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The histo
r yo fCamb odia,ac ountryi n mainland S outheastAsia,canb etracedb ackt oatleast
the5t hmi llenniumBCE. [1][2]Detai ledrec ordsofapo l
it
icalstr
uc t
ureo nthet erri
to r
yo fwhat
isnow Camb odia fi
rstappeari nChi nes eannal sinr eferenc eto 
Funan,apo li
tythat
encompas s edt hesouthernmo stpar to fthe 
Indo c hinesepeninsula 
dur i
ngt he1stt o6th
centuries.Cent eredatt helowerMeko ng,[3] Funani snotedast heo l
dest
regi
o nal 
Hi ndu  c
ulture,whic
hs ug ges tsprolo
ng eds oc i
o-economicinteracti
onwi thmar i
time
tradingpar tnersoft he 
Indo spher e inthewes t.
[ 4] Bythe6t hcenturyac ivil
isat
ion,
call
ed Chenl a 
orZhenl ainChines eannal s,firmlyr eplacedFunan,asi tcontroll
edl arger,
mo r
eundul ati
ngar easo fIndo chinaandmai ntainedmo rethanas i
ngularc entreo f
power .
[5][ 6]

The KhmerEmpi re wasestab lis

hedb ytheear ly9thc entury.Sourcesr eferher et oamyt hi
cal
ini
t i
at i
onand  co nsecrati
on  ceremo nyt oclaimpo l
itic
allegiti
mac ybyfo under  
Jayav arman
II at Mo untKul en  (MountMahendr a)in802CE. [
7]  
As ucces
siono fpo wer fulsovereigns,
continuingt he Hindudev ar aja cult 
tradi t
ion,reignedo vertheclass i
caler ao fKhmer
civ
ili
z ati
o nunt ilt he11thc ent ury.Anewdynas tyo fpro v
inci
alor i
gini ntroduc ed Buddhi s
m,
whichac c ordingt osomes cho l
ar sresultedinr oyalreli
giousdiscontinuitiesandg eneral
dec l
ine.[ 8] 
The  royalchro nology endsi nthe14t hc entury.Greatac hiev ement s
in 
admi ni s
tration,  
agric
ultur e, 
ar c
hi t
ec t
ure, 
hydr olog
y, l
ogis
tics
, urbanpl anning  
and  t
he
arts aret estimo nyt oac reat i
veandpr ogress
ivecivil
is
at i
on-i nitsc ompl exit
yac ornersto
neof
Southeas tAs i
anc ul
turalleg acy.[9]

Thedecli
neconti
nuedt hroughat r
ansitio
nalperiodofapproxi
mat ely100year sfo l
lowedb y
theMiddlePer
iodofCamb o dianhi
story,als
oc al
ledthe 
Darkageso fCamb odia,b eg
inningin
themid15thcentury.Alt
ho ughtheHinduc ult
shadb ythenbeenallb utrepl
ac ed,
the 
monuments i
tes
 attheo ldcapi
talremainedani mportantspi
ri
t ualcentre.[10] 
Yets i
nce
themid15thcenturythecor
epopulati
onsteadil
ymovedtotheeas
tand–wi
thb
rief
except
ions–sett
ledattheconfl
uenceofthe Mekong
 andTo
nleSapri
ver
s
at 
Chaktomuk, 
Longvek 
and 
Oudong.[
11][
12]

Mariti
met rade 
wastheb as
isforav er
yprospero
us16t hc entury.But,asar esul
tforeigners
– Musl
im Malays 
andCham,Chr is
tian 
Europeanadv enturers and mis
s i
onari
es –inc
r easi
ngly
dist
urbedandi nfl
uencedg ov
ernmentaffai r
s.Amb ig
uo usfor t
unes,ar obus
teconomyo nthe
onehandandadi sturbedcul
tureandc o
mpr omisedr oyalt
yo nt heotherwereconstant
featuresoftheLongvekera.[
13][14]

