Cambodia Geography
Cambodia is a country in mainland Southeast Asia, bordering Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, the Gulf of Thailand. The country is situated in its entirety inside the tropical Indomalayan ecozone and the Indochina Time zone (ICT).
Cambodia's main geographical features are the low lying Central Plain that includes the Tonlé Sap basin, the lower Mekong River flood-plains and the Bassac River plain surrounded by mountain ranges to the north, east, in the south-west and south. The central lowlands extend into Vietnam to the south-east. The south and south-west of the country constitute a 443 km (275 mi) long coast at the Gulf of Thailand, characterized by sizable mangrove marshes, peninsulas, sandy beaches and headlands and bays. Cambodia's territorial waters account for over 50 islands. The highest peak is Phnom Aural, sitting 1,810 meters, (5,938 ft) above sea level.
The landmass is bisected by the Mekong river, which at 486 km (302 mi) is the longest river in Cambodia. After extensive rapids, turbulent sections and cataracts in Laos, the river enters the country at Stung Treng province, is predominantly calm and navigable during the entire year as it widens considerably in the lowlands. The Mekong's waters disperse into the surrounding wetlands of central Cambodia and strongly affect the seasonal nature of the Tonlé Sap lake.
Two third of the country's population live in the lowlands, where the rich sediment deposited during the Mekong's annual flooding makes the agricultural lands highly fertile. The forests, low mountain ranges and local eco-regions still retain much of their natural potential and although still home to the largest areas of contiguous and intact forests in mainland Southeast Asia.
The majority of the country lies within the Tropical savanna climate zone, as the coastal areas in the South and West receive noticeably more and steady rain before and during the wet season. These areas constitute the easternmost fringes of the south-wes.t monsoon, determined to be inside the Tropical monsoon climate. Countrywide there are two seasons of relatively equal length, defined by varying precipitation as temperatures and humidity are generally high and steady throughout the entire year.
Pre-History
ANCIENT HISTORY OF CAMBODIA
A carbon-l4 dating from a cave in northwestern Cambodia
suggests that people using stone tools lived in the cave as early as 4000 B.C.,
and rice has been grown on Cambodian soil since well before the A.D. 1st
century. The first Cambodians likely arrived long before either of these dates.
They probably migrated from the north, although nothing is known about their
language or their way of life.
Source: Tourism of Cambodia
The earliest evidence
of habitation in Cambodia has been found at Loang Spean in northwestern
Cambodia. It was occupied beginning around 5000 B.C. by people who lived in
caves, polished stones and decorated pottery with cord and comb markings. The
first evidence of village-like settlements comes from a site called
Bas-Plateaux, in southeastern Cambodia, first occupied in the 2nd century B.C.
The earliest evidence of human habitation in the Angkor area
has been dated at 5000 B.C. and was in the form of artifacts and remains from
pre-Bronze-Age hunter-gatherers. Samrog Sen, in central Cambodia not too far
from Angkor Wat, was occupied around 1500 B.C. The bones found at the site are
similar to those of modern Cambodians. The use of metal began around 1000 B.C.
and became widespread by 500 B.C.
According to the
Library of Congress: “By the first century A.D., the inhabitants of had
developed relatively stable, organized societies, which had far surpassed the
primitive stage in culture and technical skills. The most advanced groups lived
along the coast and in the lower Mekong River valley and delta regions, where
they cultivated irrigated rice and kept domesticated animals. Scholars believe
that these people may have been Austroasiatic in origin and related to the
ancestors of the groups who now inhabit insular Southeast Asia and many of the
islands of the Pacific Ocean. They worked metals, including both iron and bronze,
and possessed navigational skills. Mon-Khmer people, who arrived at a later
date, probably intermarried with them.
Source: Library of Congress, December 1987
According to Lonely
Planet: “Much of the southeast was a vast, shallow gulf that was progressively
silted up by the mouths of the Mekong, leaving pancake-flat, mineral-rich land
ideal for farming. Evidence of cave-dwellers has been found in the northwest of
Cambodia. Carbon dating on ceramic pots found in the area shows that they were
made around 4200 BC, but it is hard to say whether there is a direct
relationship between these cave-dwelling pot makers and contemporary Khmers.
Examinations of bones dating back to around 1500 BC, however, suggest that the
people living in Cambodia at that time resembled the Cambodians of today. Early
Chinese records report that the Cambodians were ‘ugly’ and ‘dark’ and went
about naked. However, a healthy dose of skepticism is always required when
reading the culturally chauvinistic reports of imperial China concerning its
‘barbarian’ neighbors.
Source: Lonely Planet
The following 600 years saw powerful Khmer kings dominate
much of present day Southeast Asia, from the borders of Myanmar east to the
South China Sea and north to Laos. It was during this period that Khmer kings
built the most extensive concentration of religious temples in the world - the
Angkor temple complex. The most successful of Angkor's kings, Jayavarman II,
Indravarman I, Suryavarman II and Jayavarman VII, also devised a masterpiece of
ancient engineering: a sophisticated irrigation system that includes barays
(gigantic man-made lakes) and canals that ensured as many as three rice crops a
year. Part of this system is still in use today.
Source: Factsanddetails
