Cambodia history can be traced back to the first century BC. It was under part of the Khmer rule that extended its kingdom to most of Southeast Asia, including Thailand and part of the Malay peninsular.

The Funan Kingdom was the first know kingdom in Cambodia history. The kingdom was strongly influenced by Indian culture, which has shaped Cambodia history in its arts, culture and political system. Other contributions from this India culture includes alphabetical system, religions and architectural styles. Historical and archaeological evidences show that there were prosperous commercial societies in the Mekong Delta from the 1st to the 6th century.

In the 9th century, a Khmer prince declared himself as the ruler of a new Kingdom. He is King Jayavarman II and he started to honoured the Hindu god Shiva. This is when Cambodia saw great achievements in its architecture and sculpture in Cambodia’s history. His successors, 26 altogether, had also built immense irrigations systems around Angkor, and had continued to build many temples over a thousand sites and stone inscriptions.

Jayavarman founded three capitals in Cambodia history – Indrapura, Harharalaya and Mahendraparvata. There is much archaeological remains today about his time. His successor, Suryavarman I expanded his forces and subsequently ruled over the greater part of present-day Thailand and Laos and the northern half the Malay peninsular.

The Khmers were Hindus, and magnificent temple complex was constructed in Angkor. The word “Wat” means temple, and hence Angkor Wat means Angkor temple. The period when Angkor Wat was constructed is the apex of the Khmer civilisation and Cambodia history. The Khmer kingdom became a great empire.

After the death of Suryavarman II, Cambodia lapsed into chaos. One major history of Cambodia is during the 12th century during the rule of Jayavaram VII. Buddhism was introduced to the kingdom known as Kambuja at that time. He instructed the construction of a new city.

Soon after the reign of Jayavaram VII, the kingdom fell and was almost annihilated by Thai and Vietnamese invaders. The Cambodia kingdom began to see some decline with the introduction of Theravada Buddhism into Cambodia and the rising power of the Thai kingdoms in the 13th and 14th century. Cambodia historical records becomes rather sketchy at this stage.

Cambodia sought the protection of France in 1863, and became part of the French colonised region joining Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam into a single protectorate known as the French Indochina.  This continued until end of World War II, when Cambodians sought independence from outside control.

The King Sihanouk abdicated the throne in 1955 and later became the chief of the state for Cambodia. Even though he had sought for neutrality during the Vietnam War, the North Vietnamese and Vietcong troops were using the eastern Cambodia as a safe haven to attack the South Vietnam. This eventually dragged Cambodia into the war. Sihanouk had also change his stance an eliminated diplomatic relation with US. He also began to allow Vietnamese communist’s entrance into Cambodia to set up bases.

Around the same time, Cambodia guerrilla movement known as the Khmer Rouge was also putting pressure on the Phnom Penh government. On March 1970, while abroad, King Sihanouk was overthrown by Gen. Lon Nol. Gen Lon Nol. was eventually overthrown by Pol Pot in April 1975 and this began the nightmarish Khmer Rouge rule that led to massacre of 1 to 2 million Cambodians on the “killing fields” or worked to death through forced labour.

Khmer Rouge planned to attacked Vietnam but was attacked by surprise instead. Pol Pot was ousted by Vietnamese forces on January 1979, and a new pro-Hanoi government led by Heng Samrin was installed. Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge fighters fled to Thai-Cambodia border. They were joined by the forces loyal to the ousted Sihanouk to overthrow Heng Samrin government.

During this period of the Cambodia history, half a million of elite Cambodians had resettled in other countries. The Vietnamese exited Cambodia in 1989 with the end of the Cold War.

Elections were held in May 1993 for the first time in Cambodia’s history. Hun Sen, who is the successor of Heng Samrin was defeated but refused to accept the outcome of the election. The country’s elected leader, Prince Norodom Ranariddh was deposed off by Hun Sen.

Many more elections were held after that, and finally in June 2004, Ranaridh and Hun Sen agreed to form a coalition government in June 2004, with Hun Sen as the Prime Minister. For the first time in Cambodia’s history, the political situation became more stable. In August of that year, Cambodia parliament ratified the country’s entry into the World Trade Organisation, thus, departing from its socialist government stance, and began to get more investors into the country.

The culture of Cambodia is greatly shaped by its history. The regional dialects of the ethnic Khmer still exist but the standard is now based on Phnom Penh speech as Phnom Penh is the capital city of Cambodia now. This is also modestly influenced by French and Vietnamese in its Cambodia history.

The variety of Khmers spoken in Battambang is more representative of the speech of the majority of the Cambodian population. There are other dialects called Khmer Surin spoken by Khmer in Thailand and Khmer Krom spoken by the Khmer native to the Mekong delta regions of Vietnam.

The modern Khmer strongly identify their ethnic identity influenced by the religious tenets of Theravada Buddhism and ancestor-spirit worship. Majority of Khmer live in rural villages either as rice-farmers or fishermen. Their live revolve around the wat and various Buddhist ceremonies throughout the year.

The Cambodian celebrates many holidays, mostly of religious or spiritual nature. The two most important holidays are the Chol Chnam (Cambodian New Year) and the Pchum Ben (Ancestor Day).

Cambodia history is certainly a rich and interesting one, even though it could have been filled with many civil wars with millions of civilians being killed. Its rich culture influenced by the Hindus, Buddhism and the ethnic Khmer culture makes it one of the most visited countries in Southeast Asia for tourists. In fact, there is already a steady increase in numbers of Cambodia tourists.

With the political situation becoming more stable and as Cambodia is opening its doors to the world, we are not surprised that it will soon becomes one of the most popular tourist attractions. Investors are also focusing on the Cambodia. This will certainly shape Cambodia history towards a different direction, hopefully a better one for a country that has seen so much sufferings.