History
The Khmer Empire was founded at the beginning of the 9th century AD by the self styled god-king, Jayavarman II(802-850). A follower of the religion Shiva, he built a gigantic pyramidal temple-mountain at Rolous in honour of the Hindu gods. Yasovarman I (889-910) shifted the capitol to Angkor in the latter part of the 9th century, thus beginning a legacy that would grow to become one of the worlds greatest empires. In its development, the region saw successive kings contribute their own grand structures to both immortalise their name and to worship various gods. Its population also increased, and at its peak, the city had over a million residents when at the same time London, England had just 50,000.
Two kings who contributed the most impressive structures to the region were Suryavarman II(1113-50) who built Angkor Wat, and Jayavarman VII who built both the Bayon and Angkor Thom. After the death of Jayavarman VII, the area entered a long period of decline as the country suffered at the hands of invaders from Siam, now known as Thailand. It wasn't until after 1861 when French naturalist, Henri Mouhot, stumbled upon Angkor, that it was finally revealed to the rest of the world and subsequently underwent a time of restoration.
The area once again went into a period of isolation and neglect when Vietnamese communists began using Cambodia as a staging post for the Vietnam War in the 1960's. The US responded by carrying out large scale bombing raids of the country that were to continue for more than 10 years. Fortunately these raids did not extend to the west, sparing Angkor and its treasures. Other ancient landmarks in Vietnam and Cambodia were not so lucky and were obliterated by the continual shelling by American B52 bombers.
At the end of the Vietnam War in 1975, Cambodia was largely in dissary, allowing Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge to sweep to power. This began a very dark period for the nations people. The Khmer Rouge were intent on dramatically restructuring the society to conform to their Maoist ideals. The citizens were banished from the cities, literature was burned, and all modern appliances destroyed as they were thought by the new rulers to be symbols of the evil western society. Those who were educated, such as lawyers, doctors and teachers were rounded up and summarily executed, then buried in mass graves in the countryside. These locations would later be referred to as "The Killing Fields", as portrayed in the Academy Award winning film of the same name. Even Buddhist monks who refused to disrobe were not spared the brutal consequences dished out by this fearsome regime.
By the time the Khmer Rouge was overthrown by the Vietnamese in 1979, it had killed an estimated 2 million Cambodians in one of the worst acts of genocide in history. With the eventual collapse of the Khmer Rouge in the 1990's, Angkor has gradually reopened to the world. Today the beautiful people of Cambodia, having long suffered at the hands of internal and foreign elements, are finally at peace. It is a real tribute to their immense resilience, that more often than not you will be greeted by a friendly smile and a warm welcome.
