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HISTORY IN BRIEF
No one knows for certain how long people have lived in
what is now Cambodia, as studies of its prehistory are
undeveloped. A carbon-l4 dating from a cave in
northwestern Cambodia suggests that people using stone
tools lived in the cave as early as 4000 bc, and rice
has been grown on Cambodian soil since well before the
1st century ad. The first Cambodians likely arrived long
before either of these dates. They probably migrated
from the north, although nothing is known about their
language or their way of life.
By the
beginning of the 1st century ad, Chinese traders began
to report the existence of inland and coastal kingdoms
in Cambodia. These kingdoms already owed much to Indian
culture, which provided alphabets, art forms,
architectural styles, religions (Hinduism and Buddhism),
and a stratified class system. Local beliefs that
stressed the importance of ancestral spirits coexisted
with the Indian religions and remain powerful today.
Cambodia's
modem-day culture has its roots in the 1st to 6th
centuries in a state referred to as Funan, known as the
oldest Indianized state in Southeast Asia. It is from
this period that evolved Cambodia's language, part of
the Mon-Khmer family, which contains elements of
Sanskrit, its ancient religion of Hinduism and Buddhism.
Historians have noted, for example, that Cambodians can
be distinguished from their neighbors by their clothing
- checkered scarves known as Kramas are worn instead of
straw hats.
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PHNOM PENH-PROVINCE |
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1 |
Bantey Meanchey |
350
Km |
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2 |
Oddar Meanchey |
445
Km |
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3 |
Siem Reap |
315
Km
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4 |
Preah Vihear |
325
Km |
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5 |
Kompong Thom |
170
Km |
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6 |
Stung Treng |
455
Km |
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7 |
Kratie |
315
Km |
|
8 |
Rattanakiri |
610
Km |
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9 |
Mondolkiri |
220
Km |
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10 |
Kompong Cham |
125
Km |
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11 |
Prey Veng |
90
Km |
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12 |
Svay Rieng |
120
Km |
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13 |
Kandal |
15
Km |
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14 |
Takeo |
90
Km |
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15 |
Kampot |
150
Km |
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16 |
Koh Kong |
280
Km |
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17 |
Kompomg Speu |
50
Km |
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18 |
Kompong Chhnang |
91
Km |
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19 |
Pursat |
190
Km |
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20 |
Battambang |
290
Km |
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MUNICIPALITY |
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21 |
Phnom Penh |
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22 |
Sihanoukville |
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23 |
Kepville |
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24 |
Palinville |
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Funan gave way
to the Angkor Empire with the rise to power of King
Jayavarman II in 802. The following 600 years saw
powerful Khmer kings dominate much of present day
Southeast Asia, from the borders of Myanmar east to the
South China Sea and north to Laos. It was during this
period that Khmer kings built the most extensive
concentration of religious temples in the world - the
Angkor temple complex.
The most successful of Angkor's
kings, Jayavarman II, Indravarman I, Suryavarman II and
Jayavarman VII, also devised a masterpiece of ancient
engineering: a sophisticated irrigation system that
includes barays (gigantic man-made lakes) and canals
that ensured as many as three rice crops a year. Part of
this system is still in use today.
THE KHMER KINGDOM
Early Chinese writers referred to a kingdom in Cambodia
that they called Funan. Modern-day archaeological
findings provide evidence of a commercial society
centered on the Mekong Delta that flourished from the
1st century to the 6th century. Among these findings are
excavations of a port city from the 1st century, located
in the region of Oc-Eo in what is now southern Vietnam.
Served by a network of canals, the city was an important
trade link between India and China. Ongoing excavations
in southern Cambodia have revealed the existence of
another important city near the present-day village of
Angkor Borei.
A group of inland kingdoms, known collectively to the
Chinese as Zhenla, flourished in the 6th and 7th
centuries from southern Cambodia to southern Laos. The
first stone inscriptions in the Khmer language and the
first brick and stone Hindu temples in Cambodia date
from the Zhenla period.
Angkor Era
SOURCE:
Microsoft Encarta /
E-government website
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