Project: Cambodia/Country
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Location
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The Kingdom of Cambodia is a country located in the southern Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia. The country is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, Vietnam to the east, and the Gulf of Thailand to the southwest.
See Also: Geography of Cambodia
Administrative Divisions
Cambodia is divided into 24 khaet (provinces) and the special administrative unit and capital of Phnom Penh. Each province is divided into srok (districts). Currently, there are 162 districts throughout the country’s provinces. Each province has one capital district known as a krong (city or town). Provincial districts are divided into khum (communes), which are further divided into phum (villages) (phum). In addition to these subdivisions, there are also cities and towns, which take over some of the responsibilities of the districts and communes in the area covered by the municipality.
Administrative Divisions of Cambodia
The capital and largest city of Cambodia is Phnom Penh.
History
Detailed records of a political structure on the territory of what is now Cambodia first appear in Chinese annals in reference to Funan, a polity that encompassed the southernmost part of the Indochinese peninsula during the 1st to 6th centuries. Centered at the lower Mekong, Funan is noted as the oldest regional Hindu culture. By the 6th century, Funan was firmly replaced by a civilization called Chenla or Zhenla.
The Khmer Empire was established by the early 9th century and included much of the Indochinese mainland, incorporating large parts of present-day southern Vietnam, Laos, and eastern Thailand. The cultural influence of Cambodia on other countries during this period, particularly Laos and Thailand, was enormous. The Khmer Empire crumbled after the neighboring Tai peoples captured Angkor. The region subsequently underwent four centuries of foreign invasions, civil war, and widespread depopulation.
The 19th-century struggles ended when France established its protectorate over Cambodia in 1863. This separated the combatants and prevented Cambodia from disappearing as a sovereign state divided into spheres of Vietnamese and Thai control. Cambodia was incorporated into French Indochina in 1887. During World War II, the Japanese occupied Cambodia but allowed the French colonial administration to continue. This period ended with the defeat of Japan in 1945.
Cambodia gained independence from France in 1953, after which it entered a short period of peace and prosperity. However, by the mid-1960s, parts of Cambodia’s eastern provinces were serving as bases for the North Vietnamese Army and National Liberation Front (NVA/NLF) forces operating against South Vietnam.
As the Vietnam War escalated, Cambodia sought to maintain its neutrality, but in 1965, North Vietnamese soldiers were allowed to set up bases. This drew Cambodia into the Vietnam War. In 1969, the United States began a bombing campaign against North Vietnamese soldiers in Cambodia.
In March 1970, a military coup led to the ouster of Cambodia’s ruling monarch, Prince Norodom Sihanouk. After the coup, members of the Cambodia's Communist Party, known as the Khmer Rouge, decided to join forces with the deposed leader and form a political coalition. This led to a civil war that continued for nearly five years.
In 1975, Khmer Rouge fighters invaded Phnom Penh and took over the city. The Khmer Rouge had won the civil war and, thus, ruled the country. Notably, the Khmer Rouge opted not to restore power to Prince Norodom, but instead handed power to the leader of the Khmer Rouge, Pol Pot. The Khmer Rouge regime, under the leadership of Pol Pot, ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979. Pol Pot’s attempts to create a Cambodian “master race” through social engineering ultimately led to the deaths of more than 2 million people in the Southeast Asian country. Those killed were either executed as enemies of the regime, or died from starvation, disease or overwork. This period—as shown in the film The Killing Fields—has come to be known as the Cambodian Genocide.
A group of Cambodian communists ousted the Khmer Rouge in 1979, which marked the beginning of the People’s Republic of Kampuchea, a pro-Soviet client state of Vietnam. In 1989, Vietnamese forces withdrew from Kampuchea and the nation was renamed the State of Cambodia. Since then, Cambodia has been recovering from the Khmer Rouge period, with significant international aid and political restructuring.
Historical Timeline
- 1863 France made Cambodia a protectorate.
- 1887 Cambodia was incorporated into French Indochina.
- 1941 Japan occupied Cambodia throughout World War II.
- 1953 Cambodia gained independence from France.
- 1965 Cambodia was drawn into the Vietnam War.
