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CAMBODIA

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Originally appearing in Volume V05, Page 84 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CAMBODIA ' (called by the inhabitants Sroc Khmer and by the See also:

French Cambodge), a See also:country of See also:south-eastern See also:Asia and a See also:protectorate of See also:France, forming See also:part of French Indo-See also:China. See also:Geography.—It is bounded N. by See also:Siam and See also:Laos, E. by See also:Annam, S.E. and S. by See also:Cochin-China, S.W. by the Gulf of Siam, and W. by Siam. Its See also:area is estimated• at approximately 65,000 sq. m.; its See also:population at 1,500,000, of whom some three-quarters are Cambodians, the See also:rest See also:Chinese, Annamese, Chams, See also:Malays, and aboriginal natives. The whole of Cambodia lies in the See also:basin of the See also:lower See also:Mekong, which, entering this territory on the See also:north, flows south for some distance, then inclines south-See also:west as far as Pnom-penh, where it spreads into a See also:delta and resumes a southerly course. The salient feature of Cambodian geography is the large See also:lake Tonle-See also:Sap, in a depression 68 m. See also:long from south-See also:east to north-west and 15 M. wide. It is fed by several 1 See also INDO-CHINA, FRENCH. See also:rivers and innumerable torrents, and at See also:flood-See also:time serves as a See also:reservoir for the Mekong, with which it is connected by a channel some 7o m. long, known as the See also:Bras du See also:Lac and joining the See also:river at Pnom-Penh. In See also:June the watersof the Mekong, swollen by the rains and the melting of the Tibetan snows, rise to a height of 40 to 45 ft. and flow through the Bras du Lac towards the lake, which then covers an area of 770 sq. m., and like the river inundates the marshes and forests on its See also:borders. During the dry See also:season the current reverses and the depression empties so that the lake shrinks to an area of roo sq. m., and its See also:depth falls from 45-48 ft. to a maximum of 5 ft. Tonle-Sap probably represents the See also:chief See also:wealth of Cambodia. It supports a fishing population of over 30,000, most of whom are Annamese; the See also:fish, which are taken by means of large nets at the end of the inundation, are either dried or fermented for the See also:production of the See also:sauce known as nuoc-mam. The See also:northern and western provinces of Cambodia which fall outside the densely populated See also:zone of inundation are thinly peopled; they consist of plateaus, in many places thickly wooded and intersected by mountains, the highest of which does not exceed 5000 ft.

The region to the east of the Mekong is traversed by spurs of the mountains of Annam and by affluents of the Mekong, the most important of these being the Se-khong and the Tonle-srepok, which unite to flow into the Mekong at Stung-treng. Small islands, inhabited by a fishing population, fringe the west See also:

coast. See also:Climate, See also:Fauna and See also:Flora.—The climate of Cambodia, like that of Cochin China, which it closely resembles, varies with the monsoons. During the north-east See also:monsoon, from the See also:middle of See also:October to the middle of See also:April, dry See also:weather prevails and the thermometer averages from 77° to 800 F. During the south-west monsoon, from the middle of April to the middle of October, See also:rain falls daily and the temperature varies between 85° and 95°. The See also:wild animals of Cambodia include the See also:elephant, which is also domesticated, the See also:rhinoceros, See also:buffalo and some See also:species of wild ox; also the See also:tiger, See also:panther, See also:leopard and See also:honey-See also:bear. Wild boars, monkeys and rats abound and are the chief enemies of the See also:cultivator. The See also:crocodile is found in the Mekong, and there are many varieties of See also:reptiles, some of them venomous. The See also:horse of Cambodia is only from 11 to 12 hands in height, but is strong and capable of See also:great endurance; the buffalo is the chief See also:draught See also:animal. See also:Swine are reared in large See also:numbers. Nux vomica, See also:gamboge, caoutchouc, cardamoms, See also:teak and other valuable See also:woods and gums are among the natural products. See also:People.—The Cambodians have a far more marked See also:affinity with their Siamese than with their Annamese neighbours.

