Phnom Penh is the capital and most populous city of Cambodia. It has been the national capital since the French protectorate of Cambodia and has grown to become the nation's primate city and its economic,industrial,and cultural centre. Before Phnom Penh became capital city,Oudong was the capital of the country.
Marshal Lon Nol was a Cambodian military officer and politician who served as Prime Minister of Cambodia twice,as well as serving repeatedly as defence minister and provincial governor. As a nationalist and conservative,he led the military coup of 1970 against Prince Norodom Sihanouk,abolished the monarchy,and established the short-lived Khmer Republic. Constitutionally a semi-presidential republic,Cambodia was de facto governed under a military dictatorship. He was the commander-in-chief of the Khmer National Armed Forces during the Cambodian Civil War. On April 1,1975,16 days before the Khmer Rouge captured Phnom Penh,Lon Nol fled to the United States,first to Hawaii and then to California,where he remained until his death in 1985.
Norodom Sihanouk was a member of the Cambodian royal house who led the country as King and Prime Minister. In Cambodia,he is known as Samdech Euv. During his lifetime,Cambodia was under various regimes,from French colonial rule,a Japanese puppet state (1945),an independent kingdom (1953–1970),a military republic (1970–1975),the Khmer Rouge regime (1975–1979),a Vietnamese-backed communist regime (1979–1989),a transitional communist regime (1989–1993) to eventually another kingdom.
Cambodia,officially the Kingdom of Cambodia,is a country in Mainland Southeast Asia. It borders Thailand to the northwest,Laos to the north,Vietnam to the east,and has a coastline along the Gulf of Thailand on the southwest. It spans an area of 181,035 square kilometres,and has a population of about 17 million. Its capital and most populous city is Phnom Penh.
Milton Edgeworth Osborne,is an Australian historian,author,and consultant specializing in Southeast Asia.
Ieng Thirith was an influential intellectual and politician in the Khmer Rouge,although she was neither a member of the Khmer Rouge Standing Committee nor of the Central Committee. Ieng Thirith was the wife of Ieng Sary,who was Minister of Foreign Affairs of Democratic Kampuchea's Khmer Rouge regime. She served as Minister of Social Affairs from October 1975 until the fall of the Khmer Rouge in 1979.
Benedict F. "Ben" Kiernan is an Australian-born American historian who is the Whitney Griswold Professor Emeritus of History,Professor of International and Area Studies and Director of the Genocide Studies Program at Yale University.
Long Boret was a Cambodian politician who served as the last prime minister of the Khmer Republic from 26 December 1973,to 17 April 1975. Highly regarded for his honesty,he tried unsuccessfully to negotiate a peace settlement with the Khmer Rouge during the Cambodian Civil War. He was later arrested by the Khmer Rouge and executed. He is one of two prime ministers to die in office,the other being Chan Sy. He is also the longest serving prime minister under the presidency of Lon Nol for the Khmer Republic.
George Chigas is an American writer,scholar and expert on Cambodian culture and the crimes of the Khmer Rouge. He is currently an associate teaching professor in the World Languages and Cultures department at the University of Massachusetts Lowell.
Bilateral relations between the United States and Cambodia,while strained throughout the Cold War,have strengthened considerably in modern times. The U.S. supports efforts in Cambodia to combat terrorism,build democratic institutions,promote human rights,foster economic development,eliminate corruption.
Son Chhay is a Cambodian politician,and one of the highest-ranking members of the Cambodia National Rescue Party. Son Chhay graduated in 1984 from Flinders University in Australia with a bachelor's degree in Mathematical Science. This was followed by a Diploma in Education from the University of Adelaide in 1985. Son Chhay was first elected to parliament in 1993 representing his birth province of Siem Reap and reelected in 1998 in the same province. From 2003 to the present he is a member of parliament representing Phnom Penh in the National Assembly of Cambodia. Son Chhay is well respected for his tireless effort to fight against corruption,promoting liberal democracy and human rights On 14 June 2010,Son Chhay was awarded the Order of Australia award for his services to Cambodia and the Cambodian Australian community in Australia. He is currently married to Christina Son and has 3 children.
Cambodia does not recognize same-sex marriage or civil unions,but does recognize a registry program known as the "declaration of family relationship" offering limited legal rights to same-sex couples. As of June 2021,the registry has been introduced to 68 communes. Same-sex marriage has received support from King Norodom Sihamoni and his late father,King Norodom Sihanouk.
General Sak Sutsakhan was a Cambodian politician and soldier who had a long career in the country's politics. He was the last Head of State of the Khmer Republic,the regime overthrown by the Khmer Rouge in 1975. Sak Sutsakhan formed a pro-US force known as the Khmer Sâ. As a businessman,Sak Sutsakhan notably owned a Dairy Queen franchise in Anaheim,California.
General Dien Del was a prominent Cambodian military officer and later,politician. He directed combat operations in Cambodia,first as a general in the Army of the Khmer Republic (1970–1975) and then as a leader of Khmer People's National Liberation Front (KPNLF) guerrilla forces fighting against the Vietnamese occupation (1979–1992). Following Vietnam's withdrawal from Cambodia in 1990,he presided over the demobilization of the KPNLF's armed forces in February 1992. In 1998 he was elected to the National Legislative Assembly as a member of FUNCINPEC. He spent the last fifteen years of his career as advisor to the Cambodian government.
The Center for Khmer Studies is an independent American Overseas Research Center working to promote research,teaching and public service in the social sciences,arts and humanities,as they are related to Cambodia and the Mekong region. CKS also aims to connect Cambodian scholars,students and artists with their international colleagues for the purposes of fostering understanding of Cambodia and Southeast Asia.
The Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK),also known as the Khmer Communist Party,was a far-left communist party in Cambodia. Its leader was Pol Pot,and its members were generally known as the Khmer Rouge. Originally founded in 1951,the party was split into pro-Chinese and pro-Soviet factions as a result of the Sino–Soviet split with the former being the Pol Pot faction,and the latter adopting a more revisionist approach to Marxism. As such,it claimed that 30 September 1960 was its founding date;it was named the Workers' Party of Kampuchea before it was renamed the Communist Party in 1966.
Mam Nai or Mam Nay,nom de guerre Comrade Chan (សមមិត្តច័ន្ទ),is a Cambodian war criminal and former lieutenant of Santebal,the internal security branch of the Khmer Rouge communist movement,which ruled Democratic Kampuchea from 1975 to 1979. He was the leader of the interrogation unit at Tuol Sleng (S-21),assisting Kang Kek Iew,the head of the camp where thousands were held for interrogation,torture and subsequent killing.
Michael Theodore Vickery was an American historian,lecturer,and author known for his works about the history of Southeast Asia.
Vandy Rattana is a photographer and artist,now resident in Taiwan,whose work is concerned with Cambodian society.
Cambodian rock of the 1960s and 1970s was a thriving and prolific music scene based in Phnom Penh,Cambodia,in which musicians created a unique sound by combining traditional Cambodian music forms with rock and pop influences from records imported into the country from Latin America,Europe,and the United States. U.S. armed forces radio that had been broadcast to troops stationed nearby during the Vietnam War was also a primary influence. This music scene was abruptly crushed by the Khmer Rouge communists in 1975,and many of its musicians disappeared or were executed during the ensuing Cambodian genocide. Due to its unique sounds and the tragic fate of many of its performers,the Cambodian rock scene has attracted the interest of music historians and record collectors,and the genre gained new popularity upon the international release of numerous compilation albums starting in the late 1990s.
