Cambodia

Cambodia, << kam BOH dee uh, >> is a country in Southeast Asia. It is sometimes called Kampuchea. Most Cambodians live on the fertile plains created by the floodwaters of the Mekong River, or near the Tonle Sap (Great Lake) and Tonle Sap River northwest of Phnom Penh. Phnom Penh is Cambodia’s capital.

Cambodia is chiefly a farming nation. Its relatively flat land, plentiful water, and tropical climate are ideal for growing rice. By Western standards, its farms are small, and the farmers have few modern tools. The country has few factories and imports most of the manufactured goods it needs.

About a thousand years ago, Cambodia was the center of a great empire of the Khmer people, who controlled much of the Southeast Asian mainland. The ruins of Angkor, the capital of the Khmer empire, feature magnificent sculpture and architecture.

Government.

Cambodia is a monarchy with a king as head of state. But the king has only ceremonial powers. A prime minister heads the government. Cambodia’s legislature consists of a National Assembly and a Senate. The voters elect the members of the Assembly. Local councilors choose nearly all members of the Senate. The National Assembly and the king choose a few.

People.

Most of Cambodia’s people are Khmer, one of the oldest ethnic groups in Southeast Asia. They speak the Khmer language, which has its own alphabet. Most Khmer are farmers, laborers, or soldiers. Vietnamese make up the second largest ethnic group in Cambodia. The vast majority of Cambodians are Buddhists.

Most Cambodians live in villages of 100 to 400 people and work on rice fields near the villages. Rice and fish are the main foods. About one-quarter of Cambodian adults cannot read or write. Some parts of the country do not have schools.

Land.

Low mountains border Cambodia, except in the southeast and along part of the coast. The great Mekong River flows south from Laos through Cambodia and enters the South China Sea through Vietnam. Fertile plains cover about a third of the land, and forests cover much of the rest. During the dry season, the Tonle Sap River flows southeast from the shallow Tonle Sap and joins the Mekong at Phnom Penh. During the monsoon (rainy) season, the river flows in the opposite direction. The river does this because floods and melted snow from the Mekong’s source in Tibet make the river rise to a level higher than that of the lake.

The temperature of Phnom Penh averages about 85 °F (29 °C) throughout the year. The rainy season lasts from May to November. The coast receives nearly 200 inches (510 centimeters) of rainfall a year, but Phnom Penh gets less than 60 inches (150 centimeters).

Economy.

Cambodia is a poor country that relies heavily on foreign aid. However, the country’s economy has steadily grown since the early 2000’s. Historically, Cambodia’s economy has been based on agriculture. Agriculture remains important today, and many of Cambodia’s workers are farmers. Rice is Cambodia’s leading agricultural product. Other crops include cassava, corn, rubber, soybeans, and vegetables. Farmers also raise buffalo, cattle, chickens, and hogs.

Tourism and manufacturing are also important to Cambodia’s economy. Restaurants and hotels benefit from the millions of tourists who visit Cambodia each year. Many tour­ists come from China, Laos, South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, and other Asian countries. Cambodia manufactures cement, clothing, footwear, processed foods, and rubber.

Clothing is Cambodia’s leading export. The country also exports bicycles, rice, and rubber. The leading imports include cigarettes, clothing, petroleum products, and vehicles. Cambodia trades with China, Germany, Hong Kong, Thailand, the United States, and Vietnam.

Cambodia’s railroad and road systems have improved since they were damaged during the Vietnam War and civil wars. Cambodia’s only deepwater port, Sihanoukville, handles most of the foreign trade. Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, and Sihanoukville have international airports.

Newspapers are published in Khmer and English. The country has both state-owned and privately owned radio and television stations.

History.

Cambodia has been a monarchy during most of its history. About A.D. 100, people in the southern part of what is now Cambodia established the kingdom of Funan. This kingdom became one of the greatest early powers of Southeast Asia. Funan gradually lost its influence. By A.D. 600, a new power, Chenla, had arisen north of Funan. The kingdom of Chenla broke up in the 700’s.

From the 800’s to the 1400’s, the Khmer controlled a great Hindu-Buddhist kingdom in Cambodia. Its capital was Angkor. The Khmer built hundreds of beautiful stone temples at Angkor and elsewhere in the empire. They also built hospitals, irrigation canals, reservoirs, and roads. The Khmer empire reached its peak during the 1100’s, when it took over much of the land that is now Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam. Costly construction projects, changing trade routes, quarrels within the royal family, and wars with the Thai weakened the Khmer empire. Thai forces captured Angkor in 1431, and the Khmer abandoned the city. But an independent Khmer kingdom, with its capital near what is now Phnom Penh, survived another 400 years.

In the middle to late 1800’s, France took control of Vietnam and Cambodia. The region became known as French Indochina. Thai and Japanese forces occupied Cambodia from 1941 to 1945, during World War II. After the war, Cambodia moved toward independence. France recognized Cambodia’s independence in 1953.

In 1955, King Norodom Sihanouk gave up the throne to take a more active role in politics. He took the title of prince, and became prime minister in 1955 and head of state in 1960.

