Angkor Era 834 CE - 1430 CE Establishment of Angkor Wat - "Holy City"

Post Angkor 1431 CE - Present Modern Cambodia

Early History: Khmer civilization has its origins in the influence of Indian culture brought by sea faring traders of the West.  Indian traders introduced more advanced cultural techniques that were steadfastly adopted by the ancestors of Khmer people, while at the same time maintaining their own traditional cultural roots. When the Indian traders set up posts for the collection of goods and products, they also introduced aspects of their culture which included religion, politics, writing and engineering techniques. During the pre-Angkor period of Funan, as recorded by Chinese historians, the early ancestors of Khmer started to evolve into a more advanced civilization by adopting these beneficial aspects of Indian civilization.  They were able to set up their first irrigation systems for farming. When Chenla, its vassal state, took over the former area of Funan, most of the area flourished for a short time. Then it began to divide in North and South states, which was later reunited by Jayavarman I in the middle of the 7th century.

It wasn't until Jayavarman II that Angkor became a unified kingdom.  He was the first to proclaim himself as the "god-king" and was highly influential in establishing the beginnings of the Khmer civilization. As a warrior he was able to lead his people militarily and keep "Kambuja" a sovereign and protected state. He established the first capital in Rolous. After Jayavarman II's death, succeeding kings began to build the first primitive temples for the worship of Hindu gods. The first water reservoir was also built during this time. The capital was later moved to present day Angkor in 893CE.

Angkor went through a numerous succession of kings. Many of those leaders influenced the construction of the temples seen today in Angkor Wat, which were also set up to distinguish and commemorate their reign. The development of Khmer civilization during the Angkor Era owes much of its success to the strategic positioning of its capital, the modernizing methods of irrigation for agricultural use, and the divine monarchy rule that unified the common people.

Language: The official language of the Kingdom of Cambodia is Khmer, which is a part of the Mon-Khmer family both influenced by Indian Pali and Sanskrit and bits of Thai and French; there is also a relation to the  hill-tribe languages of Laos, Vietnam, and Malaysia.

Daily Life: The life of the early Khmer people was divided by sex roles, in which the women participated in trade as vendors in the marketplace and men participated in agriculture and fishing.

Religion/Traditions: Many aspects of Hinduism were heavily adopted during the time of the first constructions of religious temples.  Most of those temples were devoted to the gods Shiva and Vishnu.  Archeologists believe that the establishment of Hinduism for Khmer society was to politically support the monarch, who upheld himself as a "god-king" and the reincarnation of Shiva.  This belief established the legitimacy to his divine reign.

Art/Architecture: The temples of Angkor initially were used for worship of the Hindu gods Shiva and Vishnu, but later was adapted to Buddhism when it become dominant.  Many of the stories depicted on the walls come from Hindu myths such as the Ramayana and Mahabharata.  The relief carvings and sculptures all around Angkor include divine and mythological creatures such as the serpent naga, dancing asparas, and demon kalas. The Angkor Wat site was constructed to resemble the five sacred mountains with Mount Meru at its center, surrounded by a moat which represented the cosmic ocean.

References

Art-and-Archeology.com

Angkor, Cambodia: Archeological Site. Electronic document, http://www.art-and-archaeology.com/seasia/angkor/angkorsite.html.

Cambodia-Angkor Wat Travel Professional

2000  Khmer Civilization: History of Cambodia. Electronic document, http://www.cambodia-travel.com/khmer-civilization.htm.

Khmer Civilization Foundation

Map of Khmer Empire. Electronic document, http://www.okcf.org/.

Mekong.Net

2009  Beauty and Darkness: Cambodia in Modern History. Electronic document, http://www.mekong.net/cambodia/index.htm.

Tourism of Cambodia

1999  Khmer Culture. Electronic document, http://www.tourismcambodia.com/culture/.

Images

Photographs courtesy of Veseth Poy and Toeun Chiet

Written by: Sitha Im, 2009