have passed, several
border disputes between Cambodia and its neighbours persist. There are disagreements over some offshore islands and sections of the boundary with Vietnam, and undefined maritime boundaries and border areas with Thailand.
In January 2003, there were
riots in Phnom Penh prompted by rumored comments about
Angkor Wat by a Thai actress wrongly attributed by
Reaksmei Angkor, a Cambodian newspaper, and later quoted by Prime Minister
Hun Sen. The Thai government sent military aircraft to evacuate Thai nationals and closed its border with Cambodia to Thais and Cambodians (at no time was the border ever closed to foreigners or Western tourists) while Thais demonstrated outside the Cambodian embassy in
Bangkok. The border was re-opened on
March 21, after the Cambodian government paid $6 million
USD in compensation for the destruction of the Thai embassy and agreed to compensate individual Thai businesses for their losses.
Wildlife of Cambodia
Cambodia has a wide variety of plants and animals. There are 212
mammal species, 536
bird species, 240
reptile species, 850 freshwater
fish species (Tonle Sap Lake area), and 435 marine fish species.
The country has one of the highest
deforestation rates in the world. Since 1970, Cambodia's primary rainforest cover fell dramatically from over 70 percent in 1970 to just 3.1 percent in 2007. In total, Cambodia lost of forest between 1990 and 2005— of which was primary forest. As of 2007, less than of primary forest remain with the result that the future
sustainability of the forest reserves of Cambodia is under severe threat, with illegal loggers looking to generate revenue.
Economy
Final economic indicators for 2007 are not yet available. 2006 GDP was $7.265 billion (
per capita GDP $513), with annual growth of 10.8%. Estimates for 2007 are for a GDP of $8.251 billion (
per capita $571) and annual growth of 8.5%). Inflation for 2006 was 2.6%, and the current estimate for final 2007 inflation is 6.2%.
Per capita income is rapidly increasing, but is low compared with other countries in the region. Most rural households depend on agriculture and its related sub-sectors. Rice, fish, timber, garments and rubber are Cambodia's major exports. The
International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) reintroduced more than 750 traditional rice varieties to Cambodia from its rice seed bank in the
Philippines (Jahn 2006,2007
). These varieties had been collected in the 1960s. In 1987, the Australian government funded IRRI to assist Cambodia to improve its rice production. By 2000, Cambodia was once again self-sufficient in rice
(Puckridge 2004, Fredenburg and Hill 1978).
The recovery of Cambodia's economy slowed dramatically in 1997–98, due to the
regional economic crisis, civil violence, and political infighting.
Foreign investment and tourism also fell off drastically. Since then however, growth has been steady. In 1999, the first full year of peace in 30 years, progress was made on economic reforms and
growth resumed at 5.0%. Despite severe flooding, GDP grew at 5.0% in 2000, 6.3% in 2001, and 5.2% in 2002. Tourism was Cambodia's fastest growing industry, with arrivals increasing from 219,000 in 1997 to 1,055,000 in 2004. During 2003 and 2004 the growth rate remained steady at 5.0%, while in 2004 inflation was at 1.7% and exports at $1.6 billion
US dollars. As of 2005,
GDP per capita in PPP terms was $2,200, which ranked 178th (out of 233) countries.
The older population often lacks education, particularly in the countryside, which suffers from a lack of basic
infrastructure. Fear of renewed political instability and corruption within the government discourage foreign investment and delay foreign aid, although there has been significant assistance from bilateral and multilateral donors. Donors pledged $504 m to the country in 2004, while the Asian Development Bank alone has provided $850m in loans, grants, and technical assistance.
The tourism industry is the country's second-greatest source of
hard currency after the textile industry. Other tourist destinations include
Sihanoukville in the southeast which has several popular beaches, and the nearby area around Kampot including the
Bokor Hill Station.
Demographics
More than 90% of its population is of
Khmer origin and speaks the
Khmer language, the country's official language. The remainder include
Chinese, Vietnamese,
Cham,
Khmer Loeu and
Indians.
The Khmer language is a member of the
Mon-Khmer subfamily of the
Austroasiatic language group. French, once the
lingua franca of
Indochina and still spoken by some, mostly older Cambodians as a second language, remains the language of instruction in various schools and universities that are often funded by the government of France.
