Cambodia’s full name is the Kingdom of Cambodia, formerly known as Khmer. It is located in the Indochina Peninsula, that is, in the south of our country. Cambodia borders Thailand to the west and northwest, Laos to the northeast, Vietnam to the east and southeast, and faces the Gulf of Siam to the south.
History of Cambodia
Cambodia was founded in the second half of the first century AD and has experienced the Funan, Chenla, and Angkor periods in its history. The heyday of the Kingdom of Cambodia was during the Angkor Period, which lasted from the ninth to the fourteenth centuries AD. The sphere of influence of Cambodia under the rule of the Angkor Dynasty far exceeded the territory of today's Cambodia, and the Angkor Dynasty bordered the Tang, Yuan and Ming dynasties.
When the Angkor Dynasty was at its peak, it occupied all of present-day Cambodia, most of Thailand and Laos, Vietnam and southern Myanmar. It was the most powerful country in the history of Southeast Asia. Secondly, during the Angkor Dynasty, Cambodia had a strong national power and developed culture. Angkor Wat, one of the seven wonders of human civilization in the world, was a product of the Angkor Dynasty. From the middle of the 13th century to 1434, the Angkor Dynasty finally declined due to the invasion of Thailand's Sukhothai Dynasty.
Angkor Dynasty - Phnom Penh Dynasty
In 1423 AD, the Angkor Dynasty moved from Angkor to Phnom Penh and was renamed the Phnom Penh Dynasty. The royal bloodline remained unchanged. The new dynasty began to control the overall situation in Cambodia, and the Phnom Penh Dynasty was the second longest dynasty in Asia after Japan. Cambodia, under the rule of the Phnom Penh Dynasty, became a French protectorate in 1863, was occupied by Japan in 1940, and was occupied again by French colonists after Japan surrendered in 1945. On November 9, 1953, the Kingdom of Cambodia declared its independence. In July 1954, France was forced to agree to withdraw its troops.
Cambodia promulgated a constitution in January 1976, changed the country's name to Democratic Kampuchea, and abolished the constitutional monarchy. On September 21, 1993, the Constituent Assembly adopted a new constitution and decided to restore the constitutional monarchy. Cambodia is also called Khmer, because the main ethnic group in Cambodia is the Khmer, who are called Jimi in ancient Chinese books.