The See also:

race is probably the result of a See also:fusion of the See also:Malay See also:aborigines of Indo-China with the See also:Aryan and Mongolian invaders of the country. The men are taller and more See also:muscular than the Siamese and Annamese, while the See also:women are small and inclined to stoutness. The See also:face is See also:flat and wide, the See also:nose See also:short, the mouth large and the eyes only slightly oblique. The skin is dark See also:brown, the See also:hair See also:black and, while in childhood the See also:head is shaved with the exception of a small tuft at the See also:top, in later See also:life it is dressed so as to resemble a See also:brush. Both sexes See also:wear the langouti or See also:loin-See also:cloth, which the men supplement with a short jacket, the women with a long See also:scarf draped See also:round the figure or with a long clinging robe. Morose, superstitious, and given to drinking and gambling, the Cambodians are at the same time clean, fairly intelligent, proud and courageous. The wife enjoys a respected position and See also:divorce may be demanded by either party. See also:Polygamy is almost confined to the richer classes. Though disinclined to See also:work, the Cambodians make See also:good hunters and woodsmen. Many of them live on the borders of the Mekong and the great lake, in huts built upon piles or floating rafts. The See also:religion of Cambodia is See also:Buddhism, and involves great respect towards the dead; the See also:worship of See also:spirits or See also:local genii is also wide-spread, and See also:Brahman-ism is still maintained at the See also:court. Monks or bonzes are very numerous; they live by See also:alms and in return they See also:teach the See also:young to read, and superintend coronations, marriages, funerals and the other ceremonials which See also:play a large part in the lives of the Cambodians.

As in the rest of Indo-China, there is no hereditary See also:

nobility, but there exist castes founded on See also:blood-relationship—the members of the royal See also:family within the fifth degree (the Brah-Vansa) those beyond the fifth degree (See also:Beak-See also:Van), and the Bakou, who, as descendants of the See also:ancient Brahmans, exercise certain See also:official functions at the court. These castes, as well as the mandarins, who See also:form a class by themselves, are exempt from tax or forced service. The mandarins are nominated by the See also:king and their See also:children have a position at court, and are generally chosen to fill the vacant posts in the See also:administration. Under the native regime the See also:common people attached themselves to one or other of the mandarins, who in return granted them the See also:protection of his See also:influence. Under French See also:rule, which has modified the old usages in many respects, local See also:government of the Annamese type tends to supplant this feudal See also:system. See also:Slavery was abolished by a royal See also:ordinance of 1897. Cambodian See also:idiom bears a likeness to some of the aboriginal dialects of south Indo-China; it is agglutinate in See also:character and See also:rich in vowel-sounds. The king's See also:language and the royal See also:writing, and also religious words are, however, apparently of Aryan origin and akin to See also:Pali. Cambodian writing is syllabic and complicated. The books (See also:manuscripts) are generally formed of See also:palm-leaves upon which the characters are traced by means of a See also:style. See also:Industry and See also:Commerce.—Iron, worked by the tribe of the Kouis, is found in the mountainous region. The Cambodians show skill in working See also:gold and See also:silver; earthenware, bricks, mats, fans and See also:silk and See also:cotton fabrics, are also produced to some small extent, but fishing and the cultivation of See also:rice and in a See also:minor degree of See also:tobacco, See also:coffee, cotton, See also:pepper, See also:indigo, See also:maize, See also:tea and See also:sugar are the only See also:industries worthy of the name.

