PRE-HISTORY OF CAMBODIA

According to the French ethnologists and archeologists who made research on the Khmer territory by doing excavations in many parts of Cambodia they have found some fossils of human skeletons and many pieces of ceramics in the pre-historic sites. They have studied and analyzed the fossil and know that on the Khmer territory, there had already been people existed about 4300 years before the Christian era. They have compared the fossils of human skeletons found from the prehistoric sites with the skeletons of the Cambodian today; it shows that they are similar in size. So, it is presumably the Khmer's ancestors. Those people lived in caves and in group and know the techniques of sharpening stone and decorating pottery with cord-marked and carved designs. They developed basic skills such as the cultivation of rice and domestication of the ox and buffalo.

Most territories of Cambodia's today, in the prehistoric period, a few hundred years before the Christian era, were covered by ocean. Tonle Sap lake was, originally, a gulf with its shore to the foot of the Kulen mountain. Eventually the flows of the Mekong from Himalayas brought the mud and filled into the sea and gradually became dry and created a vast land and valleys. Later, in the 3rd century before the Christian era, the Tonle Sap became a fresh and sweet water lake.

By the first centuries before the Christian era, a civilization arose that lived along the coastal and valley regions. It comprised settlements whose members grew rice and root crops, had domesticated pigs, ox and water buffalo, made earthenware for cooking food and storing liquids, and were adept at using metals. They practiced animism, worshiping both the spirits of the land and their ancestors. They were, then, called the Mon-Khmers.

HISTORY OF CAMBODIA

1. The State of Funan and its Civilization (1st - 6th century)

In the early centuries of the Christian era, the Chinese traders traveled by sea to the barbarian land of the southern ocean searching for the trade routes and commercial outlets with India, concurrently Indian traders also ventured east for commercial purposes to establish trade with China by sea. They converged on the mainland of South-east Asia where the Khmers living. As trade developed, group of more Khmer settlers emerged at the ports along the coast in a state called Funan.

Indians had arrived at Funan along with traders, refugees and Brahmins. It is certainly that religious and social ideas from India reached the shores of Funan through the infiltration of the Indians and were transmitted by Brahmin priests then were being absorbed by the Khmers. The name of Funan maybe a Chinese interpretation of bnam, an ancient Khmer word means mountain and sounds like phnom meaning hill or mountain in the modern Khmer.

There is also a legend that associated with the creation of the Khmer Kingdom. It concerns about a marriage between a foreigner from India, who was either a Brahmin or a king dynasty in south India, with a daughter of the serpent Naga king, who inhabited the water and ruled over the soil. According to the story, a prince name Preah Thon, left India and sailed for Cambodia after he was exiled for displeasing the king. One night he saw a nagini, the daughter of the Naga king, playing on the shore of the water. They fell in love and married. The girl's father, King of Nagas, and his soldiers drank the water that covered the land, built a city, gave this city to their children and named it Kambuja. So it means, the whole Kingdom of Cambodia has been created by Naga, that's why in the Khmers' believes, Naga is considered as the symbolic protector of the water.

We know about the Khmer civilization based on information obtained firstly from inscriptions on stones (Stele) left by many of the Khmer Kings, recounting their religious and political achievements, secondly by the old Chinese texts written by travelers that contain many details about the Khmer. In the early centuries of the Christian era, Cambodia was like other countries in Southeast Asia, emerged as a staging post along the trade route between India and China.

There are many questions that why all the shrines of Angkor filed not with the local deities but with the familiar gods of India. According to the some historians, the Indian traders had been coming to Southeast Asia for hundreds of years following the rhythm of the tropical monsoon winds which blew their ships from India to Asia. Once they were here, they had to wait six months or so before the wind reverse its direction and blew their ships home again. So while they settle down to wait for their passage home they passed on their ideas of religions, arts, dance and architecture to the local population.

So it is not surprising that the process of Indianization could easily take place, which started first in Cambodia in the first century in the state of Funan facing the gulf of the present day Thailand. The Khmer ruling class, without abandoning their own customs and traditions, they selected and adopted what they needed of Indian religious and literary culture, such as Hinduism and Buddhism, architectures, arts, together with the use of the Sanskrit language which introduced a writing system and the first inscriptions in Cambodia.

2. The State of Zhenla and its Civilization (6th - 8th century)

The civil war undermined the stability of the Funan and by the early sixth century the center of the political power of the Funan shifted inland. There are some records left by the Chinese traders mentioned the emergence of a state called Zhenla in the later half of the sixth century, situated on the Mekong in the area of modern-day Laos. Zhenla seems to have gained control of Funan and extended its territorial boundaries to the borders of today's Vietnam in the north-east and as far as southern China in the north. Actually, Zhenla was also one of the Khmer states which was under the control of the Funan, and was a poor state situated inland and there was not much trade with any other countries while the economy of Funan was progressively developed. When the situation of the Funan was not stable because of the internal conflict, the ruler of the Zhenla came down and took control over the Funan. From then the country had only one state called Zhenla. The time of the fall of the Funan is known as the pre-Angkor period.

