Foreign Embassies in Cambodia Road Distance Chart About Mekong River

Official Name: Kingdom of Cambodia

Government: Constitutional Monarchy

Legislature: National Assembly

Head of State: King Norodom Sihamony, enthroned October 2004, Son of King Sihanouk

Prime Minister: Hun Sen, in office 1998, re-elected 2003, 2008 (Next election 2013)

Capital city: Phnom Penh.  City population: 1.2 million, government Census 2005 2004

Population: 14 million, government Census 2005. 

Popular distribution: rural 87%, urban 13%.  Population growth: 2.3%

Age distribution: 15 years and under: 41 %.  65 years and over: 3.5%.

Ethnic groups: Khmer 90%, Vietnamese 5%, Chinese 4%, others 1%

Language: Khmer (official), English, French

Religion: Theravada Buddhists: 95%.  Christians, Islam and  others: 5%

Area: 181,040 square kilometers (69,898 square miles)

Land: 176,520 sq km
Water: 4,520 sq km

Location and boundaries: Situated in South East Asia on Indochina peninsula, Bordered by Thailand to the West and North, by Laos to the North, by Vietnam to the East and South, and by Gulf of Thailand to the South.

Land boundaries: 2,572 km
Border countries: Laos 541 km, Thailand 803 km, Vietnam 1,228 km

Geographic coordinates: 13 00 N, 105 00 E

Elevation:

Highest point, Aural Mountain 1,813 meters (5,948 feet).  See Cambodia map.

Lowest point: Sihanouk Ville, Gulf of Thailand

Climate: Tropical; temperature between 21and 35 degree Celsius; monsoon (rainy) season starts in June and ends late October, followed by dry and mildly windy season

Coast Line: 443 km along Kampot, Kampong Som, Koh Kong provinces.

Monetary unit: Riel (February 2006, one US dollar = 4,000 Riels).

GDP: 8.2 billions dollars, UN figure 1999.  Per capita GDP: 710 dollars. Real growth 4%.  Inflation rate: 1.6% (UN figure 2000)

Economy: Agriculture: rice, corns, rubber, soybeans, vegetables.  Industries: tourism, garments, rice milling, wood products, timbers, cement, paper, fishing.  Mineral: gemstones, phosphates, manganese.

Trading countries: Thailand, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, Vietnam, the United States.

Imports: Cigarettes, gold, construction materials, petroleum products, machinery, motor vehicles

Exports: Timber, garments, rubber, rice, corns, beans, fish

Education: Literacy 65% (UN figure 1993)

 

Angkor: Cambodia dates back to the ancient city of Angkor, the capital of Khmer Empire from the late 9th century until the early 13th century.  In the 9th century, the Khmer Empire stretches over a vast territory that today covers Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Laos.  During these periods, Angkor is a hub of a great human civilization that encompasses complex religious and political and social systems depicted on Angkor temple stone walls, bas relief, and sculptures today.  In the first half of the 12th century, the Chams from the East (now Vietnam) invade and sack Angkor.  Thereafter, the Thais from western part of Khmer empire start attacking and looting Angkor.  The sacking and looting of Angkor is followed by frequent invasions by the Thais and the Chams.  The power of Angkor Empire began to crumble after the death of King Javarman VII (1181 - 1215) in the 12th century.  After the Thais' capture and sacking of Angkor in 1431, Khmers are forced to move their capital from Angkor to Phnom Penh.  The loss of Khmer peripheral territory and land continues until 1863 when France steps in and colonize the region.  The French establishes a protectorate called Indo-China (Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos).  Cambodia gains independence from France in 1953.

King Sihanouk Era: Prince Norodom Skihanouk, King (1941 - 1955) and head of state (1960 - 1970), tries to maintain neutrality of Cambodia in 1960's hoping to steer Cambodia away from the regional conflict, the Vietnam war.  Vietcong guerrilla forces that are stationed within Cambodia are attacked by South Vietnam army supported by the United States that considere Sihanouk's approval of Vietcong presence within Cambodia territory as a hostile act and a threat to its interest in the region.  The relation between the United States and Cambodia is deteriorating and eventually severed in 1965.  Under a covert operation supported by the CIA, King Sihanouk, while on a foreign trip, was deposed on March 18, 1970 by Lon Nol, a pro-US prime minister.  The monarchy is abolished and Cambodia is proclaimed "Khmer Republic".  King Sihanouk, banished by the pro-US government under the leadership of Lon Nol, forms a government-in-exile with the leaders of Communist Khmer Rouge already formed in Cambodia jungle.  An open war begins between the Khmer Republic and the Khmer Rouge guerrillas supported by North Vietnam and China.  To support Lon Nol's regime, the United States provides military and economic aids with an effort not only to repel the communists out of Cambodia but also to curb the spread of Communism in South East Asia.