Factories exist near Pnom-Penh for the shelling of cotton-seeds. The Cambodian is his own artificer and self-sufficing so far as his own needs are concerned. Rice, dried fish, beans, pepper and oxen are the chief elements in the export See also:

trade of the country, which is in the hands of Chinese. The native plays little or no part in commerce. Trade is carried on chiefly through See also:Saigon in Cochin-China, Kampot, the only See also:port of Cambodia, being accessible solely to See also:coasting vessels. With the exception of the See also:highway from Pnom-Penh (q.v.) the See also:capital, to Kampot, the roads of Cambodia are not suited for vehicles. Pnom-Penh communicates regularly by the steamers of the " Messageries Fluviales " by way of the Mekong with Saigon. Administration.—At the head of the government is the king (raj). His successor is either nominated by himself, in which See also:case he sometimes abdicates in his favour, or else elected by the five chief mandarins from among the Brah Vansa. The upayuvraj (obbaioureach) or king who has abdicated, the See also:heir-presumptive (uparaj, obbareach) and the first princess of the blood are high dignitaries with their own retinues. The king is advised by a See also:council of five ministers, the See also:superior members of the class of mandarins; and the See also:kingdom is divided into about fifty provinces administered by members of that See also:body. France is represented by a See also:resident superior, who presides over the ministerial council and is the real ruler of the country, and by residents exercising supervision in the districts into which the country is split up for the purposes of the French administration.

In each residential See also:

district there is a council, composed of natives and presided over by the resident, which deliberates on questions affecting the district. The resident superior is assisted by the protectorate council, consisting of heads of French administrative departments (chief of the judicial service, of public See also:works, &c ) and one native " notable," and the royal orders must receive its See also:sanction before they can be executed. The See also:control of See also:foreign policy, public works, the customs and the See also:exchequer are in French hands, while the management of See also:police, the collection of the See also:direct taxes and the administration of See also:justice between natives remain with the native government. A French tribunal alone is competent to See also:settle disputes where one of the parties is not a native. The following is a See also:summary of the local See also:budget of Cambodia for 1899 and 1904:— Receipts. See also:Expenditure. 1899. . . £235,329 £188,654 1904 . . 250,753 229,88o The chief See also:sources of See also:revenue are the direct taxes, including the See also:poll-tax and the taxes on the products of the See also:soil, which together amounted to £I72,636 in 1904. The chief heads of expenditure are the See also:civil See also:list, comprising the See also:personal See also:allowance to the king and the royal family (£46,o18 in 1904), public works (£39,593) and government See also:house and residences (£29,977). See also:History.—The Khmers, the ancient inhabitants of Cambodia, are conjectured to have been the offspring of a fusion between the autochthonous dwellers in the Indo-Chinese See also:peninsula, now represented by the Kouis and other See also:savage tribes, and an invading race from the plateaus of central Asia.

As See also:

early as the 12th See also:century B.C., Chinese See also:chronicles, which are almost the only source for the history of Cambodia till the 5th century A.D., mention a region called Fou-nan, in later times appearing under the name of Tchin-la; embracing the basin of the See also:Menam, it extended east-wards to the Mekong and may be considered approximately coextensive with the Khmer kingdom. Some centuries before the See also:Christian era, immigrants from the east coast of See also:India began to exert a powerful influence over Cambodia, into which they introduced See also:Brahmanism and the See also:Sanskrit language. This Hinduizing See also:process became more marked about the 5th century A.D., when, under S'rutavarman, the Khmers as a nation See also:rose into prominence. The name Kambuja, whence the See also:European form Cambodia, is derived from the See also:Hindu Kambu, the name of the mythical founder of the Khmer race; it seems to have been officially adopted by the Khmers as the See also:title of their country about this See also:period. At the end of the 7th century the See also:dynasty of S'rutavarman ceased to rule over the whole of Cambodia, which during the next century was divided into two portions ruled over by two sovereigns. Unity appears to have been re-established about the beginning of the 9th century, when with Jayavarman III. there begins a dynasty which embraces the See also:zenith of Khmer greatness and the era during which the great Brahman monuments were built. The royal See also:city of See also:Angkor-Thom (see ANGKOR) was completed under Yasovarman about A.D. 900. In the loth century Buddhism, which had existed for centuries in Cambodia, began to become powerful and to See also:rival Brahmanism, the official religion. The construction of the See also:temple of Angkor Vat See also:dates probably from the first See also:half of the 12th century, and appears to have been carried out under the direction of the Brahman Divakara, who enjoyed great influence under the monarchs of this period. The See also:conquest of the rival kingdom of Champa, which embraced See also:modern Cochin-China and See also:southern Annam, and in the later 15th century was absorbed by Annam, may probably be placed at the end of the 12th century, in the reign of Jayavarman VIII., the last of the great See also:kings. See also:War was also carried on against the western neighbours of Cambodia, and the exhaustion consequent upon all these efforts seems to have been the immediate cause of the decadence which now set in.