Some time in the late seventh century, another civil war forced Zhenla to split into two parts. Upper Zhenla (Zhenla of the land) situated in the upper Mekong in south of Laos and along the northern shore of Tonle Sap. Lower Zhenla (Zhenla of the water) situated east of the Tonle Sap with its capital called Isnapura in the present day Kompong Thom province. It comprised several small principalities including the former one of the Funan in the Mekong valley. In year 787, Java country, present-day Indonesia, saw the turmoil in Zhenla, they took this advantage and invaded Zhenla of the water and put it under their colony. The country remained this way until eighth century.

3. The Angkor and its Civilization (9th - 13th Century)

In late of eighth century, when Jayavarman II became the king in 802, he liberated the country from Java and reunited the upper Zhenla and the lower Zhenla. After the country has a full peace and good stability he began his large scale construction of the temple city called Angkor. He reigned until 850 and he pronounced himself "World Emperor". The unification of the two Zhenlas marked the beginning of the Angkor period. From 802 the Zhenla was called Kampuchea which, nowadays, European transliterations of Kampuchea became Cambodge in French and Cambodia in English.

4. History of the post-Angkor period

After the death of Jayavarman VII, many kings followed but they were all unable to solve the internal conflict. They fought between themselves to grab the power respectively. In this way, it made the country become weaker and weaker that allowed the newly emerged country, the Siamese (known as Thai currently), in the thirteen century, launched many attacks to Cambodia with its capital was at Angkor.

The Siamese invaded and controlled Angkor the first time was in 1352 until 1357, then was repulsed by the Khmer, but they continued to make many fierce raids into Cambodia until 1420. Unable to sustain the fight from the Siam, our king decided to abandon Angkor in the year 1431 during the reign of King Panheayat. Even though we abandoned Angkor and moved the capital to another place, but the war between the Siamese and the Khmer continued endlessly at Angkor area until both sides gave up as nobody succeeded in wining this hundred years of war. Angkor was then left to the jungle almost 500 years until the rediscovery again with the French in mid of 19th century. King Panheayat moved the capital to Basan, present-day in Kampong Cham province, but the city was badly flooded every year, he then moved the capital to the present-day Phnom Penh in 1434. At that time the capital was called Chato Mok means the four faces river, because the city was situated just in front of the four rivers where they converged, the upper Mekong, the lower Mekong, the Tonle Sap and the Basac rivers.

The internal wars still continued tirelessly until the capital was again shifted to another place which was at Udong in 1629. Because the weakness of Cambodia, the Siamese and Vietnamese took this advantage and invaded into the country. From the early 1600s onward, the Khmer became the victims of this relentless war. Cambodians had to sustain this war against these two countries and the people were suffering never ended.

Under the rule of King Ang Doung who reigned who reigned from 1841 until 1859, he saw the extreme suffering of his people and in order to liberate his country from these two countries, in 1854 he had tried to seek the aid from one of the powerful country in Europe. He started to contact with French but was unsuccessful. In 1858, he had contacted the French again just at the same time that the French troops invaded Saigon. After having a full control of Saigon, at this time the French had shown the intention of interfering into the Khmer territory by seeing the advantages they could take from our country. In 1859, King Ang Doung was seriously sick and died.

Norodom was his successor and reigned from 1859 until 1904. Under his rule, the French had agreed and signed on a treaty to put Cambodia under their protectorate in 1863.

5. Cambodia under the French Protectorate (1863 - 1953)

In 1865, Norodom decided to shift the city back to Phnom Penh. In 1884, French had forced Norodom to sign a new treaty to put the Khmer under their colony which they required to have their officials working with the King and with all the provincial governors. Every affair had to be agreed and signed from the French before the Khmer could do any thing. King Norodom died in 1904.

His brother, King Sisovat was succeeded him. In 1907, French had forced the Thai to give back all the Khmer provinces that they had taked. King Sisovat died in 1927. His son, Sosovat Monivong, succeeded him. Under his rule he had built a bridge across the Basac River called "Monivong Bridge" and a line of rail road from Battambang to Phnom Penh. In 1939 the second worl war broke out. Japan became the new industrialized country and was looking for the market to sell their product. They established an alliance with Germany in order to take over the market in South-east Asia. The Thailand immediately also established an alliance with Japan. Japan had forced the French to withdraw all the powers on Cambodia. The French alliances, Britain and America launched a big attack to South-east Asia against Japan and Germany. In 1945 the Second World War ended. French returned and resumed their control over Cambodia. King Monivong died in 1941 because of disease.

French installed the oung prince Sihnouk, who is the grandson of King Monivong, as the King of Cambodia in 1941 at the age of 18. In 1946, King Sihnouk demanded not have any more French protectorate on Cambodia. In 1950, the United States and all other super-powerful countries acknowledged the independence of Cambodia. In 1953 he went to meet Vincent Auriol, the French president, in order to ask for a fully independence for Cambodia, but the French seemed to ignore his demand, then he went on to Canada and the United States to make a statement to appeal to the world about the aspiration of the Khmer national for having the real independence from France. Cambodia has fully obtained independence from the France on November 9, 1953 after a conference in Geneva.