- 1960 The United States began a bombing campaign against North Vietnamese soldiers in Cambodia.
- 1970 A military coup led to the ouster of Cambodia’s ruling monarch leading to civil war.
- 1975 The Khmer Rouge won the civil war and took control of the country under the leadership of Pol Pot.
- 1979 Vietnamese-backed forces ousted the Khmer Rouge marking the beginning of the People’s Republic of Kampuchea.
- 1989 Vietnamese forces left Kampuchea and the nation was renamed Cambodia.
See also: History of Cambodia
Ethnicities
The Khmer are the largest ethnic group in Cambodia, comprising as much as 95% of the total population. They primarily inhabit the lowland Mekong subregion and the central plains. The Cham, descended from refugees of the various wars of the historical kingdom of Champa, live amongst the Khmer, but in contrast to the Khmer who are Theravada Buddhists, the vast majority of Cham follow Islam. The indigenous ethnic minorities, more commonly referred to collectively as the Khmer Loeu (“upland Khmer”), constitute the majority in the remote mountainous provinces of Ratanakiri, Mondulkiri, and Stung Treng and are present in substantial numbers in Kratie Province. Approximately 17-21 separate ethnic groups, most of whom speak Austroasiatic languages related to Khmer, are included in the Khmer Loeu designation. The Vietnamese were the most populous among the ethnic minority groups in Cambodia before the Cambodian Civil War. However, during the civil war the Vietnamese community was almost annihilated from Cambodia. Chinese Cambodians or Cambodians of mixed Sino-Khmer have immigrated to Cambodia from different regions of China throughout Cambodia’s history. They dominate the business community, politics, and the media. There are also small numbers of other minority groups including Lao, Thai, and the Burmese Kola.
See Also: Khmer people
Languages
Khmer is the official national language of Cambodia and is spoken by nearly 90% of the country’s population. The Khmer language has been influenced considerably by Sanskrit and Pali, especially in the royal and religious registers, through Hinduism and Buddhism. The regional dialects of Khmer have been influenced by Cham, Vietnamese, Thai, Lao, and other languages due to inter-cultural contacts and geographical proximity with the native speakers of these languages.
French is one of the important foreign languages spoken in the country. The language was at one time the official language in Indochina and today many older Cambodians still speak French. French is also used to impart education in some schools and universities in Cambodia, especially those that are funded by the French Government. In 1993, English replaced French since 19932. A large number of universities impart education in the English language, a significant number of press publications are in English, street signs in the country are usually written in both the Khmer language and English, and English is now used as the main foreign language in Cambodia’s diplomatic dealings with other countries. Vietnamese is spoken by the Vietnamese immigrants to Cambodia, and there are numerous other languages spoken by the ethnic minorities in Cambodia, including Cham, Tumpoon, Lao, Yue Chinese, Jarai, and Mon-Khmer languages.
See also: Khmer Language
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Religion
Buddhism is the state religion of Cambodia. Approximately 97% of Cambodia’s population follows Theravada Buddhism. The wat (Buddhist monastery) and sangha (monkhood), together with essential Buddhist doctrines such as reincarnation and the accumulation of merit, are at the center of religious life. Islam is followed by about 2% of the population, mainly by the Cham and Malay communities. Christianity is practiced by about 0.3% of the population. There is also a substantial population of Western missionaries in the country. Other religions include the local religious system of the highland tribal groups and a few minority religious groups from other countries, including tribal animism and the Baha’i faith.
See also: Religion in Cambodia
See also: Demographics of Cambodia
Cambodian Naming Conventions
Cambodian names usually consist of two elements: a patronymic, which serves as a common family name for siblings, and a given name. The order of the names is last name followed by first name. For example, if the last name is Soth and the first name is Sopheap, the full name would be written as Soth Sopheap.
The use of surnames in Cambodia is relatively recent and was not mandated by law until imposed by the French in 1910. Surnames are typically derived from the father’s given name.
Women do not adopt their husbands’ surnames.
Different naming traditions also exist among ethnic groups other than the Khmer majority.
See Also: Cambodian Names
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