The history of Cambodia, a country in mainland Southeast Asia, can be traced back to at least the 5th millennium BCE. Detailed records of a political structure on the territory of what is now Cambodia first appear in Chinese annals in reference to Funan, a polity that encompassed the southernmost part of the Indochinese peninsula during the 1st to 6th centuries. Centered at the lower Mekong, Funan is noted as the oldest regional Hindu culture, which suggests prolonged socio-economic interaction with maritime trading partners of the Indosphere in the west. By the 6th century a civilisation, called Chenla or Zhenla in Chinese annals, firmly replaced Funan, as it controlled larger, more undulating areas of Indochina and maintained more than a singular centre of power.
The Khmer Rouge was the name popularly given to the followers of the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK) and by extension to the regime through which the CPK ruled in Cambodia between 1975 and 1979. The name had originally been used in the 1950s by Norodom Sihanouk as a blanket term for the Cambodian left.
Pol Pot was a Cambodian revolutionary and politician who served as the general secretary of the Communist Party of Kampuchea from 1963 to 1981. Ideologically a Marxist–Leninist and Khmer nationalist, he led the Khmer Rouge group from 1963 until 1997. From 1976 to 1979, he served as the Prime Minister of Democratic Kampuchea.
Phnom Penh, formerly known as Krong Chaktomuk or Krong Chaktomuk Serimongkul, is the capital and most populous city in Cambodia. Phnom Penh has been the national capital since French colonization of Cambodia, and has grown to become the nation's economic, industrial, and cultural center.
Norodom Sihanouk was a Cambodian royal, politician, composer and filmmaker who was twice the King of Cambodia. He was the son of King Norodom Suramarit and Queen Sisowath Kossamak. In Cambodia, he is also known as Samdech Euv.
Angkor Wat is a temple complex in Cambodia and one of the largest religious monuments in the world, on a site measuring 162.6 hectares. Originally constructed as a Hindu temple dedicated to the god Vishnu for the Khmer Empire, it was gradually transformed into a Buddhist temple towards the end of the 12th century. It was built by the Khmer King Suryavarman II in the early 12th century in Yaśodharapura, the capital of the Khmer Empire, as his state temple and eventual mausoleum. Breaking from the Shaiva tradition of previous kings, Angkor Wat was instead dedicated to Vishnu. As the best-preserved temple at the site, it is the only one to have remained a significant religious centre since its foundation. The temple is at the top of the high classical style of Khmer architecture. It has become a symbol of Cambodia, appearing on its national flag, and it is the country's prime attraction for visitors.
The Cambodian Civil War was a military conflict that pitted the forces of the Communist Party of Kampuchea and their allies the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and the Viet Cong against the government forces of the Kingdom of Cambodia and, after October 1970, the Khmer Republic, which were supported by the United States (U.S.) and the Republic of Vietnam.
Hun Sen is a Cambodian politician and the Prime Minister of Cambodia, President of the Cambodian People's Party (CPP) and Member of Parliament (MP) for Kandal. He has served as Prime Minister since 1985, making him the world’s longest-serving prime minister, the longest-serving head of government of Cambodia and one of the longest-serving leaders in the world. From 1979 to 1986 and again from 1987 to 1990, Hun Sen also served as Cambodia's foreign minister. His full honorary title is Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo Hun Sen. Born Hun Bunal, he changed his name to Hun Sen in 1972 two years after joining the Khmer Rouge.
The King of Cambodia is the head of state of the Kingdom of Cambodia. The King's power is limited to that of a symbolic figurehead to whom people are to give love and respect. The monarch also represents peace, stability, and prosperity to the Khmer people. Since 1993, the King of Cambodia is an elected monarch, making Cambodia one of the few elective monarchies of the world. The king is elected for life from among the members of the Norodom and Sisowath bloodline who are at least 30 years old by the Royal Council of the Throne, which consists of several senior political and religious figures.
