Visit us at:
The Royal Embassy of Cambodia
64 Brondesbury Park
Willesden Green
London NW6 7AT
Tel. 020-8451 7850
Fax. 020-8451 7594
|
|
| MENU |
|
|
|
|
| RELATED |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Anthem |
Nokoreach |
| Moto |
Nation, Religion, King |
| Kingdom of Cambodia |
Official name |
| The State of Cambodia |
1989 - 1993 |
| The People Republic of Kampuchea
|
1979 - 1989 |
| The Democratic Kampuchea |
1975 - 1979 |
| The Khmer Republic |
1970 - 1975 |
| The Kingdom of Cambodia |
Until 1970 |
| |
|
| Regime/Government:
|
Democratic constitutional monarchy
(established since September 1993) |
| King: |
His Majesty King Norodom Sihamoni |
| Independence:
from France |
- Declared 1949
- Recognized 1953
|
| Capital
city:: |
Phnom Penh (11°31’ N 104°49’
E) |
| National holiday: |
Independence Day, 9 November (1953) |
| Area: |
- Total:
181 035 Km² (69,900 sq miles)
- water: 4 520 km² - 2.5% of total area
|
| Land Bounderies:
|
- Thailand 803 km
- Laos 541 km
- Vietnam 1 228 km
- Coats line 443 km
|
| Climate: |
Described as tropical:
- rainy, monsoon season (May to November)
- dry season (December to April)
little seasonal temperature variation |
| Terrain: |
mostly low, flat plains; mountains in southwest and north |
| Elevation extremes: |
lowest point: Gulf of Thailand 0 m; highest point: Phnum Aoral 1,810
m |
| Natural resources: |
oil and gas, timber, gemstones, some iron ore, manganese, phosphates,
hydropower potential |
| Land use: |
arable land: 20.44% permanent crops: 0.59%; other: 78.97% (2005) |
| Natural hazards: |
monsoonal rains (June to November); flooding: occasional droughts |
| Population:
2006 est. |
13,881,427
- Total: 13,36 millions (2006 est.)
- 1998 census 11,437,656
- Density 74/km2(121st) 192/sq mile
Age structure:
- 0-14 years: 35.6% (male 2,497,595/ female 2,447,754)
- 15-64 years: 61% (male 4,094,946/female 4,370, 159)
- 63 years and over: 3.4% (male 180,432/female 290,541)
Median age:
- total: 20.6 years
- male: 19.9 years
- female: 21.4 years
Population growth rate:1.78%
Birth rate: 26.9 births/1,000 population
Death rate: 9.06 deaths/1,000 population
Life expectancy at birth:
- total population: 59.29 years
- male: 57.35 years
- female: 61.32 years
|
| Religion:
|
- Theravada Buddhism 95%
- others 5%
|
| Nationality: |
Cambodian(s)
Ethnic groups:
- Khmer 90%
- Vietnamese 5%
- Chinese 1%
- other 4%
|
| Literacy: |
definition; age 15 and over can read and write (2004 est.)
- total population 73.6%
- male: 84.7%
- female: 64.1%
|
| Official
language: |
Khmer (95%),
French, English |
| Ethnics:
|
- Khmer( 94%)
- Chinese (4%)
- Vietnamese (1.1%) and other ethnic groups
|
| Administration:
|
- 20 provinces or Khet
- 3 cities or Krong
- 163 districts or Srok
- 12 wards or Khand
- 1,456 communes or Khum
- 12,864 villages or Phum
|
| GDP
(Purchasing Power Parity): |
$29.89 billion (2005 est.)
GDP- official exchange rate: $4.791 billion
GDP- real growth rate: 6%
GDP- Per capita: l $2, 200
GDP-composition by sector:
- agriculture: 35%
- industry: 30%
- services: 35% (2004)
|
HDI:
2004 est. |
0,571 (130th)- medium |
| Labour
force: |
7 million (2003 est.)
Labour force- by occupation:
- agriculture 75% (2004 est.)
- Unemployment rate: 2.5% (2000est.)
- Population below poverty line: 40% (2004 est.)
|
| Exports:
|
$2.663 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.)
Exports- commodities: clothing, timber, rubber, rice,
fish, tobacco, footwear.
Exports-Partners:
- US 55.9%
- Germany 11.7%
- UK 6.9%
- Vietnam 4.4%
- Canada 4.2% (2004 est.)
|
| Imports: |
$ 3.538 billion f.o.b.(2005 est.)
Imports – commodities:
- petroleum products
- cigarettes
- gold
- construction materials
- machinery
- motor vehicles
- pharmaceutical products
Imports-partners:
- Thailand 22.5%
- Hong Kong 14.1%
- China 13.6%
- Vietnam 10.9%
- Singapore 10.9%
- Singapore 10.8%
- Taiwan 8.4%
Reserves of foreign exchange and gold: $1.1 billion (2005 est.) |
| Currency: |
Riel (KHR) |
Time
zone:
UTC+7 |
Summer (DST): (UTC+7) |
| Internet
TLD: |
.kh |
| Calling
country-code: |
+855 |
| |
|
| Cambodia
(Kambuja)
According to a local legend,
the Funan kingdom was founded by an Indian Brahmana named Kaundinya (called Hun-tien by the Chinese
sources) in the lower valley of the Mekong in the first century AD. Buddhism
and some forms of Brahmanical religion like Saivism co-existed in the
region until the end of the fifth century AD.
