Cambodia (An Honorable Retelling)

Kingdom of Cambodia ព្រះរាជាណាចក្រកម្ពុជា Ríocht na Cambóide Timeline: An Honorable Retelling
Flag Coat of arms
Motto:  ជាតិ សាសនា មហាក្សត្រ "Nation, Religion, Monarch"
Anthem:  បទនគររាជ "Majestic Kingdom"
Capital (and largest city)		Phnom Penh
Official languages		Khmer • Irish
Demonym		Cambodian
Government		Unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy
-	Monarch	Norodom Sihamoni
-	Prime Minister	Hun Manet
Legislature		Parliament
-	Upper house	Senate
-	Lower house	National Assembly
Establishment
-	Formation	1431
-	Irish protectorate	1868-1960
-	Independence	8 June 1960
Currency		Irish pound (£)
Drives on the		right

Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia (Khmer: ព្រះរាជាណាចក្រកម្ពុជា, Irish: Ríocht na Cambóide) is a nation located in Southeast Asia. Forming in 1431, Cambodia is a unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy with both a king and Prime Minister sharing the responsibilities of governance.

Following the start of the Post-Angkor period in 1431, Cambodia has been ruled by varying dynasties and has experienced various challenges to its sovereignty culminating in an Irish conquest and subsequent Irish protectorate being established over Cambodia which lasted until 1960. Upon its independence, Cambodia has experienced an economic boom and remains a key player in Southeast Asian economics and geopolitics.

Cambodia is a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the Gaelic Union, the League to Enforce Peace, and is a strategic partner of the Global Treaty Organization. It ranks highly on the Human Development Index (HDI) and Global Democracy Index.

History

Pre-colonial history (1st century-1868)

The first verified kingdom to have ruled over what is now modern Cambodia is the Funan kingdom established at some point in the 1st century. The Funan kingdom was characterized by Chinese and Vietnamese scholars as being densely populated and largely concentrated around a select group of urban settlements. Funan was a loose confederation of communities rather than a centralized empire as seen in China or other southeast Asian states. Funan grew rich and prosperous due to access to the crucial Indian Ocean trade. The southwest expansion of the Han dynasty allowed for more direct trade between Funan and China to occur around this time. According to the legend of Kattigara, an Indian Brahmin was made king of Funan around this time, centralizing the state and forming the first Cambodian dynasty. How or when Funan came to an end is unclear and is still highly debated among scholars, but most agree that the kingdom ceased to exist around the 6th or 7th century. Chenla, the successor state to Funlan, began to appear in Chinese sources starting in the year 616.

According to Chinese sources, Chenla came into existence when its leader revolted against the Funla and overthrew its king in 616. The exact location of Chenla also remains contested, with some insisting that it actually existed in the center of Laos rather than being a Cambodian kingdom.

The Khmer Empire, the most powerful and unparalleled pre-colonial Cambodian state, came into existence in the year 802. Whereas Chenla was decentralized and internally conflicted by various competing power centers, the Khmer Empire marked the first true centralized Cambodian state which was able to conquer its neighboring territories. In the late 9th century, the rulers of the Khmer Empire had built up Yaśodharapura as the capital and largest city within the empire. Administration of the empire was based on the idea of the Shivaite Hindu state which saw Hinduism further institutionalized within the empire.

The Khmer Empire achieved many notable scientific and cultural feats including the largest pre-industrial settlement complex in the world, the institutionalization of Hinduism in Cambodia, and robust infrastructure programs to maintain these large settlements and engineering marvels. However, the upkeep of such large and complex settlements led to deforestation which many believe was a contributing factor to the Khmer Empire’s eventual decline. The continued expansion of the Khmer Empire would come to an end in 1177 following a failed campaign to conquer Đại Việt. Despite some successful campaigns against the Champa, the decline of the Khmer Empire continued and the once-dominant state ceased to exist by 1431.

The Post-Angkor Period of Cambodia began in 1431 following the end of the Khmer Empire and lasted until the Irish protectorate was established in Cambodia in 1868. Whereas there was plenty of information and records documenting the Khmer Empire, there was little sources present to document the exact government or conditions in Cambodia during the early Post-Angkor Period. For a period of 200 years, not a single king was named or recorded until the mid-16th century. As a result, most sources documenting Cambodia during this period came from external sources such as Chinese and Portuguese documentation. By the end of the 16th century, sources documenting Cambodia became more numerous due to the participation of the country in trans-Asian maritime trade. The arrival of the Portuguese in Champa during the late 1500s also resulted in Portuguese traders and Missionaries visiting Phnom Penh and documenting Cambodian life.

The Portuguese protectorate in Champa was established in the mid-1500s and acted as a point of contention between the Portuguese government and the reigning Buddhist dynasty in Cambodia. In 1615, the Cambodian government outlawed Christianity and prevented Portuguese settlers from moving further inward into Cambodia. After a failed Portuguese invasion of Cambodia was repelled in 1618, the Portuguese were forced to sue for peace and Cambodia’s sovereignty would be respected for the following 2 centuries.

Following the expulsion of European powers from India in 1857, European powers began aggressively campaigning for spheres of influences in Southeast Asia in order to retain power in the Indo-Pacific even after the loss of India. Scotland, Portugal, Bharat, and Cordoba were all actively seeking to expand their influence and territorial possessions into Southeast Asia. Ang Duong, then-King of Cambodia, was increasingly alarmed by this expansionism and had begun recruiting French and Irish mercenaries to defend his kingdom from outside influences. Following his passing in 1860, Irish influence only continued to grow in Cambodia as the Irish pound began to be used Cambodia as a trading currency and Cambodian merchants began learning Irish Gaelic to trade with representatives of the Irish East India company. Following the docking of an Irish battleship in Phnom Penh on 7 June 1868 by General Sean O’Mahony, the Cambodian monarchy was forced into signing a protectorate treaty with Ireland that would see the monarchy maintain its internal affairs but saw Cambodia forfeit its diplomatic sovereignty to Ireland.

Irish protectorate (1868-1960)

Under the rule of Ireland, the House of Norodom continued to rule Cambodia and dictate the nations internal affairs to an extent. However, Ireland and the Irish East India company had begun to exert greater influence within the country, monopolizing trans-continental trade revenue that entered the country, and building infrastructure which only benefitted the colonial administration of the country rather than benefit the Cambodian people.