From 1863 to 1953 is 90 years that we were under the French colony. In this period of 90 years, French had caused a lot damages to Cambodia, especially by moving the border line and cutting may of the Khmer provinces and give to Vietnam after their withdrawal from the Indochina countries. However, the French had also brought some advantages for Cambodia. They have sent some intellectuals from their country such as ethnologists and archaeologists to help in compiling the Cambodia's history in the past during the glory of Angkor that arose the interest in the world until today.

In 1955, King Sihanouk abdicated the throne to his father, King Soramaridh, and he became the prime minister. On December 15, 1955 Cambodia was allowed to be a member of the United Nations. King Soramaridh died in 1960. Prince Sihanouk was agreed by the national congress to act as the head of state while his mother, Kosamak Nearirath, became the queen of Cambodia.

In the period of independence from France and under the leadership of Sihanouk from 1953 until 1970, the country was known as the island of peace. The country was moving toward a great development in all fields. But at the same time the ideology of communist infiltrated into Cambodia while the flame of wars in Vietnam growing bigger and bigger. The communist forces in Cambodia were formed and they wait only the chance to come, so they fight for the victory and take control in Cambodia. In 1970 Lon Nol made a coup d'etat to overthrow Sihanouk from power when he was in a visit to Russia. Then, the war between the communist forces and the American-backed Lon Nol's Republican regime had broken out. Lon Nol's troops were well-equipped but less self-confident when the American troops pulled out of Vietnam 1975. Most of the fighting against Lon Nol was carried out by the Vietnamese communist forces or by Cambodian communist forces under the Vietnamese command. In the process, the Cambodia communist forces known as the Khmer rouge became larger, better organized, and more self-confident. In April 17, 1975 the communist forces won the battle that enables them to easily take over the power.

6. Pol Pot Regime (1975 - 1979)

April 17, 1975 marks the anniversary of the day that Khmer Rouge marched into Phnom Penh and toppled the Lon Nol regime. More importantly, it dates the beginning of Pol Pot's three year eight months and twenty days reign of terror, a period during which more than 2 millions and perhaps many more Cambodians lost their lives by starvation, execution, overwork, and disease.

A convoy of trucks and armored personnel carriers commandeered by the victorious Khmer Rouge drives along the boulevard in the centre of Phnom Penh, while crowds gather on main streets to celebrate the end of the war unaware of the terrible fate that would befall behind them soon.

Three days later, hundreds of thousands of men, women, children and even the patient in the hospital, without exception, were driven into the roads to travel on foot, in the hottest month of the year. Thousands died of exhaustion, exposure, or malnutrition over the next few weeks. Within a week nobody left in the capital or in towns formerly controlled Lon Nol's republican regime. All the people were forced to take up the agricultural work.

After emptying the cities and towns, the Khmer Rouge embarked on a program of social transformation that affected every aspect of Cambodian life. Money, markets and private property were abolished. Schools, universities, and Buddhist monasteries were closed. No publishing was allowed, the postal system was abolished, freedom of movement, exchanging of information, personal adornment, and leisure activities were curtailed. Everything was in collective. In 1976, Pol Pot convened a meeting of the Central Committee to formally introduce the four year plan to build the country in socialism in agriculture.

When gaining the victory over the Lon Nol's regime, the Khmer Rouge declared their independence from Vietnam, expunging Vietnam from the party and making a brutal raid across the frontier between Cambodia and Vietnam. In 1977 the war broke out between the Pol Pot armies and the Vietnamese troops. Moreover, there were many Cambodian people who did not want to see this massacre to go on, they escaped and joined forces directed by the Vietnamese military. In 1978 a Kampuchea National Liberation Front was formed supported by Vietnamese forces. In 1979, Pol Pot regime was toppled and their soldiers were pushed into the Thai territory. From 1979 a regime known as People's Republic of Kampuchea emerged by depending largely on the military and political aid from Vietnam.

7. People's Republic of Kampuchea (1979 - 1989)

This regime was directed by Vietnamese government from 1979 until 1989. Vietnam withdrew their troops in 1989 under the pressure of the United Nations. In 1992, the Paris Peace Accord about Cambodia was signed by many countries and in 1992 UN peacekeepers were deployed in Cambodia and in 1993 the election was organized by UNTAC (the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia). Since then the country is called again the "Kingdom of Cambodia", it is the second Kingdom of Cambodia.

THE CHANGE OF GOVERNMENT NAMES

After the independence from France in 1953 the country had several names.
- 1953-1970 the country was called Kingdom of Cambodia.
- 1970-1975 the Khmer Republic>
- 1975-1979 the Democratic Kampuchea (Pol Pot regime).
- 1979-1989 the People's Republic of Kampuchea.
- 1989-1993 the State of Cambodia.
- 1993 to the present the country is again called the Kingdom of Cambodia.