The Cambodia national football team is the national team of the Kingdom of Cambodia and is controlled by the Football Federation of Cambodia (FFC). It was known as the Khmer Republic national football team from 1970 to 1975. It finished fourth in the 1972 Asian Cup. The team was founded in 1933 and joined FIFA's ranks in 1953. One of Cambodia's best players was Hok Sochetra. Earlier in the decade he was considered one of the top 2 strikers in South East Asia along with Kiatisuk Senamuang from Thailand. In 1997, Hok Sochetra won the best player award in Southeast Asia – the Golden Ball from Sanyo.
Khmer people are a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Cambodia, accounting for over 97% of the country's 15.9 million people. They speak the Khmer language, which is part of the larger Austroasiatic language family found in parts of Southeast Asia, parts of central, eastern, and north eastern India, parts of Bangladesh in South Asia, in parts of Southern China and numerous islands in the Indian Ocean.
The Cambodian Killing Fields are a number of sites in Cambodia where collectively more than a million people were killed and buried by the Khmer Rouge regime, during its rule of the country from 1975 to 1979, immediately after the end of the Cambodian Civil War (1970–1975). The mass killings are widely regarded as part of a broad state-sponsored genocide.
The Cambodian–Vietnamese War, otherwise known in Vietnam as the Counter-offensive on the Southwestern border, was an armed conflict between the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and Democratic Kampuchea. The war began with isolated clashes along the land and maritime boundaries of Vietnam and Kampuchea between 1975 and 1978, occasionally involving division-sized military formations. On 25 December 1978, Vietnam launched a full-scale invasion of Kampuchea and subsequently occupied the country and removed the Communist Party of Kampuchea government from power.
Buddhism in Cambodia has existed since at least the 5th century. In its earliest form it was a type of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Today, the predominant form of Buddhism in Cambodia is Theravada Buddhism. It is enshrined in the Cambodian constitution as the official religion of the country. Theravada Buddhism has been the Cambodian state religion since the 13th century. As of 2010 it was estimated that 96.9 percent of the population was Buddhist, and is currently estimated to be the faith of 95% of the population.
Siem Reap is the capital city of Siem Reap Province in northwestern Cambodia. It is a popular resort town and a gateway to the Angkor region.
The state of Kampuchea, officially Democratic Kampuchea, existed between 1975 and 1979 in present-day Cambodia. The state was controlled by the Khmer Rouge (KR) and was founded when KR forces defeated the Khmer Republic of Lon Nol in 1975.
The People's Republic of Kampuchea was founded in Cambodia by the Salvation Front, a group of Cambodian communists dissatisfied with the Khmer Rouge after the overthrow of Democratic Kampuchea, Pol Pot's government. Brought about by an invasion from the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, which routed the Khmer Rouge armies, it had Vietnam and the Soviet Union as its main allies.
This article details the fixtures and results of the Cambodia national football team.
The Cambodian genocide was carried out by the Khmer Rouge regime under the leadership of Pol Pot, inflicting a population loss between 1.671 and 1.871 million people from 1975 to 1979, or 21 to 24 percent of Cambodia’s 1975 population. The Khmer Rouge wanted to turn the country into a socialist agrarian republic, founded on the policies of ultra-Maoism. In 1976, the Khmer Rouge changed the name of the country to Democratic Kampuchea. In order to fulfill their goals, the Khmer Rouge emptied the cities and forced Cambodians to relocate to labor camps in the countryside, where mass executions, forced labor, physical abuse, malnutrition, and disease were prevalent. This resulted in the death of approximately 25 percent of Cambodia's total population. Approximately 20,000 people passed through the Tuol Sleng Centre, one of the 196 prisons operated by the Khmer Rouge, and only 7 adults survived. The opposition were taken to the Killing Fields, where they were executed and buried in mass graves. The abduction and indoctrination of children was widespread, and many were persuaded or forced to commit atrocities. The genocide triggered a second outflow of refugees, many escaping to neighboring Vietnam and, to a lesser extent, Thailand. The Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia ended the genocide by defeating the Khmer Rouge in 1979.
