Cambodia

Week 3: Cambodia (Official name: The Kingdom of Cambodia)

2009 Est Population: 14.8 million (Slightly greater than the state of Illinois). Similar density to that of Costa Rica or Spain.

Size: 69898 sq. miles (Slightly larger than Southern California)

Largest Cities: Phnom Penh (pronounced Pnom Pen “previously known as the Pearl of Asia” 2.0 million

Ethnicity: Khmer people (90%) native to this part of Indochina. Also there are significant Vietnamese and Chinese populations in the country.

Location:



Cambodia is located in South East Asia. It shares borders with Thailand, Vietnam and Laos. The borders between Cambodia and Laos are officially closed due to conflicting government structure, however passage between the two countries is possible.

Capital: Phnom Penh, located on the Mekong river, south central Cambodia.

Language: Khmer (similar to Vietnamese) is the official language. However, due to French rule many of the older generation speaks this language. Amid the rising popularity of English, many aspiring young people are learning it.

Religion: 95% Buddhism, 3% Islam and 2% Christian.


History:

The ancient Khmer Empire, controlled most of what is now Vietnam, Thailand and Laos. The Khmer headquarters was located in Angkor, Cambodia. and remained a dominate regional power until the 15th century, when it fell to Thai invaders. At that time Angkor supported more than one million citizens and was arguably the largest pre-industrial civilization.



Cambodia functioned as a protectorate of France from 1863 to 1953, although it was occupied by the Japanese from 1941 to 1945.

The government of Cambodia vied and won its independence in 1955 and began a long era of civil unrest and domesticated war. Conflicted by Western sympathies and Eastern proximity the Khmer Rouge regime, heavily influenced and backed by China seized power through ruthless bloodletting. The Khmer Rouge took power in 1975. Estimates as to how many people were killed by the Khmer Rouge regime range from approximately one to three million. This era gave rise to the term Killing Fields, and the prison Tuol Sleng became notorious for its history of mass killing.

Peace eluded Cambodia until the early 1990’s when U.N. was given permission to enforce a ceasefire and deal with domestic refugees and disarmament of the government.

Economy

Per capita income is rapidly increasing, but is low compared with other countries in the region. Most rural households depend on agriculture and its related sub-sectors. Rice, fish, timber, garments and rubber are Cambodia's major exports.

The recovery of Cambodia's economy slowed dramatically in 1997–98, due to the regional economic crisis, civil violence, and political infighting. Foreign investment and tourism also fell off drastically. Since then however, growth has been steady. In 1999, the first full year of peace in 30 years, progress was made on economic reforms and growth resumed at 5.0%.

Tourism play a major role in the recent development and support of the Cambodian economy. Second only to Textiles, tourism attract more that 4 million visitors a year to the Southeast Asian country which is noted for its historical sites and excellent beaches.



Source: Wikipedia.org and CNN.com