History of Cambodia

Pre-Angkor Era

No one knows exactly when the earliest inhabitants came to establish their home in the land known today as Cambodia. But the skulls and bones of people who lived at about 1,500 years BC were found at a site in the northwest of Cambodia. The analysis of these remains showed that they looked like those of the present Khmer people. In addition, it was found that the people in the early years AD in this territory spoke a language similar to today’s Khmer language. These findings appear to indicate that the Khmer people have continuously lived for at least 3,500 years in the land known today as Cambodia.

The first major transformation in Cambodia occurred at the 1st century when the Cambodians embraced the Indian civilizations. During the first 500 years AD, Cambodians obtained various knowledge from India including Khmer scripts, Sanskrit, hierarchy system, Buddhism, political system, sociology, architecture, astrology, esthetics, etc. It has been said that probably India gave the Cambodians the skillsets needed for the development of Angkor.

The information about Cambodia up to the 6th century relied mostly on the Chinese imperial records. The most notable religious-commercial-political hub during this era was known to the Chinese as “Funan” and sat southeast of Phnom Penh in Kampuchea Krom, present day South Vietnam. From the start of the 7th century, Cambodian inscriptions in Khmer and Sanskrit have emerged and greatly expanded the historical records. The most notable center during the 7th and 8th centuries was known as “Chenla” and was thought to be located farther away from the coastal region.

Angkor Wat, 9th-15th Centuries

At the peak of its glory – in the reign of Jayavarman VII – the Cambodia Kingdom extended from the China Sea to the Ménam River, covering an area five times Cambodia’s present size. Cochin-China, Laos central and southern provinces, and nearly all of present Thailand were at that time part of Cambodia.

Spanning over 600 years (9th-15th centuries), Angkor Kingdom was the most influential power in Southeast Asia, and drew visitors and gifts from as far away as the Malaysian peninsula and Myanmar.

During this time, a large irrigation system was developed near Tonle Saab. The water flowing all year allowed rice to be sowed and harvested two to three times a year, doubling or tripling production. This novelty made Cambodia robust and wealthy, attracted newcomers, and greatly increased the number of inhabitants in the area. As a result, the kings extended control over more territory and people. Prosperity was exploited by successive kings. They built temples one after another, and when the last stone was laid, the vast complex covered an area of 400 square kilometers. Angkor complex is said to be one of the world’s wonders. Visitors from all over the world come to see these larger-than-life treasures.

Post-Angkor, 16th-19th Centuries

Like many empires before her, Angkor kingdom came and went. No one knows for sure why she declined so quickly in the middle of the 15th century. The causes mentioned by various historians include epidemics, chronic wars with neighbors, soil exhaustion, change of religion (from Hinduism to Buddhism), etc. Whatever the causes, the dramatic downfall resulted in a much weakened and much smaller country. At one point, shortly before French colonization, she was very near extinction.

Cambodia entered her darkest days in the post-Angkor era when the Siamese in the West and Vietnamese states in the East rose next door at the same time. This was exacerbated by endless infighting between Cambodian royals and their reliance on neighbors – Vietnamese or Siamese – to stay in power. In 1863, the Cambodian king asked the French for protection, not realizing that protection would lead to colonialism. An erosion of sovereignty and huge losses of territory to the same neighbors occurred. For a brief time, no king was on the throne. It was as if Cambodia no longer existed.

Cambodia in the 20th and 21st Centuries

It is quite amazing that in the past few hundred years until recently, Cambodia survived various attempts by neighbors and her own people to end her national identity and wipe her off the map. But thank God, unlike her neighbor Champa in 1832, she somehow escaped extinction and retains a good chunk of territory today.

Cambodians are very friendly people, rich in traditions, remnants of a civilization dating back to the Moses era, and certainly heirs of Angkor Wat. Cambodia remains, today a priceless gem from the past.

King Sihanouk

In 1941, the World War Two era, a brilliant young royal, Norodom Sihanouk, succeeded with the help of the French government to the Cambodian throne previously held by King Monivong, his father-in-law. Sihanouk was 18. His astute leadership led him to rise and become very popular during the next thirty years, during which time his title changed from king to prince to prime minister and “head of State.” Sihanouk succeeded in 1953 in securing Cambodia’s independence from French colonization, and later amassed even more power by creating a new party, the National United Front of Kampuchea, with socialist leanings.

Sihanouk was a good king for the most part but his socialism leaning remained a persisting problem. He remained somehow a king even after all the changes of regimes till his death in 2012.

