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A Brief History of Cambodia

Early Cambodian History
Cambodia, in the form of the Khmer Empire was once a powerful Empire in its own right and from the 10th Century until the 15th Century was one of the most powerful states in South East Asia. However, the Khmer Empire entered a period of decline in the 14th Century, in part due to the devastating effects of the Plague, known as the Black Death, which had been unleashed upon the entire globe. This weakened empire was eventually dissolved in 1431, and the succeeding kingdom of Cambodia wound up as a vassal state of Siam (Thailand) and Vietnam, who competed with each other for dominance in the area.

French Colonisation
French expansion into Vietnam (at the time known as French Indochina) in the 19th Century led to the establishment of a French protectorate over Cambodia, in the 1860s, at the acquiescence of Cambodian King Norodom I. Although Cambodia’s borders expanded as the result of territorial concessions from Siam, France gradually took over administrative control of the Kingdom and made Phnom Penh the capital of Cambodia. French gunboat diplomacy (literally by placing gunboats with their gunboats trained upon the royal palace) forced the Cambodian king to accept French policies, as happened on one occasion in 1884.

Independence
During World War II, Japan occupied much of Cambodia, although the Vichy French Government was allowed to remain in control of the Cambodian administration. However, this was rescinded in March 1945 as the dying Japanese Empire desperately attempted to drum up local nationalist support by declaring Cambodia to be independent of France. Son Ngoc Thanh was recalled from Tokyo by King Sihanouk in May to become Prime Minister of the newly independent Cambodia. However, in October 1945, weeks after the Japanese surrendered, the French reoccupied Phnom Penh and reasserted their sovereignty over Cambodia.
The Post-War political atmosphere compelled France to move towards granting Cambodia towards independence however, and in 1949, Cambodia was granted a high level of self-government, followed by full independence in 1953. King Sihanouk formally abdicated in favour of his father Norodom Suramit in 1955, who reigned until his death in 1960. Although Prince Sihanouk took power once again, he did not reassume the title of King, and whilst Cambodia remained officially a kingdom, the throne remained officially vacant.

Rise of the Khmer Rouge
The newly independent nation began to degenerate into authoritarianism as the Royal Government resorted to force and intimidation to quell any political opposition. Opponents were often arrested and tortured, or simply assassinated. Rural peasants in Cambodia still worked in conditions that could only be described as semi-feudal, and this combined with brutal Government repression, led to widespread unrest in the countryside, and provided fertile recruiting ground for utopian leftist guerrilla movements.
In 1970, Prince Sihanouk was overthrown in a right-wing coup orchestrated by Prime Minister Lon Nol and Prince Sirik Matik, the former King’s cousin. The government proved to be even less popular than the previous Royal Government, and the Khmer Rouge Rebels went from strength to strength, seizing more territory until they reached Phnom Penh in 1975. The capture of Phnom Penh by the Khmer Rouge marked the beginning of 5 horrifying years of genocidal misrule by a party whose very ideology could only be described accurately as one of murderous, criminal lunacy.

The Killing Fields
The Khmer Rouge, led by Pol Pot (a failed academic who would later harbour a brutal hatred of the educated classes) declared the fall of Phnom Penh to be the start of a New Year Zero, marking the beginning of a new revolutionary era. He ordered that the capital and other urban areas be emptied of its population in order that they could be sent to the countryside to work in the fields to create a new ‘utopian’ agrarian socialist state. The country was renamed ‘Democratic Kampuchea’, a mockery of a name that belied the utter totalitarianism of the new regime. The Khmer Rouge divided the Cambodian population into those they called ‘old people’ (rural dwellers) and ‘new people’ (those who came from urban areas). Generally speaking, those who were regarded as ‘new people’ were marked out for destruction through overwork, starvation or execution. The brutal slogan ‘to keep you is no benefit, to kill you is no loss’ summed up the Khmer Rouge’s attitude to these people, which, if nothing else, was an unusually honest and forthright declaration of a communist government’s intentions towards its people and the effects of their policies upon them. Anyone who was believed to be a potential opponent of this wicked and imbecilic regime was liable to summary execution or worse. Those particularly liable to become victims of the new order included ethnic minorities, the disabled, teachers, intellectuals (often identified by the fact they wore glasses) members of the previous governments or anyone else who was not considered to be useful to the new agrarian socialist state. Those not fortunate enough to be killed immediately were subjected to torture to extract bogus confessions of various crimes against the people before being taken away to one of the killing fields to dig their own graves prior to being murdered by brainwashed peasants, some of whom were no more than children. Those executed were more often than not beaten, stabbed or poisoned to death in order to save money on bullets, before being buried in shallow graves that were as deep as the starved condition of their unfortunate victims allowed them to dig for themselves. Many more died of disease and starvation due to famine induced by the inefficient medieval methods of agriculture idealised by the Khmer Rouge, and by diseases that might have been abated somewhat if not for the regime’s superstitious distrust of modern medicine and foreign imports of anything other than weapons.
Fortunately for the people of Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge’s irrational hatred of the Vietnamese brought this madness to an end sooner than might otherwise have been the case. Having carried on violating Vietnam’s territorial integrity many times in spite of warnings to desist, the Vietnamese finally invaded, took Phnom Penh and installed its own moderate Communist government, driving the Khmer Rouge back into the hills and jungles of Cambodia from whence they had come.

Post Khmer Rouge
The rebuilding process of Cambodia took place slowly, as the Khmer Rouge had largely murdered or driven out Cambodia’s educated classes. However, by the late 1980s, this process was well advanced and Vietnam withdrew the last of its troops in 1989. The fall of the Soviet Union encouraged a change in the government’s communist outlook and a new constitution officially changed the name back to Cambodia from Kampuchea.
Nostalgia for the old monarchy took hold, and this saw the reintroduction of old monarchist symbols. In 1993, Prince Sihanouk was restored as King of Cambodia under a constitutional monarchy. He reigned until 2004 when he abdicated in favour of his son. Interestingly, Sihanouk is still alive at the time of writing this (December 2011), and he has reigned continuously from the time he first came to the throne in 1941. Sihanouk is the longest-serving head of state and the only surviving head of state from the World War II era.

Cambodian Coins
During the French Colonial Period, Cambodia used the Indochinese Piastre. In 1953, the Cambodian government introduced the Riel, in reference to the Spanish currency which once circulated in the area during the heyday of Spanish Imperialism. The Riel was initially divided into 100 Centimes, as the Piastre had been, and aluminium coins of 10, 20 and 50 Centimes were struck for circulation. In 1959, the Centime was renamed the Sen, in common with many other south-east Asian countries. A 1 Riel coin was prepared, but not released for circulation due to the coup which overthrew Prince Sihanouk in 1970. In 1975, the Khmer Rouge abolished money, and no coins were struck for Cambodia again until 1980. Today, coins of 50, 100, 200, 500 Riel are issued for circulation. Higher denominations are issued in banknote form.

For Sale and Wanted
If you are interested in coins from Cambodia please see our product index:-
Cambodian Coins

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