Among the kings of the Funan
dynasty, Kaundinya Jayavarman (478-514 AD) sent a mission to China under the leadership
of a Buddhist monk named Nagasena. During the reign of the same
Chinese emperor, two learned monks from Funan came to China in the early
years of the sixth century AD to translate the Buddhist scriptures. King
Rudravarman (514-539 AD) is said to have
claimed that in his country there was a long Hair Relic of the Buddha.
The Theravada with Sanskrit language flourished in Funan in the fifth
and earlier part of the sixth centuries AD. Around seventh century AD,
the popular usage of Pali language in southern region suggested the strong
appearance of Theravada Buddhism in Cambodia.
The great emperor, Yasovarman
(889-900 AD) established a Saugatasrama and elaborated regulations for
the guidance of this asrama or hermitage, at the time, Buddhism, Brahmanism
and Vasnavism flourished in Cambodia. During the reign of Jayavarman
V (968-1001), the successor of Rajendravarman
II, Mahayana Buddhism grew in importance.
The king supported Buddhist practices and invoked the three forms of existence
of the Buddha. In this way, up to the tenth century AD Mahayana Buddhism
had become quite prominent.
|
>>
less
Pramakramabahu I,
the king of Sri Lanka,is said to have sent a princess as a bride probably
for Jayavarman VII,
son of Dharanindravarman II (1150-1160), who was the crown prince. King
Jayavarman VII (1181-1220AD) was a devout Buddhist and received posthumously
the title of Mahaparamasaugata. The king patronized Theravada Buddhism,
his records express beautifully the typical Buddhist view of life, particularly
the feelings of charity and compassion towards the whole universe. An
inscription from this king informs us that there were 798 temples and
102 hospitals in the whole kingdom, and all of them were given full support
by the king. One of the monks who returned to Burma with Capata was Tamalinda
Mahathera, who most probably was the son of the Cambodian king Jayavarman
VII. Under the threat of the anarchical spirit of Sinhalese Buddhism his
prestige diminished, his temporal power crumbled away, and the god-king
was thrown down the altar." Theravada Buddhism had become the predominant
religion of the people of Angkor by the end of Jayavarman's reign.
The second half of the twelfth century AD, Sri
Lanka's fame as the fountain-head of Theravada Buddhism reached the Buddhist
countries of South-East Asia. The knowledge of Sihala Buddhism was so
wide spread and the Sihala monks were so well-known to the contemporary
Buddhist world. At this time a Cambodian prince is said to have visited
Sri Lanka to study Sihala Buddhism under the able guidance of the Sinhalese
Mahatheras. Buddhism continued to flourished in Kambuja in the thirteenth
century AD but yet to become the dominant religious sect in the country.
After then, Theravada became the main type of Buddhism.
The change was undoubtedly due to the influence
of the Thais of Thailand, who were ardent Buddhists, and had conquered
a large part of Cambodia. Under the influence of the Thais, Sihala Buddhism
was introduced in Cambodia. With the passage of time, the Brahmanical
gods like Angkor Wat were replaced by Buddhist images. Gradually, Buddhism
became the dominant creed in Kambuja and today there is hardly any trace
of the Brahmanical religion in the country.
The Jinakalamali
gives an account of the cultural connections between Cambodia and Sri
Lanka in the fifteenth century. It states that 1967 years after the Mahaparinibbana
of the Buddha, eight monks headed by Mahananasiddhi from Cambodia with
25 monks from Nabbispura in Thailand came to Sri Lanka to receive the
upasampada ordination at the hands of the Sinhalese Mahatheras.
Buddhism continued to flourish in Cambodia in the
sixteenth century AD. Ang Chan
(1516-1566 AD), a relative of king Dhammaraja,
was a devout Buddhist. He built pagodas in his capital and many Buddhist
shrines in different parts of Cambodia. In order to popularize Buddhism
Satha (1576-1594 AD), son and successor of Barom
Reachea, restored the great towers
of the Angkor Wat(the Visnu temple, see Fig.), which was built by Sriyavarman
II (1113-1150 AD), had become a Buddhist
shrine by the sixteenth century AD.
During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries,
Thailand's interference in Cambodia's politics helped the former to influence
the religious world of the latter. With the help of its Buddhist monks
and Sangha, Cambodia developed her religion. Though Thailand disturbed
Cambodia's politics and hampered its progress but the Thai kings and their
Buddhist world made a great contribution to the progress of Buddhism in
Cambodia.
In 1975 when the communists took control of Cambodia
they tried to completely destroy Buddhism and very nearly succeeded. By
the time of the Vietnamese invasion in 1979 nearly every monk and religious
intellectual had been either murdered or driven into exile, and nearly
every temple and Buddhist library had been destroyed. Today Buddhism is
struggling to re-establish itself although the lack of Buddhist scholars
and leaders and the continuing political instability is making the task
difficult.
|
|
|
|
|
