Cambodia history timeline 1940 to present

All city dwellers are forcibly moved to the countryside to become agricultural workers. Money becomes worthless, basic freedoms are curtailed and religion is banned. The Khmer Rouge coin the phrase "Year Zero". Hundreds of thousands of the educated middle-classes are tortured and executed in special centres. Others starve, or die from disease or exhaustion.

The total death toll during the next three years is estimated to be at least 1. Sihanouk resigns, Khieu Samphan becomes head of state, Pol Pot is prime minister. Pol Pot and Khmer Rouge forces flee to the border region with Thailand. The People's Republic of Kampuchea is established. Many elements of life before the Khmer Rouge take-over are re-established.

The international community refuses to recognise the new government. The government-in-exile, which includes the Khmer Rouge and Sihanouk, retains its seat at the United Nations. Cambodia is plagued by guerrilla warfare. Hundreds of thousands become refugees. Hun Sen tries to attract foreign investment by abandoning socialism. The country is re-named the State of Cambodia.

Buddhism is re-established as the state religion. A UN transitional authority shares power temporarily with representatives of the various factions in Cambodia. The monarchy, with Norodom Sihanouk as king, was restored in A three-party coalition is formed with Funcinpec's Prince Norodom Ranariddh as prime minister and Hun Sen as deputy prime minister.

Historians maintain contradicting ideas about Funan's political status and integrity. Stark calls it simply Funan: [The]"notion of Fu Nan as an early "state" Funan and Srivijaya". The question of how Funan came to an end is in the face of almost universal scholarly conflict impossible to pin down. Funan, from the point of view of this trade, had outlived its usefulness.

The archaeological approach to and interpretation of the entire early historic period is considered to be a decisive supplement for future research. LOMAP survey results of to , for example, have helped to determine that " The History of the Chinese Sui dynasty contains records that a state called Chenla sent an embassy to China in or CE It says, that Chenla was a vassal of Funan , but under its ruler Citrasena-Mahendravarman conquered Funan and gained independence.

Most of the Chinese recordings on Chenla, including that of Chenla conquering Funan, have been contested since the s as they are generally based on single remarks in the Chinese annals, as author Claude Jacques emphasised the very vague character of the Chinese terms 'Funan' and 'Chenla', while more domestic epigraphic sources become available.

Claude Jacques summarises: "Very basic historical mistakes have been made" because "the history of pre-Angkorean Cambodia was reconstructed much more on the basis of Chinese records than on that of [Cambodian] inscriptions" and as new inscriptions were discovered, researchers "preferred to adjust the newly discovered facts to the initial outline rather than to call the Chinese reports into question".

Cambodia history timeline 1940 to present

The notion of Chenla's centre being in modern Laos has also been contested. Another inscription of a few years later, K44, CE, commemorating a foundation in Kampot province under the patronage of Jayavarman I, refers to an earlier foundation in the time of King Raudravarma, presumably Rudravarman of Funan, and again there is no suggestion of political discontinuity.

The History of the T'ang asserts that shortly after the country was split into Land Chenla [ km ] and Water Chenla [ km ]. The names signify a northern and a southern half, which may conveniently be referred to as Upper and Lower Chenla. By the late 8th century Water Chenla had become a vassal of the Sailendra dynasty of Java — the last of its kings were killed and the polity incorporated into the Javanese monarchy around CE.

Ancient Chinese records mention two kings, Shrutavarman and Shreshthavarman who ruled at the capital Shreshthapura located in modern-day southern Laos. The immense influence on the identity of Cambodia to come was wrought by the Khmer Kingdom of Bhavapura , in the modern day Cambodian city of Kampong Thom. Its legacy was its most important sovereign, Ishanavarman who completely conquered the kingdom of Funan during — He chose his new capital at the Sambor Prei Kuk , naming it Ishanapura.

The six centuries of the Khmer Empire are characterised by unparalleled technical and artistic progress and achievements, political integrity and administrative stability. The empire represents the cultural and technical apogee of the Cambodian and Southeast Asian pre-industrial civilisation. The Khmer Empire was preceded by Chenla, a polity with shifting centres of power, which was split into Land Chenla and Water Chenla in the early 8th century.

As he declared himself devaraja - god-king, divinely appointed and uncontested, he simultaneously declares independence from Shailandra and Srivijaya. He established Hariharalaya , the first capital of the Angkorean area near the modern town of Roluos. Indravarman I — and his son and successor Yasovarman I — , who established the capital Yasodharapura ordered the construction of huge water reservoirs barays north of the capital.

