Insight Guides Laos & Cambodia by Insight Guides

Author:Insight Guides
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Travel, Laos, Cambodias
Publisher: Apa Publications
Published: 2017-04-10T16:00:00+00:00

The Rise and Fall of the Khmer

Cambodia’s history has been a story of rise and fall. The early days of Funan and Chen La were followed by the emergence of the powerful empire of Angkor, and in turn by a long period of decline ending in the loss of independence.

As with the Lao, there is some controversy surrounding the origins of the Cambodian people. Some suggest that they originated from the south, in present-day Malaysia and Indonesia, while others point to the southwards territorial expansion from what is now mainland China, which would indicate a Tai or Sinitic link. What is clear is that at least 4,000 years ago the fertile flood plains of the lower Mekong and Bassac rivers, as well as the Tonlé Sap (Great Lake of Cambodia), were inhabited by a people of indeterminate origins, although logic dictates that they are at least partly ancestors of today’s Cambodians.

Not a great deal is known about these early inhabitants, but they certainly baked earthenware pots to hold water and fermented toddy palm, or to store the fish in which the region has always abounded. It was a forested area which flooded frequently, so it should be no surprise that they lived in stilt houses, just as most rural Cambodians do today.

Conditions for settled agriculture were unusually rich. The waters teemed with fish, rice could be grown with little effort in the fertile soil around the Great Lake, and primitive boats were built to travel from stilt house to stilt house and from village to village. The region, moreover, was close to the South China Sea, within easy access of the developing trade routes between China, South Asia and the Middle East. All the prerequisites existed for the development of a potentially rich and advanced civilisation, which began to coalesce around the 1st century AD.

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.