The Fall of Empires by Chad Denton

Author:Chad Denton [Denton, Chad]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781594166457
Publisher: Westholme Publishing

Exactly why Angkor was abandoned is still the subject of hot debate, since none of the inscriptions left by the Khmers describe the reasons for their own decline.14 One theory is that the Khmer kings, faced with the stark reality of the waning of their armies, had no choice but to retreat farther behind their borders after a Thai army struck the city twice in 1430 and 1431. Another argument is that Khmer society was totally undercut when Hinduism lost out to Buddhism in the marketplace of religions. However, there is one idea that looks toward factors outside warfare and religion and has disturbing ramifications for even people living today.

In an article published in 1974, Bernard Groslier made the more prosaic suggestion that the Khmers could not keep up with the task of keeping their canals clear of silt buildup.15 Like Sisyphus, the workers of Angkor had a thankless and endless task in keeping the canals clear. This problem begat a crisis, especially since the extensive urban sprawl of Angkor, which has recently been verified through satellite views of the land, caused unstoppable deforestation and erosion. With the water supply failing and the local ecology disrupted, the soil died. Likewise, the stagnant canals and reservoirs became a hospitable home for mosquitoes and the malaria they carried. Environmental decay chipped away at Angkor, already resting precariously on an ecological precipice, from many angles.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.