The Khmer Rouge: Lon Nol's regime (1970-1975) is politically and militarily weak and is plagued with wide-spread corruption.  On April 17, 1975, the Khmer Rouge forces capture Phnom Penh.  The Khmer Rouge introduce a utopia, agrarian regime led by Pol Pot, a communist educated in France.  Cities and towns are emptied.  People are marched and forced to live in labor camps.  Intellectuals, government workers, and students are considered upper class and they are arrested, imprisoned, or executed.  About 1.7 million Cambodians are believed killed, according to the United Nations.

In 1978, Armed clashes break out between Khmer Rouge forces and the Vietnamese troops along the Cambodia-Vietnam border trigging the Vietnamese's large-scale invasion of Cambodia.  The invasion, with the help of a small group of rebels that break a way from the Khmer Rouge, is known as a revenge by the Vietnamese to get rid of the Khmer Rouge regime.  The Vietnamese overthrow the Khmer Rouge in January 1979 and a Vietnamese-backed government led by Heng Samrine, a former Khmer Rouge  commander, is installed.  With the military and economic aids from the Soviet Union, the Vietnamese occupy Cambodia until 1989 when they decide to withdraw from Cambodia in 1989 as a result of international pressures as well as a loss of military aids from the Soviet Union that suffers political and economic crisis.

The Peace Accord: Hun Sen, a pro-Vietnamese and a former Khmer Rouge commander, emerges as a new leader of a post-Vietnamese occupation government in late 1980's.  Peace accord between the Cambodian Resistance factions and Hun Sen's government is singed in Paris in 1991 paving the way for a general election in May 1992 under the auspices of the United Nations.  The political party led by Hun Sen loses the general election and it disputes the election results monitored by the UN and international observers.  Cambodia is in political chaos again and King Sihanouk, known among Cambodians as a father of reconciliation, intervenes and suggests a national reconciliation, a political resolution for the sake of national interest.  Prince Norodom Rhanarid, the leader of the winning party, agrees to share power with Hun Sen in an interim government in which they are both Prime Ministers until 1998.  On September 21, 1998, the National Assembly adopted a constitutional monarchy and proclaimed "Kingdom of Cambodia" with King Sihanouk as King and Head of State.

Post U.N. Elections: Hun Sen stages a military coup on July 5, 1997 ousting his co-prime minister Prince Norodom Rhanarid who then exiles.  Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot who has been denounced by his former comrades and sentenced to house arrest for his rules of atrocity against the Cambodians during his reign of terror dies on April 15, 1998.  A general election is held on July 26, 1998 in which the three major political parties led by Hun Sen, Rhanarid, and Sam Rainsy participated.  Hun Sen, who wins the 1998 disputed election, is denounced by international communities as a rigging the election results.  However, Hun Sen break a deal of cooperation with Prince Rhanarid to form a majority coalition government leaving Sam Rainsy as an opposition party.  Cambodia is formally admitted to the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) on April 30, 1999. 

Cambodia general election is scheduled every five years starting from July 2003.  The July 2003 election results in a stand-off between Hun Sen's party and the democrats consisting of Ranaridh's and Sam Rainsy's parties.  Ranaridh, who in the beginning joins hands with Sam Rainsy, later breaks ranks with Sam Rainsy and strikes a deal of a power-sharing with Hun Sen in June 2004 leaving Sam Rainsy the only opposition leader in the Cambodia parliament.

Updated: March 2010

Source and reference: Ministry of Planning  Phnom Penh, National Institute of Statistics Phnom Penh, Time Almanac 2002, Encyclopedia Americana 2002, the World Book Encyclopedia 2002, the Hidden Glories 1990 (Michael Freeman & Roger Warner), Cambodia Handbook 1997 (John Colet & Joshua Eliot), Social and Cultural Change 1994 (David W. P. Elliott)