The History of Cambodia
The History of Cambodia
F
rom the splendor of the Khmer Empire to the chilling brutality
of the Khmer Rouge, Cambodia has had a tumultuous past.
For nearly six centuries, between the fall of Angkor and the
rise of Communism, the kingdom lay buried in obscurity, forgotten
by the rest of the world. Recent years, however, have seen the nation
overcome its former misfortunes and become a developing economy.
TIMELINE
Roman
4200 BCAD 700 Caves 200 BC Kingdom coin used
in northwestern of Funan for trading AD 600AD 700
Cambodia occupied by established The Chenla period
stone-working people in southern
Cambodia
4000 BC 2000 BC AD 1 AD 200 AD 400 AD 600 AD 800
2000 BC 500 BCAD 500 802
Cultivation of Indianization of Cambodia Jayavarman II
rice begins in establishes
the region 1000 BC Bronze the Khmer
casting begins Jayavarman II Empire
A lithograph by Louis Delaporte, dated 1873, depicting a French expedition into Angkor
38 C A M B O D I A A R E A B Y A R E A
French in Cambodia
1945 French return to power
1953 France grants Cambodia
183049 Wars between 1941 Norodom independence
Thailand and Vietnam Sihanouk crowned
over Cambodia king by the French 197075 Cambodian
Civil War
1610 1730 1850 1970
1794 Thais annex 1863 1968 War begins 1970 Sihanouk
northwestern quarter Imposition between US-backed overthrown in bloodless,
1593 Thais sack of Cambodia of French South Vietnam and pro-American coup
Cambodian capital protectorate Communist North
at Longvaek Vietnam
40 C A M B O D I A A R E A B Y A R E A
A DEMOCRATIC STATE
In December 1978, Vietnam invaded
DK with a force of over 100,000 men.
Phnom Penh fell in January 1979, and
Pol Pot, his colleagues, and
thousands of DK troops fled to
Thailand. The three years, eight
months, and twenty days of tyranny,
as Cambodians commonly refer to
this period, were over, but not before
over 1.5 million people had met with
unexpected, and often violent, deaths.
The Vietnamese established a friendly
Khmer Rouge fighters celebrating their victory as regime in Phnom Penh that called
they enter Phnom Penh, April 17, 1975 itself the Peoples Republic of
1975 Cambodian
Communists come to power
1984 Hun Sen 1991 Paris Peace
1977 War breaks becomes prime 1989 Vietnamese withdraw Conference establishes
out between DK minister military support UN protectorate over
and Vietnam Cambodia
1975 1980 1985 1990 1995
1979 Vietnamese topple 1993 Coalition
DK, establish pro- government takes
Vietnamese regime office after UN-
sponsored elections
1976 Democratic Kampuchea (DK)
established, with Pol Pot as prime minister Paris Peace Conference, 1991
T H E H I S T O R Y O F C A M B O D I A 41