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Travel to Cambodia — Unbiased reviews and
great deals from TripAdvisorCambodia
| Kingdom of Cambodia National
Name: Preahreacheanacha Kampuchea King: Norodom Sihamoni (2004) Prime Minister: Hun Sen (1998)
Current government officials
Land area: 68,154 sq mi (176,519 sq km);
total area: 69,900 sq mi (181,040 sq km) Population (2008 est.): 14,241,640 (growth
rate: 1.7%); birth rate: 25.6/1000; infant mortality rate: 56.5/1000;
life expectancy: 61.6; density per sq km: 80
Capital and largest city (2003 est.):
Phnom Penh, 1,169,800 Monetary unit: Riel
Languages:
Khmer 95% (official), French, English
Ethnicity/race:
Khmer 90%, Vietnamese 5%, Chinese 1%, other
4%
National Holiday:
Independence Day, November 9
Religions:
Theravada Buddhist 95%, others 5% Literacy rate: 73.6% (2006 est.) Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2006 est.):
$25.9 billion; per capita $1,800. Real growth rate: 9.6%.
Inflation: 5.9%. Unemployment: 2.5% (2000 est.).
Arable land: 21%. Agriculture: rice, rubber, corn,
vegetables, cashews, tapioca. Labor force: 7 million (2003
est.); agriculture 75% (2004 est.). Industries: tourism,
garments, rice milling, fishing, wood and wood products, rubber,
cement, gem mining, textiles. Natural resources: oil and gas,
timber, gemstones, some iron ore, manganese, phosphates, hydropower
potential. Exports: $3.38 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.): clothing,
timber, rubber, rice, fish, tobacco, footwear. Imports: $4.446
billion f.o.b. (2006 est.): petroleum products, cigarettes, gold,
construction materials, machinery, motor vehicles, pharmaceutical
products. Major trading partners: U.S., Germany, UK, Vietnam,
Canada, Thailand, Hong Kong, China, Singapore, Taiwan (2004). Communications: Telephones: main lines in
use: 36,400 (2003); mobile cellular: 1.062 million (2005). Radio
broadcast stations: AM 2, FM 17, (2003). Television broadcast
stations: 9 (2006). Internet hosts: 1,378 (2006).
Internet users: 41,000 (2005). Transportation: Railways: total: 602 km
(2005). Highways: total: 38,257 km; paved: 2,406 km; unpaved:
35,851 km (2004). Waterways: 2,400 km (mainly on Mekong River)
(2004). Ports and harbors: Phnom Penh. Airports: 20
(2006 est.). International disputes:
Southeast Asian states have enhanced border surveillance to check the
spread of avian flu; Cambodia and Thailand dispute sections of
boundary with missing boundary markers and Thai encroachments into
Cambodian territory; maritime boundary with Vietnam is hampered by
unresolved dispute over offshore islands; Cambodia accuses Thailand of
obstructing access to Preah Vihear temple ruins awarded to Cambodia by
ICJ decision in 1962; in 2004 Cambodian-Laotian and Laotian-Vietnamese
boundary commissions reerect missing markers completing most of their
demarcations.
Major sources and definitions
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Geography
Situated on the Indochinese peninsula, Cambodia
is bordered by Thailand and Laos on the north and Vietnam on the east and
south. The Gulf of Thailand is off the western coast. The size of
Missouri, the country consists chiefly of a large alluvial plain ringed by
mountains with the Mekong River to the east. The plain is centered around
Lake Tonle Sap, which is a natural storage basin of the Mekong.
Government
Multiparty liberal democracy under a
constitutional monarchy.
History
The area that is present-day
Cambodia came under Khmer rule about 600, when the region was at the
center of a vast empire that stretched over most of Southeast Asia. Under
the Khmers, who were Hindus, a magnificent temple complex was constructed
at Angkor. Buddhism was introduced in the 12th century during the rule of
Jayavaram VII. However, the kingdom, then known as Kambuja, fell into
decline after Jayavaram's reign and was nearly annihilated by Thai and
Vietnamese invaders. Kambuja's power steadily diminished until 1863, when
France colonized the region, joining Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam into a
single protectorate known as French Indochina.
The French quickly usurped all but ceremonial
powers from the monarch, Norodom. When he died in 1904, the French passed
over his sons and handed the throne to his brother, Sisowath. Sisowath and
his son ruled until 1941, when Norodom Sihanouk was elevated to power.
Sihanouk's coronation, along with the Japanese occupation during the war,
worked to reinforce a sentiment among Cambodians that the region should be
free from outside control. After World War II, Cambodians sought
independence, but France was reluctant to part with its colony. Cambodia
was granted independence within the French Union in 1949. But the
French-Indochinese War provided an opportunity for Sihanouk to gain full
military control of the country. He abdicated in 1955 in favor of his
parents, remaining head of the government, and when his father died in
1960, Sihanouk became chief of state without returning to the throne. In
1963, he sought a guarantee of Cambodia's neutrality from all parties in
the Vietnam War.
