The Khmer Empire

The Khmer Empire was established in the early 9^th century (800 C.E.) and had collapsed by 1430s. It was once the largest empire in South East Asia and existed in what is now Cambodia.

The Khmer empire was an agriculturalist society and relied heavily on rice cultivation. The extensive rice irrigation network allowed rice surpluses which helped support a large population. The Khmer empire had a sophisticated irrigation and water storage system as well as stable trade connections.

A temple once used for worship now covered by trees, Angkor. 

Source: WanderingMee

Historical records become very sparse after the 1300s, however we know that no large temples or monuments were erected after this period. Widespread abandonment of the Khmer Empire occurred roughly around this time. Some records attribute this decline to an invasion of the Thai army. Check out Plubins, 2013 for the Ancient History Encyclopedia. This is a good article for background knowledge, however I think it relies too heavily on the Thai army as an explanation.

It’s thought that one line of kinds remained in Angkor, the centre of the Khmer empire, while other kings moved to Phnom Penh. Gradually the economy was transferred to the new kingdom in Phnom Penh and therefore so did political power. This is thought to have led to the collapse of the Khmer empire in combination with conflicts within the royal family and Phnom Penh becoming the new centre of trade (New World Encyclopaedia).

However, recently other theories have emerged. The first to be looked at will be the role of climatic change which I’ll cover in my next post.