Wider Picture

1950: Cambodian communists join forces with Vietnam against French colonialism

1954: France withdraws from Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos. Cambodia under Sihanouk is non-aligned in foreign policy and neutral in the Vietnam War

1962: Pol Pot takes the place of a Cambodian communist leader who disappeared; Pol Pot makes plans for a rebellion

1965: U.S. escalates the Vietnam War and Vietnamese communist forces increasingly seek safety in Cambodia, often over the Hi Chi Minh trail 

1967: Pol Pot launches an insurgency against Sihanouk and is brutally repressed

1969: U.S. B-52 bombardment of Vietnamese sanctuaries in Cambodia begins. Sihanouk breaks with the U.S

1970: While Sihanouk is out of the country, a coup establishes Defense Secretary Lon Nol as president of the Khmer Republic, backed by the U.S

1973: B-52 bombardments in support of Lon Nol reach their peak. Pol Pot takes advantage of the destruction and uses it as a recruiting tool for the Khmer Rouge (Red Cambodians)

1975: On April 17, Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge forces defeat Lon Nol’s Khmer Republic forces in Phnom Penh and force all city residents to leave. The country is cut off from the outside world. Surrendered Lon Nol officers, soldiers and officials are killed, there is forced agricultural labor for all, and brutal persecution of Buddhist monks and ethnic minorities. Purges of evacuated urban dwellers

1977: Purges of peasants as well as evacuated urban dwellers. The Khmer Rouge launch attacks on all three borders: Vietnam, Thailand and Laos, and later refuses to negotiate the border dispute with Vietnam

1978: More purges. Killing fields. Rebels seek help from Hanoi

1979: Vietnamese troops overthrow and oust Pol Pot’s regime

Pol Pot

The greatest tragedy of Cambodia was the autogenocide (people killing their own) when Pol Pot took over the Asian nation in the mid-1970s. Roughly two million Cambodians (one-third of the population) perished during the Khmer Rouge (1975-1978). It resembled the holocaust during WWII when six million Jews lost their lives. The Lord told prophet Ezekiel about the rebirth of Israel. The Cambodian tragedy was similar. Dried bones coming back to life in Ezekiel 37 also describes what occurred in Cambodia when survivors were given new lives by the grace, love, and mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Post-Pol Pot era

In late 1978, Vietnam’s intervention in Cambodia stopped the Khmer Rouge (KR) from executing the remaining survivors. As they retreated to the jungle, hundreds of thousands of hungry, frightened, anxious, and exhausted survivors fled the Killing Fields by walking across the border full of mines to Thailand. These poor souls had nothing but were met by scores of good news messengers who brought food, clothes, medicine, and blessed hope. Some accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

These followers of Christ and others who put their faith in Jesus later in a third country became the core foundation of the Cambodian missions/churches which sprang up in the 1980s, ’90s and thereafter in the United States. They started with nothing except the love of Jesus. Among them were Baptists. At one point, there were more than 60 Cambodian churches and missions of all denominations scattered throughout the U.S.

Hun Sen

In the early 1990s, Cambodia struggled to recover from Pol Pot. Hun Sen, a former military commander turned politician, became Prime Minister in 1985 and served until 2023. He faced two enemies in his early days: the leftover of the Khmer Rouge and the freedom fighters. For ten years after he was in charge, Hun Sen failed to uplift the Killing Fields’ survivors out of their misery.

The Lord called believers to pray. Dozens of Christian leaders flew thousands of miles to pray together in Singapore in 1989 for the Cambodian homeland, asking the Lord to have mercy on its suffering people. Christians specifically pleaded with Him to open the door of Cambodia to the gospel. Since the early 1990s, thousands upon thousands have been turning to Christ. It is awesome! Their newfound faith eased their suffering, healed them physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.

Cambodia Today and Tomorrow

Since early in the 21st century, Cambodia has begun to catch up with her neighbors in terms of economic development. High rises appeared, highways and infrastructure popped up in the capital and other cities. The face of Cambodia started to look less like Pol Pot’s Cambodia and more like a modern nation. A distinct quality is that she continues to be open to the gospel, much more so than her immediate neighbors. Thus, a few Christians began to hold positions in the government.

Currently, it appears that the torch has already begun to be passed on to the more educated young people. A new generation of ministers was named on August 22, 2023, to lead the nation. The new and young Prime Minister is Hen Sen’s eldest son, Hun Manet. He is well educated, equipped, and trained in economics at the West Point Military Academy in the U.S. Manet in 2009 earned a Ph.D. degree in economics from the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom. The other ministers in the Cambodian government are also young and well-educated.

Dr. Hun Manet appeared to be friendly toward Christians. He publicly, personally, and respectfully presented a gift to Dr. Franklin Graham when Graham was in Phnom Penh in 2019 for a Christian evangelistic mission. Without knowing more about Manet’s personal conviction, we can assume he is not an anti-Christian leader.

Cambodian leaders in the U.S. pray the new Cambodian government leaders will continue to be good and gentle to the Christian believers in the days ahead. We pray she will remain open to the gospel, and that wisdom will be bestowed on the younger generation to lead the nation into a new and prosperous era. We pray the Lord will lead Cambodia to become a redeemed nation like Nineveh when the people there affirmed and embraced the truth of God’s words.