In March 1970, two members of Sihanouk’s government—Lieutenant General Lon Nol and Prince Sisowath Sirik Matak—overthrew Sihanouk while he was out of the country. In October 1970, the government of Prime Minister Lon Nol abolished the monarchy and proclaimed Cambodia a republic. Lon Nol dissolved the legislature in 1971. The next year, he made himself president and assumed full control of the government.

During the 1950’s and 1960’s, Cambodia had declared itself neutral in the struggle between Communist and non-Communist nations. But the United States and South Vietnam charged that North Vietnam had troops and supplies in Cambodia for use in the Vietnam War. In 1969, U.S. planes began to bomb Communist targets in Cambodia. In April 1970, after Sihanouk was overthrown, U.S. and South Vietnamese troops entered Cambodia to search for the Communist supply bases (see Vietnam War). The U.S. troops left Cambodia at the end of June, but the Vietnamese Communists had withdrawn deeper into Cambodia. By the end of 1970, all of Cambodia was at war. Government forces fought the Communists with the help of South Vietnamese troops and U.S. military aid. The U.S. bombers ended their raids in August 1973, but ground fighting continued.

Meanwhile, Cambodian Communists called Khmer Rouge (Red Khmers) were engaging in full-scale warfare against the country’s non-Communist government. In April 1975, they took control of Cambodia. Neighboring South Vietnam and Laos fell to Communist forces the same year. Soon after, North and South Vietnam reunited into the single nation of Vietnam.

The Khmer Rouge Communists, led by Pol Pot, took full control of the Cambodian government and renamed the country Democratic Kampuchea. The Khmer Rouge committed genocide (deliberate and systematic mistreatment or extermination of an entire people) against the Cambodian population. The group forced most people in cities and towns to move to supervised work camps in rural areas. They abolished religion and the use of money. The government took over all businesses and farms. It killed large numbers of Cambodians, including many former government officials and educated people. In addition, a sharp decline in Cambodia’s agricultural production caused severe food shortages. More than 1¹/₂ million Cambodians died as a result of execution, starvation, disease, or hard labor under the Khmer Rouge. Many others fled to Thailand and other countries.

In 1977, disputes led to fighting between Cambodia and Vietnam. In January 1979, Vietnamese troops and allied Cambodian Communists won control of most of Cambodia and overthrew the Khmer Rouge government. The victorious Cambodians renamed the country the People’s Republic of Kampuchea. The Vietnamese supported the new government and gained much influence in the country. Strict control of the lives of the people continued under the new government.

The Khmer Rouge continued to fight the Vietnamese and their Cambodian allies. Non-Communist groups also joined in the fighting. In 1982, non-Communists and the Khmer Rouge formed a coalition. Norodom Sihanouk became head of the coalition. The fighting forced hundreds of thousands of Cambodians into refugee camps during the 1980’s.

In the 1980’s, the government took steps to reduce its control of the economy. These included allowing Cambodians to own their own small businesses and farms. In addition, Vietnam gradually withdrew troops from Cambodia. In September 1989, Vietnam said that it had completed the withdrawal.

Also in 1989, Cambodia’s government and opposition groups began negotiations to resolve the war. In October 1991, they signed a United Nations-sponsored peace treaty. Under the treaty, the United Nations (UN) supervised the Cambodian government in 1992 through a transition to democracy. The UN worked with a 12-member Supreme National Council made up of members of the former government and the three opposition groups.

In May 1993, democratic, multiparty elections were held for a 120-member assembly. A transitional government was formed by the parties that won the most seats. It governed until a constitution was put into effect in September 1993. A new democratically elected government headed by two prime ministers was established. The office of king was restored as a ceremonial position. Sihanouk, who had been head of state in the transitional government, became king.

The Khmer Rouge, though it had signed the UN peace treaty, boycotted the elections and did not join the new government. By the late 1990’s, most of the group’s leaders surrendered or were arrested. Pol Pot died in 1998. By 1999, the Khmer Rouge movement ended.

Relations between Hun Sen and Prince Norodom Ranariddh, the two prime ministers, were strained. In July 1997, Hun Sen forced Ranariddh from office.

Elections for the National Assembly were held in 1998. Hun Sen’s Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) won the most seats, and he became the prime minister in a coalition government. In 1999, Cambodia established a new Senate. In National Assembly elections in 2003, the CPP again won the most seats, but not enough seats to govern alone. In 2004, after months of political struggle, the parties of Hun Sen and Norodom Ranariddh finally agreed to form a power-sharing government with Hun Sen as prime minister. In 2008 and 2013, the CPP won enough Assembly seats to govern alone, and Hun Sen remained prime minister. In 2023, he stepped down and his son Hun Manet succeeded him as head of the government.

Cambodia’s National Assembly approved the creation of a special international court to try surviving Khmer Rouge leaders in 2004. That same year, King Sihanouk gave up the throne because of poor health. He was replaced by his son Norodom Sihamoni. In 2010, the first Khmer Rouge leader to stand trial, Kaing Guek Eav, was convicted of war crimes, crimes against humanity, murder, and torture. He had run a prison where an estimated 17,000 people died. In 2012, he was sentenced to life in prison, where he died in 2020. Two other Khmer Rouge leaders were convicted of similar charges in 2014 and were sentenced to life in prison. They were Nuon Chea, who served as Pol Pot’s deputy, and Khieu Samphan, who was the Khmer regime’s head of state. Nuon Chea died in 2019.