The water management network depended on elaborate configurations of channels, ponds, and embankments built from huge quantities of clayey sand, the available bulk material on the Angkor plain. Dikes of the East Baray still exist today, which are more than 7 km 4 mi long and 1. The largest component is the West Baray, a reservoir about 8 km 5 mi long and 2 km 1 mi across, containing approximately 50 million m 3 of water.

Royal administration was based on the religious idea of the Shivaite Hindu state and the central cult of the sovereign as warlord and protector — the "Varman". This centralised system of governance appointed royal functionaries to provinces. Some historians relate the empires' decline to these religious discontinuities. The area that comprises the various capitals was spread out over around 1, km 2 sq mi , it is nowadays commonly called Angkor.

Recent Geo-surveys have confirmed that Angkor maintained the largest pre-industrial settlement complex worldwide during the 12th and 13th centuries — some three quarters of a million people lived there. Sizeable contingents of the public workforce were to be redirected to monument building and infrastructure maintenance. A growing number of researchers relates the progressive over-exploitation of the delicate local eco-system and its resources alongside large scale deforestation and resulting erosion to the empires' eventual decline.

Under king Suryavarman II — the empire reached its greatest geographic extent as it directly or indirectly controlled Indochina , the Gulf of Thailand and large areas of northern maritime Southeast Asia. Suryavarman II commissioned the temple of Angkor Wat , built in a period of 37 years, its five towers representing Mount Meru is considered to be the most accomplished expression of classical Khmer architecture.

It was followed by a period of dynastic upheaval and a Cham invasion that culminated in the sack of Angkor in A Mahayana Buddhist , he initiates his reign by striking back against Champa in a successful campaign. During his nearly forty years in power he becomes the most prolific monument builder, who establishes the city of Angkor Thom with its central temple the Bayon.

The construction of an impressive number of utilitarian and secular projects and edifices, such as maintenance of the extensive road network of Suryavarman I , in particular the royal road to Phimai and the many rest houses, bridges and hospitals make Jayavarman VII unique among all imperial rulers. He wrote a detailed report, The Customs of Cambodia , on life in Angkor.

His portrayal is one of the most important sources of understanding historical Angkor as the text offers valuable information on the everyday life and the habits of the inhabitants of Angkor. The last Sanskrit inscription is dated , and records the succession of Indrajayavarman by Jayavarman IX Parameshwara — The empire was an agrarian state that consisted essentially of three social classes, the elite, workers and slaves.

The elite included advisers, military leaders, courtiers, priests, religious ascetics and officials. Workers included agricultural labourers and also a variety of craftsman for construction projects. Slaves were often captives from military campaigns or distant villages. Coinage did not exist and the barter economy was based on agricultural produce, principally rice, with regional trade as an insignificant part of the economy.

The term "Post-Angkor Period of Cambodia", also the "Middle Period" [ 87 ] refers to the historical era from the early 15th century to , the beginning of the French Protectorate of Cambodia. Reliable sources — particularly for the 15th and 16th century — are very rare. A conclusive explanation that relates to concrete events manifesting the decline of the Khmer Empire has not yet been produced.

Epigraphy in temples, ends in the third decade of the fourteenth, and does not resume until the midth century. Recording of the Royal Chronology discontinues with King Jayavarman IX Parameshwara or Jayavarma-Paramesvara — there exists not a single contemporary record of even a king's name for over years. Construction of monumental temple architecture had come to a standstill after Jayavarman VII 's reign.

According to author Michael Vickery there only exist external sources for Cambodia's 15th century, the Chinese Ming Shilu annals and the earliest Royal Chronicle of Ayutthaya. The central reference point for the entire 15th century is a Siamese intervention of some undisclosed nature at the capital Yasodharapura Angkor Thom around the year Historians relate the event to the shift of Cambodia's political centre southward to the region of Phnom Penh , Longvek and later Oudong.

Sources for the 16th century are more numerous. The kingdom is centred at the Mekong, prospering as an integral part of the Asian maritime trade network , [ ] [ ] via which the first contact with European explorers and adventurers does occur. Richard Cocks , of the East India Company established trade with Cochin , China, and Cambodia by , but the Cambodia commerce was not authorized by the directors in London and was short-lived until it was revived in , again without authorization.