Cambodian French, a remnant of the country's colonial past, is a dialect found in Cambodia and is frequently used in government. However, in recent decades, many younger Cambodians and those in the business-class have favoured learning English. In the major cities and tourist centers, English is widely spoken and taught at a large number of schools due to the overwhelming number of tourists from English-speaking countries. Even in the most rural outposts, however, most young people speak at least some English, as it's often taught by monks at the local pagodas where many children are educated.
}}
The dominant religion, a form of
Theravada Buddhism (95%), was suppressed by the Khmer Rouge but has since experienced a revival.
Islam (3%) and
Christianity (2%) are also practiced.
Civil war and its aftermath have had a marked effect on the Cambodian population. The median age is 20.6 years, with more than 50% of the population younger than 25. At 0.95 males/female, Cambodia has the most female-biased sex ratio in the Greater Mekong Subregion
(External Link). In the Cambodian population over 65, the female to male ratio is 1.6:1. attributing over 60,000 civilian deaths and thousands more maimed or injured since 1970 to the unexploded land mines left behind in rural areas. The majority of the victims are children herding animals or playing in the fields."
Culture and society
Khmer empire, has distinctive styles of dance, architecture and sculpture, which have strongly influenced neighbouring
Laos and
Thailand.
Angkor Wat (
Angkor means "city" and
Wat "temple") is the best preserved example of Khmer architecture from the Angkorian era and hundreds of other temples have been discovered in and around the region. The
Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, the infamous prison of the Khmer Rouge, and
Choeung Ek, one of the main
Killing Fields are other important historic sites.
Bonn Om Teuk (Festival of Boat Racing), the annual boat rowing contest, is the most attended Cambodian national festival. Held at the end of the rainy season when the Mekong river begins to sink back to its normal levels allowing the Tonle Sap River to reverse flow, approximately 10% of Cambodia's population attends this event each year to play games, give thanks to the moon, watch fireworks, and attend the boat race in a carnival-type atmosphere. Popular games include
cockfighting,
soccer, and kicking a
sey, which is similar to a
footbag. Recent artistic figures include singers
Sinn Sisamouth and
Ros Sereysothea (and later
Meng Keo Pichenda), who introduced new musical styles to the country.
Rice, as in other
Southeast Asian countries, is the staple grain, while fish from the Mekong and Tonle Sap also form an important part of the diet. The Cambodian per capita supply of fish and fish products for food and trade in 2000 was 20
kilograms of fish per year or 2
ounces per day per person. Some of the fish can be made into
prahok for longer storage. Overall, the
cuisine of Cambodia is similar to that of its Southeast Asian neighbours. The cuisine is relatively unknown to the world compared to that of its neighbours
Thailand and Vietnam.
Football (
soccer) is one of the more popular sports, although professional organized sports are not as prevalent in Cambodia as in western countries due to the economic conditions. The
Cambodia national football team managed fourth in the
1972 Asian Cup but development has slowed since the civil war. Western sports such as volleyball, bodybuilding, field hockey,
rugby union, golf, and baseball are gaining popularity while traditional boat racing maintains its appeal as a national sport. Martial arts is practiced in Cambodia, as well the native art of
Pradal Serey and
Bokator.
Transport
kilometers (380
mi) of single, one
meter gauge track. The lines run from the capital to
Sihanoukville on the southern coast, and from Phnom Penh to
Sisophon (although trains often run only as far as
Battambang). Currently only one passenger train per week operates, between Phnom Penh and Battambang.
The nation's extensive inland waterways were important historically in international trade. The
Mekong and the
Tonle Sap River, their numerous tributaries, and the
Tonle Sap provided avenues of considerable length, including 3,700 kilometers (2,300 mi) navigable all year by craft drawing 0.6 meters (2 ft) and another 282 kilometers (175 mi) navigable to craft drawing 1.8 meters (6 ft).
Cycle rickshaws ("pʰʊt-pʰʊts") are an additional option often used by visitors.
The country has four commercial airports.
Phnom Penh International Airport in Phnom Penh is the second largest in Cambodia.
Siem Reap-Angkor International Airport is the largest and serves the most international flights in and out of Cambodia. The other airports are in
Sihanoukville and
Battambang.
International rankings
Further Information
Get more info on 'Cambodia'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://cambodia.totallyexplained.com">Cambodia Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
