Origin myths According to one Khmer legend attributed by
George Coedes to a tenth century inscription, the Khmers arose from the union of the Brahmana
Kambu Swayambhuva and the
apsara ("celestial nymph") Mera. Their marriage is said to have given rise to the name
Khmer and founded the
Varman dynasty of ancient Cambodia. A more popular legend, reenacted to this day in the traditional Khmer wedding ceremony and taught in elementary school, holds that Cambodia was created when a merchant named
Kaundinya I (commonly referred to as
Preah Thong) married Princess
Soma, a
Nāga (
Neang Neak) princess. Kaundinya sailed to Southeast Asia following an arrow he saw in a dream. Upon arrival he found an island called
Kok Thlok and, after conquering Soma's Naga army, he fell in love with her. As a dowry, the father of princess Soma drank the waters around the island, which was revealed to be the top of a mountain, and the land below that was uncovered became Cambodia. Kaundinya and Soma and their descendants became known as the Khmers and are said to have been the rulers of
Funan,
Chenla and the
Khmer Empire. This myth further explains why the oldest Khmer
wats, or temples, were always built on mountaintops, and why today mountains themselves are still revered as holy places.
Arrival in Southeast Asia The Khmers, an
Austroasiatic people, are one of the oldest ethnic groups in the area, having filtered into Southeast Asia from
southern China, possibly
Yunnan, or from
Northeast India around the same time as the
Mon, who settled further west on the
Indochinese Peninsula and to whom the Khmer are ancestrally related. Most archaeologists and linguists, and other specialists like
Sinologists and crop experts, believe that they arrived no later than 2000 BCE (over four thousand years ago) bringing with them the practice of agriculture and in particular the cultivation of
rice. This region is also one of the first places in the world to use
bronze. They were the builders of the later
Khmer Empire, which dominated Southeast Asia for six centuries beginning in 802, and now form the mainstream of political, cultural, and economic Cambodia. The Khmers developed the
Khmer alphabet, which in turn gave birth to the later
Thai and
Lao alphabets. The Khmers are considered by
archaeologists and
ethnologists to be indigenous to the contiguous regions of
Isan, southern
Laos,
Cambodia and
South Vietnam. That is to say the Cambodians have historically been a lowland people who lived close to one of the tributaries of the
Mekong River. The reason they migrated into Southeast Asia is not well understood, but scholars believe that
Austroasiatic speakers were pushed south by invading
Tibeto-Burman speakers from the north as evident by Austroasiatic vocabulary in Chinese, because of agricultural purposes as evident by their migration routes along major rivers, or a combination of these and other factors. The Khmer are considered a part of the
Indian cultural sphere, owing to them adopting Indian culture, traditions and religious identities. The first powerful trading kingdom in Southeast Asia, the
Kingdom of Funan, was established in southeastern Cambodia and the Mekong Delta in the first century, although extensive archaeological work in
Angkor Borei District near the modern Vietnamese border has unearthed brickworks, canals, cemeteries and graves dating to the fifth century BCE. During the Funan period (1st–6th centuries CE) the Khmer also acquired Buddhism, the concept of the
Shaiva imperial cult of the
devaraja and the great temple as a symbolic
world mountain. The rival Khmer
Chenla Kingdom emerged in the fifth century and later conquered the Kingdom of Funan. Chenla was an upland state whose economy was reliant on agriculture whereas Funan was a lowland state with an economy dependent on maritime trade. These two states, even after conquest by Chenla in the sixth century, were constantly at war with each other and smaller principalities. During the Chenla period (5th–8th centuries), Khmers left the world's earliest known
zero in one of their temple inscriptions. Only when
King Jayavarman II declared an independent and united Cambodia in 802 was there relative peace between the two lands, upper and lowland Cambodia.
Jayavarman II (802–830) revived Khmer power and built the foundation for the Khmer Empire, founding three capitals—
Indrapura,
Hariharalaya, and
Mahendraparvata—the archeological remains of which reveal much about his times. After winning a long civil war,
Suryavarman I (reigned 1002–1050) turned his forces eastward and subjugated the Mon kingdom of
Dvaravati. Consequently, he ruled over the greater part of present-day Thailand and Laos, as well as the northern half of the Malay Peninsula. This period, during which
Angkor Wat was constructed, is considered the apex of Khmer civilization.
Khmer Empire (802–1431) The Khmer kingdom became the
Khmer Empire and the great temples of Angkor, considered an archeological treasure replete with detailed stone bas-reliefs showing many aspects of the culture, including some musical instruments, remain as monuments to the culture of the Cambodia. After the death of
Suryavarman II (1113–1150), Cambodia lapsed into chaos until
Jayavarman VII (1181–1218) ordered the construction of a new city. He was a Buddhist, and for a time, Buddhism became the dominant religion in Cambodia. As a state religion, however, it was adapted to suit the Deva Raja cult, with a Buddha Raja being substituted for the former Shiva Raja or Vishnu Raja. The rise of the
Tai kingdoms of
Sukhothai (1238) and
Ayutthaya (1350) resulted in almost ceaseless wars with the Khmers and led to the destruction of Angkor in 1431. They are said to have carried off 90,000 prisoners, many of whom were likely dancers and musicians. The period following 1432, with the Khmer people bereft of their treasures, documents, and human culture bearers, was one of precipitous decline.
Post-empire (1431–present) in the 1900s In 1434, King
Ponhea Yat made
Phnom Penh his capital, and Angkor was abandoned to the jungle. Due to continued Siamese and Vietnamese aggression, Cambodia appealed to France for protection in 1863 and became a French protectorate in 1864. During the 1880s, along with southern Vietnam and Laos, Cambodia was drawn into the French-controlled Indochinese Union. For nearly a century, the French exploited Cambodia commercially, and demanded power over politics, economics, and social life. During the second half of the twentieth century, the political situation in Cambodia became chaotic. King
Norodom Sihanouk (later, Prince, then again King), proclaimed Cambodia's independence in 1949 (granted in full in 1953) and ruled the country until March 18, 1970, when he was overthrown by General
Lon Nol, who established the Khmer Republic. On April 17, 1975,
Khmer Rouge, who under the leadership of
Pol Pot combined
Khmer nationalism and extreme
Communism, came to power and virtually destroyed the Cambodian people, their health, morality, education, physical environment, and culture in the
Cambodian genocide. On January 7, 1979, Vietnamese forces
ousted the Khmer Rouge. After more than ten years of painfully slow rebuilding, with only meager outside help, the United Nations intervened resulting in the Paris Peace Accord on October 23, 1992, and created conditions for general elections in May 1993, leading to the formation of the current government and the restoration of Prince Sihanouk to power as King in 1993. Pol Pot died on April 15, 1998, reportedly from heart failure. Sources speculate his death may have been a result of poisoning or even suicide. His death marked the formal end of the Khmer Rouge regime as a significant political and military force. However, a residual Khmer Rouge movement remained in Cambodia for almost two more decades, largely operating from remote jungle regions near the Thai border. Immediately, the post-Pol Pot years marked intense efforts to rebuild the country. Cambodia had suffered enormous loss of life, widespread trauma and a shattered infrastructure. The Cambodian government, now under the leadership of the Cambodian People's Party (CPP) and the monarchist
Norodom Sihanouk, faced significant challenges. ==Culture and society==