This event initiates the slow process of Cambodia losing access to the seas and independent marine trade. Siamese and Vietnamese dominance intensified during the 17th and 18th century, resulting in frequent displacements of the seat of power as the Khmer royal authority decreased to the state of a vassal. British agent John Crawfurd states: " However that was only temporary.

Nevertheless, the future King, Ang Duong , also enlisted the aid of the French who were allied to the Spanish As Spain was ruled by a French royal dynasty the Bourbons. The Cambodian king agreed to colonial France's offers of protection in order to restore the existence of the Cambodian monarchy, which took effect with King Norodom Prohmbarirak signing and officially recognising the French protectorate on 11 August In August King Norodom signed an agreement with the French placing the kingdom under the protection of France.

King Monivong died in April , [ 40 ] and the French placed the obscure Prince Sihanouk on the throne as king, believing that the inexperienced year old would be more pliable than Monivong's middle-aged son, Prince Monireth. Cambodia's situation at the end of the war was chaotic. On 9 March , during the Japanese occupation of Cambodia , young king Norodom Sihanouk proclaimed an independent Kingdom of Kampuchea , following a formal request by the Japanese.

Shortly thereafter the Japanese government nominally ratified the independence of Cambodia and established a consulate in Phnom Penh. This measure taken by the short-lived governmental authority would be popular and long-lasting, for since then no government in Cambodia has tried to romanise the Khmer language again. The French were able to reimpose the colonial administration in Phnom Penh in October the same year.

Sihanouk's "royal crusade for independence" resulted in grudging French acquiescence to his demands for a transfer of sovereignty. A partial agreement was struck in October Sihanouk then declared that independence had been achieved and returned in triumph to Phnom Penh. As a result of the Geneva Conference on Indochina, Cambodia was able to bring about the withdrawal of the Viet Minh troops from its territory and to withstand any residual impingement upon its sovereignty by external powers.

Neutrality was the central element of Cambodian foreign policy during the s and s. The bombing campaign took place no further than ten, and later twenty miles 32 km inside the Cambodian border, areas where the Cambodian population had been evicted by the NVA. However, Peter Rodman claimed, "Prince Sihanouk complained bitterly to us about these North Vietnamese bases in his country and invited us to attack them".

In December Washington Post journalist Stanley Karnow was told by Sihanouk that if the US wanted to bomb the Vietnamese communist sanctuaries, he would not object, unless Cambodians were killed. Prince Sihanouk, facing internal struggles of his own, due to the rise of the Khmer Rouge, did not want Cambodia to be involved in the conflict. Sihanouk wanted the United States and its allies South Vietnam to keep the war away from the Cambodian border.

Sihanouk did not allow the United States to use Cambodian air space and airports for military purposes. This upset the United States greatly and contributed to their view of Prince Sihanouk as a North Vietnamese sympathiser and a thorn in the side of the United States. Throughout the s, domestic Cambodian politics became polarised. Sihanouk called these insurgents the Khmer Rouge , literally the "Red Khmer".

But the national assembly elections showed a significant swing to the right, and General Lon Nol formed a new government, which lasted until During and , the insurgency worsened. However, members of the government and army, who resented Sihanouk's ruling style as well as his tilt away from the United States, did have a motivation to overthrow him.

Son Ngoc Thanh, an opponent of Pol Pot, announced his support for the new government. On 9 October, the Cambodian monarchy was abolished, and the country was renamed the Khmer Republic. The new regime immediately demanded that the Vietnamese communists leave Cambodia. Hanoi rejected the new republic's request for the withdrawal of NVA troops.

In response, the United States moved to provide material assistance to the new government's armed forces, which were engaged against both CPK insurgents and NVA forces. The North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces, desperate to retain their sanctuaries and supply lines from North Vietnam, immediately launched armed attacks on the new government.

The North Vietnamese quickly overran large parts of eastern Cambodia, reaching to within 15 miles 24 km of Phnom Penh. The North Vietnamese turned the newly won territories over to the Khmer Rouge. The king urged his followers to help in overthrowing this government, hastening the onset of civil war. Although a considerable quantity of equipment was seized or destroyed by US and South Vietnamese forces, containment of North Vietnamese forces proved elusive.