From the last See also:

decade of the 13th century there dates a valuable description of Tchin-la 1 written by a member of a Chinese See also:embassy thereto. The same period probably also witnessed the liberation of the See also:Thais or inhabitants of Siam from the yoke of the Khmers, to whom they. had for long been subject, and the See also:expulsion of the now declining race from the basin of the Menam. The royal chronicles of Cambodia, the See also:historical veracity of which has often to be questioned, begin about the middle of the 14th century, at which period the Thais assumed the offensive and were able repeatedly to See also:capture and pillage Angkor-Thom. These aggressions were continued in the 15th century, in the course of which the capital' was finally abandoned by the Khmer kings, the ruin of the country being hastened by See also:internal revolts and by feuds between members of the royal family. At the end of the 16th century, Lovek, which had succeeded Angkor-Thom as capital, was itself abandoned to the conquerors. During that century, the Portuguese had established some influence in the country, whither they were followed by the Dutch, but after the middle of the 17th century, Europeans counted for little- in Cambodia till the arrival of the French. At the beginning of the ' Translated by See also:Abel See also:Remusat, Nouveaux Melanges Asiatiques (1829).17th century the Nguyen, rulers of southern Annam, began to encroach on the territory of Cochin-China, and in the course of that and the 18th century, Cambodia, governed by two kings supported respectively by Siam and Annam, became a See also:field for the conflicts of its two powerful neighbours. At the end of the 18th century the provinces of See also:Battambang and Siem-reap were annexed by Siam. The rivalries of the two See also:powers were concluded after a last and indecisive war by the treaty of 1846, as a result of which Ang-Duong, the protege of Siam, was placed on the See also:throne at the capital of Oudong, and the Annamese evacuated the country. In 1863, in See also:order to counteract Siamese influence there, Doudart de Lagree was sent by See also:Admiral la Grandiere to the court of King Norodom, the successor of Ang-Duong, and as a result of his efforts Cambodia placed itself under the protectorate of France. In 1866 Norodom transferred his capital to Pnom-Penh. In 1867 a treaty between France and Siam was signed, whereby Siam renounced its right to See also:tribute and recognized the French protectorate over Cambodia in return for the provinces of Battambang and Angkor, and the Laos territory as far as the Mekong.

In 1884 another treaty was signed by the king, See also:

con-firming and extending French influence, and reducing the royal authority to a See also:shadow, but in view of the discontent aroused by it, its provisions were not put in force till several years later. In 1904 the territory of Cambodia was increased by the addition to it of the Siamese provinces of Melupre and Bassac, and the maritime district of Krat, the latter of which, together with the See also:province of Dansai, was in 1907 exchanged for the provinces of Battambang, Siem-reap and Sisophon. By the same treaty France renounced its See also:sphere of influence on the right See also:bank of the Mekong. In 1904 King Norodom was succeeded by his See also:brother Sisowath. See E. Aymonier, Le Cambodge (3 vols., See also:Paris, 1900-1904) ; L. Moura, Le royaume de Cambodge (2 vols., Paris, 1883) ' A. Leclere, See also:Les codes cambodgiens (2 vols., Paris, 1898), and other works on Cambodian See also:law; See also:Francis See also:Garnier, Voyage d'exploration en Indo-Chine (Paris, 1873).

End of Article: CAMBODIA

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