Byt he15t hcentury,the Khmer s'

 traditi
onalnei ghb ours,t
he Mo npeo pl
e i
nt hewestand
the Champeo ple 
int heeasthadg raduallyb eenpus hedasideo rreplacedb ythe
resil
ient Si
amese/Thai  
and Annames e/Vietnames e,respectiv
ely.[
15] Thesepowershad
perceived,under st
o odandi ncreasinglyfoll
o wedt hei mper ati
veofc ontro
lli
ngthe l
ower
Meko ngb asi
n asthekeyt oc ontrolall
 Indochi na.AweakKhmerki ngdomo nlyencouragedthe
strategist
sin 
Ayut thaya (l
aterin Bang kok)andi n Huế.At tacksonandc onquest
so fKhmer
royalr esi
dencesleftsovereignswithoutac er emo nialandl egiti
mat epower
base.[16][17]Interferenceins uccessi
onandmar riagepolici
esaddedt othedecayo froyal
prestige.Oudongwases tabli
shedi n1601ast hel astr oyalresi
denc eoftheMi ddlePerio
d.[18]

The19t h-centuryarri
valofthentechnol
ogicall
ymo readv ancedandamb itio
us  
Eur
opean
col
oni al
 powerswit
hc o
nc r
etepol
ici
esofgl
ob alcontrolputanendt oregi
onalfeudsand
as 
Siam/Thai l
and,althoughhumili
atedando ntheret reat,escapedc ol
onisatio
nasab uffer
st
ate,  
Viet
nam  wastobethefocalpoi
ntof Frenchc olo
ni al 
amb i
ti
on.[19][20] Cambodi
a,
alt
ho ughlargelynegl
ected,[
21] 
hadenteredt he Indo c
hi neseUnion asaper cei
vedenti
tyand
wasc apabletocarryandr ecl
aimitsi
denti
tyandi ntegrityintomo derni
ty.[22][23]

Aft er80year sofc olonial hib

ernat i
on,t hebriefepisodeo f Japanes eo c c
upat ion duri
ng  
Wo r
ld
WarII,t hatc oincidedwi t htheinvestitureofking  
Sihano uk wast heo peningac t [
24] forthe
irr
ev ersibleprocessto war dsre-emanc i
pat i
onandmo dernCamb odianhi story.The Kingdomo f
Camb odia( 1953–70) ,independents ince1953,s truggledt oremai nneut ralinawo rl
ds haped
bypo l
ar i
sationo fthenuc learpower sUS AandS o v
ietUnio n.[25] Ast he Indo chi
nes e
war  escalates,Camb odiab ecomesincreas i
nglyinvolv
ed, [26] the KhmerRepub li
cisoneo fthe
resul t
sin1970,ano t
heri s ci
vilwar.1975,ab ando nedandi nthehandso ft he KhmerRo uge,
Camb odiaendur esit
sdar kestho ur– Demo craticKampuc hea[ 27] andi tslongaft ermat h
of Vietnames eoccupat i
o n,the People'sRepub l
icofKampuc hea andt he UN
Mandat
e t
owar
ds 
Moder
nCamb
odi
a s
inc
e1993.
[28]

Pr
ehi
sto
ryandear
lyhi
sto
ry

FunanKi
ngdo
m(1s
tcent
ury–550)

Chenl
aKi
ngdo
m(6t
hcent
ury–802)

KhmerEmpi
re(
802–1431)

Dar
kag
eso
fCamb
odi
a(1431–1863)

Fr
enc
hco
loni
alper
iod(
1863–1953)

Admi
nis
trat
iono
fSi
hano
uk(
1953–70)

KhmerRepub
licandt
heWar(
1970–75)

Demo
crat
icKampuc
hea(
KhmerRo
ugeer
a)(
1975–79)

Vi
etnames
eoc
cupat
ionandt
hePRK(
1979–93)

Mo
der
nCamb
odi
a(1993–pr
esent
)

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eeal
so
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enc
es

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