Lon Nol remained in power in part because none of the others were prepared to take his place. In , a constitution was adopted, a parliament elected, and Lon Nol became president. But disunity, the problems of transforming a 30,man army into a national combat force of more than , men, and spreading corruption weakened the civilian administration and army.

The Khmer Rouge insurgency inside Cambodia continued to grow, aided by supplies and military support from North Vietnam. Pol Pot and Ieng Sary asserted their dominance over the Vietnamese-trained communists, many of whom were purged. The government made three unsuccessful attempts to enter into negotiations with the insurgents, but by , the CPK was operating openly as divisions, and some of the NVA combat forces had moved into South Vietnam.

Lon Nol's control was reduced to small enclaves around the cities and main transportation routes. More than two million refugees from the war lived in Phnom Penh and other cities. On New Year's Day , Communist troops launched an offensive which, in days of the hardest fighting of the war, caused the collapse of the Khmer Republic.

Simultaneous attacks around the perimeter of Phnom Penh pinned down Republican forces, while other CPK units overran fire bases controlling the vital lower Mekong resupply route. A US-funded airlift of ammunition and rice ended when Congress refused additional aid for Cambodia. The relationship between the massive carpet bombing of Cambodia by the United States and the growth of the Khmer Rouge, in terms of recruitment and popular support, has been a matter of interest to historians.

Some historians, including Michael Ignatieff , Adam Jones [ ] and Greg Grandin , [ ] have cited the United States intervention and bombing campaign spanning — as a significant factor which lead to increased support for the Khmer Rouge among the Cambodian peasantry. It used the bombing's devastation and massacre of civilians as recruitment propaganda and as an excuse for its brutal, radical policies and its purge of moderate communists and Sihanoukists.

Chandler writes that the bombing "had the effect the Americans wanted — it broke the Communist encirclement of Phnom Penh", but it also accelerated the collapse of rural society and increased social polarization. By , Vietnamese support of the Khmer Rouge had largely disappeared. Owing to Chinese, U. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said that "the government of Democratic Kampuchea had a legal seat at the United Nations, and had established broad foreign relations with more than 70 countries".

Immediately after its victory, the CPK ordered the evacuation of all cities and towns, sending the entire urban population into the countryside to work as farmers, as the CPK was trying to reshape society into a model that Pol Pot had conceived. The new government sought to completely restructure Cambodian society. Evacuation of Phnom Penh begins.

Pol Pot and Khmer Rouge flee to northern border area. The international community does not recognise the new government. The State of Cambodia is declared. Buddhism re-established as the state religion. UNTAC agrees to power sharing. Ministries shared by their two parties. Jayavarman VIII succeeded him. The Siamese Ayutthaya Kingdom laid siege to Angkor for a year and a half, then invaded and conquered it, leaving an Ayutthayan prince to rule.

King Suryavong led the Khmer army in retaking Angkor from the Siamese. The Thai invade Angkor. Thousands of Cham settle in Cambodia as refugees from the fall of Vijaya northern section of Champa to the Vietnamese. King Sattha requested protection from the Spanish governor of the Philippines against the Thai. The Thai captured the Cambodian capital, Longvek , and installed a military governor there.

The Spanish in Cambodia were massacred by Malay warlords. Nguyen Phuoc Nguyen, king of Hue, approaches Suriyopear to form a military alliance directed at their enemies Ayutthaya for Suriyopear and the Trinh dynasty of Hanoi for Nguyen. Suriyopear abdicates, enters a monastery dies next year. His son Chey Chettha II becomes king. Professional scholars do not believe this happened.

Death of Chettha II; followed as king by his son Ponhea Tu, while his younger brother Outhei takes the title Ubhayoraj, or senior king. Ponhea Tu killed after rebelling against the Ubhayoraj. Followed by his younger half-brother Ponhea Nur. Ramadhipati converts to Islam and takes the name Ibrahim. First Vietnamese intervention in Cambodia, four more in the course of the century.

Ang Sur, son of Outhei, becomes king. An emissary arrived in Prey Nokor to establish Vietnamese administration over the expatriate population. The Vietnamese conquered the Mekong Delta. A new Khmer king, Ang Eng, was installed under Thai protection. A Khmer revolt took place against Vietnamese rule. Cambodia successfully overthrew the Vietnamese occupation.

Ang Duong dies. His son Norodom succeeds him. Faced with a domestic rebellion, Norodom was forced to accept an offer of protection from the French. Cambodia was subsumed into the Indochinese Union.