However, North Vietnamese and Vietcong troops
had begun using eastern Cambodia as a safe haven from which to launch
attacks into South Vietnam, making it increasingly difficult to stay out
of the war. An indigenous Communist guerrilla movement known as the Khmer
Rouge also began to put pressure on the government in Phnom Penh. On March
18, 1970, while Sihanouk was abroad, anti-Vietnamese riots broke out and
Sihanouk was overthrown by Gen. Lon Nol. The Vietnam peace agreement of
1973 stipulated withdrawal of foreign forces from Cambodia, but fighting
continued between Hanoi-backed insurgents and U.S.-supplied government
troops.
Emergence of the Khmer Rouge
Combat climaxed in April 1975 when the Lon Nol
regime was overthrown by Pol Pot, leader of the Khmer Rouge forces. The
four years of nightmarish Khmer Rouge rule led to the state-sponsored
extermination of citizens by its own government. Between 1 million and 2
million people were massacred on the “killing fields” of
Cambodia or worked to death through forced labor. Pol Pot's radical vision
of transforming the country into a Marxist agrarian society led to the
virtual extermination of the country's professional and technical
classes.
Pol Pot was ousted by Vietnamese forces on Jan.
8, 1979, and a new pro-Hanoi government led by Heng Samrin was installed.
Pol Pot and 35,000 Khmer Rouge fighters fled into the hills of western
Cambodia, where they were joined by forces loyal to the ousted Sihanouk in
a guerrilla movement aimed at overthrowing the Heng Samrin government. The
Vietnamese plan originally called for a withdrawal by early 1990 and a
negotiated political settlement. The talks became protracted, however, and
a UN agreement was not signed until 1992, when Sihanouk was appointed
leader of an interim Supreme National Council convened to run the country
until elections could be held in 1993.
Free elections in May 1993 saw the
defeat of Heng Samrin's successor, Hun Sen, who refused to accept the
outcome of the vote. In early July, Hun Sen took advantage of the
country's political turmoil to depose Prince Norodom Ranariddh, the
country's only popularly elected leader. Hun Sen later launched a brutal
purge, executing more than 40 political opponents. Shortly after the July
coup, the Khmer Rouge organized a show trial of their notorious leader,
Pol Pot, who had not been seen by the West in more than two decades. He
was sentenced to house arrest for his crimes against humanity. He died on
April 15, 1998. In the July 1998 election, Hun Sen defeated opposition
leaders Sam Rainsy and Prince Ranariddh, but the opposition parties
accused him of voter fraud. Cambodia was able to regain its UN seat, lost
nearly a year earlier as a result of Hun Sen's coup.
Cambodia Joins the World Trade Organization
Elections in July 2003 resulted in a
stalemate—none of the parties won the two-thirds majority required
to govern alone. Almost a year later, in June 2004, Ranariddh and Hun Sen
agreed in June 2004 to form a coalition, with Hun Sen remaining as prime
minister. In August, Cambodia's parliament ratified the country's entry
into the World Trade Organization.
In March 2003, the UN and Cambodia announced
that after five years they had finally agreed on a special tribunal to try
senior Khmer Rouge officials on charges of genocide. Among those who were
expected to stand trial were Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch, who ran the
notorious Tuol Sleng prison, and Ta Mok, alias the Butcher, who died in
2006 before his trial took place. In April 2005, the UN agreed to a
funding arrangement for the tribunal.
King Norodom Sihanouk announced in Oct. 2004
that he had abdicated and selected his son, Prince Norodom Sihamoni, to
succeed him. Prince Sihamoni, a ballet dancer and choreographer, lived in
France and had kept a distance from Cambodian politics.
In Feb. 2005, opposition leader Sam Rainsy was
stripped of parliamentary immunity. He fled to France and was convicted in
December in absentia of defaming Prime Minister Hun Sen. He received a
royal pardon in 2006. Hun Sen has used defamation laws to crack down on
political opponents and human rights groups, having at least seven
activists and critics arrested in 2005 and 2006. Facing criticism from
home and abroad, Hun Sen withdrew charges against four of the
activists.
Khmer Rouge Officials Face Trial
Prosecutors trying senior Khmer Rouge officials made their first indictment in July 2007, charging Kaing Guek Eav with crimes against humanity. In September 2007, Nuon Chea, who was second-in-command to Pol Pot, was arrested and charged with war crimes. He sought bail in November on charges against humanity, becoming the first Khmer Rouge defendant to appear in court. The tribunal denied his plea in March 2008.
In July 2008, Unesco, the cultural arm of the United Nations,
designated the Preah Vihear temple, which sits on the Cambodian side of
the Cambodian-Thai border, as a UN World Heritage Site. The move stirred
nationalist emotions on both sides and fueled the tension between the
countries. Both countries moved troops to disputed land near the temple.
Squirmishing broke out between Cambodian and Thai troops in October 2008,
and two Cambodian soldiers were killed.
See also Encyclopedia: Cambodia
U.S. State Dept. Country Notes:
Cambodia
National Institute of Statistics www.nis.gov.kh/ .
Information Please® Database, © 2008 Pearson
Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
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