Country Information on Cambodia 

Terrain

About 75% of Central Cambodia is a basin surrounded by mountains, where the Mekong River (the country's largest river) and the Tonle Sap Lake, which is rich in fish, are found. The Cardamoms, which are located in the south west, contain the country's highest peak, which is more than 1,800 metres high. The Cardamoms and the Dangrek moutains, which are located in the north, form a natural border with Thailand. The coastline is made up of narrow plains and numerous offshore islands.

Climate

Cambodia has a tropical monsoon climate. The rainy season lasts from mid-April to mid-October, which is when the Mekong River swells and flows into Lake Tonle Sap, enlarging it to about three times its original size. Between November and April, the winds are gentler and the temperature is higher, reaching around 35°C.

Fauna/Flora

The biggest threat to Cambodia's natural environment is deforestation, which reduced the country's forest coverage from 75% in the mid-1960s to 49% in the mid-1990s. The number of national parks is slowly growing, but illegal logging is still a danger to the forests.

Its national parks include Bokor, on the south coast, Ream, near Sihanoukville, Kirirom, outside Phnom Penh, and Virachay, on the border with Laos and Vietnam. The most common trees are the rubber tree, the coconut palm tree, the palm tree and the banana tree. Deer, wild oxen, buffaloes, panthers, bears and tigers, as well as many different species of birds all add to Cambodia's rich fauna.

History/Politics

The area of present-day Cambodia was occupied by the Mon and Khmer people around AD 600, who formed small kingdoms and states. In the 9th century AD, during the reign of Jayavaram II, the Angkor period began, which marked the emergence of a great empire that encompassed a large amount of South Asia. Halfway through the 12th century, the empire began to decline; in 1431, Siam defeated Angkor and in 1594 it gained political control over the country.

Over the centuries that followed, Cambodia was controlled by Vietnam and Siam, until the whole region became a French colony in 1863, and Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam together became French Indochina. When King Norodom died in 1904, the French named his brother Sisowath and not one of his sons the successor to the throne. Sisowath ruled until 1927 and was succeeded by his son Monivong.

In 1940, Indochina fell into Japanese hands, and they dethroned the king, who was succeeded by his son Norodom Sihanouk in 1941. After the Second World War, France reoccupied Indochina; however, the king attained some autonomy within the French Union in 1949 and the country gained its independence in 1953.

In 1955, Sihanouk abdicated in favour of his father so as to dedicate himself to politics and in 1960 he became Head of State. Cambodia remained neutral in the first years of the Vietnam war, but in 1965, when it was bombed by pro-American factions, it broke off diplomatic relations with the United States of America.

In 1970, Sihanouk was overthrown by General Lon Nol, who immediately proclaimed a republic and began to support the North American fight against the Viet Cong. This meant that Cambodia had entered the war and the Khmer Rouge's resistance intensified, with the support of North Vietnam and Prince Sihanouk from his exile.

In April 1975, Pol Pot, leader of the Khmer Rouge, overthrew Lon Nol and immediately proclaimed it Democratic Kampuchea. That period of time was known for its mass exodus of people from towns to the countryside and the great number of people who died as a result of their resistance.

In 1979, Pol Pot was ousted by Vietnamese forces, the People's Republic of Kampuchea was formed and a new pro-Hanoi government was formed. Over the decade that followed, peace talks and negotiations on the formation of a new government in Cambodia began. This resulted in the gradual withdrawal of the Vietnamese troops, the signing of a peace treaty in 1991, the country changing its name and the announcement of a new constitution which created a parliamentary monarchy in 1993 with King Sihanouk as Head of State.

In July 2004, the country's largest parties agreed to form a coalition, which brought an end to the governmental crisis which had lasted for almost a year. In October of the same year, the king abdicated due to health reasons and in the same month the throne council named Sihamoni as his father's successor.

Economy

Traditionally, rice and rubber are products that have always been exported, but most of the rubber plantations were not cultivated due to the civil war, so exports decreased dramatically. Inadequate transportation meant that it was not possible to exploit the country's vast forests, however, by the mid-1990s the export of timber had become the country's main source of income.

The exploitation of phosphate rock, calcareous stone, semiprecious stones and salt sustains large local mining operations. The official unemployment rate was 2.8% in 2003 and the inflation rate was 3.5%.

Culture

Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom are well-known examples of the Khmer empire's architecture. The country's most obvious link with its glorious past is its imperial ballet, traditionally linked to the dances of Thailand, Java and India.