Cambodia is famous both culturally and politically. At Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom it has the world’s largest group of religious buildings, a priceless relic of the Hindu Khmer Empire (AS802 to 1432). It also, in the 1970’s, saw an outbreak of communist fanaticism in which over 2 million people died. Under French rule from 1863, Cambodia won independence in 1954. In the late 1950’s and during the 1960’s there was a short period of relative stability in which the country developed its agricultural resources and rubber plantations and managed to achieve self-sufficiency in food.
Years of internal political struggles, plus its involvement in the Vietnam War, led to a takeover by the Khmer rouge under Pol Pot in 1975. with the aim of creating a classless society, money and private property were abolished, the professional classes were murdered (anyone with glasses was at risk) and townspeople were moved into the countryside and left to fend for themselves. Half a million refugees fled to Thailand, and between a quarter and one-eighth of the entire population died. The regime fell in 1978 and Pol Pot went into hiding but civil war continued for some years; Pol Pot died in 1998.
The countries heartland consists of a wide basin drained by the Mekong River. In the centre of this lies the Great Lake (Tonle Sap), surrounded by a broad plain. When the rain is meagre and the Mekong low, the lake drains south to the sea. But during the rainy season when the Mekong is high, the flow reverses, and the lake double its area to become the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia.
The reconstruction of Cambodia’s economy has brought almost as many costs as benefits. Tropical rainforest timber such as teak and rosewood is the country’s most important resource. Indiscriminate tree felling is a major environmental problem. Gems are another resource but strip mining is causing habitat loss and destruction of mangrove swamps threatens fisheries. A lack of skills at all levels of administration and management continues to slow progress. |
