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| Kingdom of Cambodia ព្រះរាជាណាចក្រកម្ពុជា | |
|---|---|
 Flag
 Coat of arms
| |
Motto: ជាតិ សាសនា ព្រះមហាក្សត្រ Nation, Religion, King | |
 | |
| Capital and largest city | Phnom Penh |
| Official languages | Khmer |
| Demonym(s) | Cambodian . Khmer . Kampuchean (historical) |
| Dominant mode of production | Capitalism |
| Government | Unitary parliamentary constitutional elective monarchy |
• Monarch | Norodom Sihamoni |
• Prime Minister | Hun Manet |
• President of the Senate | Hun Sen |
• President of the National Assembly | Khuon Sodary |
| Area | |
• Total | 181,035 km² |
| Population | |
• 2024 estimate | 17,638,801 |
| Currency | Riel (KHR) |
| Driving side | right |
| Calling code | +855 |
| ISO 3166 code | KH |
| Internet TLD | .kh |
Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a constitutional monarchy and a liberal nation in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, Vietnam to the east and the Gulf of Thailand to the southwest.
History[edit | edit source]
Chenla (550–802)[edit | edit source]
See main article: Chenla (550–802)
Khmer Empire (802–1431)[edit | edit source]
See main article: Khmer Empire (802–1431)
Kingdom of Cambodia (1431–1863)[edit | edit source]
See main article: Kingdom of Cambodia (1431–1863)
French colonisation (1863–1953)[edit | edit source]
In 1863 France imposed an unequal treaty upon Cambodia making it a protectorate as part of its imperial ambitions in Indochina. This treaty was later superseded by a more oppressive treaty in 1884 essentially making the country a full colony and placing the Khmer monarchy under the control of a French governor-general. French oppression continued until the Japanese occupied the country in 1940 during the Second World War. When France reoccupied Cambodia in 1945 it struggled to put down the growing national liberation movement, leading it to give over more and more autonomy until Cambodia achieved full independence on 9 November 1953.[1]
Kingdom of Cambodia (1953–1970)[edit | edit source]
In 1969 and 1970, Kissinger and Nixon secretly bombed Cambodia and then overthrew Prince Sihanouk, who had refused to be a U.S. puppet. The bombing destroyed Cambodia's traditional economy and allowed Pol Pot to take power five years later.[2]
Democratic Kampuchea (1975–1979)[edit | edit source]
Before the US bombing, Pol Pot only had about 5,000 supporters. His recruitment relied on the bombing, and his army grew to 200,000 people when he took power.
The rise of the Khmer Rouge was shaped by the destabilization of Cambodia during the Vietnam War. U.S. bombing of Cambodia, especially from 1970 to 1973, devastated rural areas and contributed to mass displacement and resentment against the Lon Nol government. Historian Ben Kiernan has argued that the bombing helped the Khmer Rouge recruit among peasants whose villages and families had been attacked.After taking Phnom Penh in April 1975, the Khmer Rouge forcibly evacuated cities and attempted to reorganize Cambodian society through forced rural labor, abolition of money, attacks on religion, and mass repression. The Cambodian genocide lasted from 1975 to 1979 and caused approximately 1.7 million deaths, around 21 percent of Cambodia's population, through execution, starvation, disease, and forced labor. The Khmer Rouge regime also carried out persecution against ethnic and religious minorities, including Cham Muslims, ethnic Vietnamese, and others. The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia later convicted senior Khmer Rouge leaders Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphan of genocide, crimes against humanity, and grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions.
In late 1978, Vietnam invaded and ousted Pol Pot, pushing him and his Khmer Rouge to the border with Thailand, partially fueling the Cambodia-Thailand border war. Being an American proxy, Thailand supported Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge. The United States continued to support Pol Pot and gave him international military support. It also helped Democratic Kampuchea keep its seat at the UN even after it collapsed.[3]
The Vietnamese army invaded Cambodia and overthrew the Khmer Rouge government in January 1979 after years of border attacks and conflict. However, the Vietnamese-backed People's Republic of Kampuchea was not recognized by the United States, China, or many U.S.-aligned states. Instead, Democratic Kampuchea and later the Coalition Government of Democratic Kampuchea continued to hold Cambodia's United Nations seat for years, despite the central role of the Khmer Rouge in the coalition.
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ D. V. Deopik, IU. IA. Mikheev (1979). The Great Soviet Encyclopedia.
- ↑ William Blum (2002). Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower: 'A Concise History of United States Global Interventions, 1945 to the Present' (p. 116). [PDF] Zed Books Ltd. ISBN 9781842772201 [LG]
- ↑ "Kissinger's secret war in Cambodia reveals mass killings: Intercept" (2023-05-24). Al Mayadeen. Archived from the original on 2023-05-30.