Cambodia

Cambodia resides in South East Asia and is one of the most ethnically homogeneous countries in that region of the world . The ethnic Chinese make up 4 of the population and the ethnic Vietnamese make up only 1 with the other 95 being ethnic Khmer . Meredith , Louise . An Illustrated Guide to Cambodia . Chicago : University of Chicago Press . 1998 Currently , Cambodia has a population of over 15 million people and has foreign visitors which Around 90 of the Cambodians live in the central lowlands regions and are predominately Buddhist . Cambodia has a long history

that goes back centuries . The first advanced civilizations on record in the region of what is now known as Cambodia can be dated back to the 3rd and 4th centuries AD . The states of Funan and Chenla , or modern day Cambodia and parts of Vietnam were the center of trade and fishing at this time . By 800 AD , there were already large numbers of Cambodians living in the area . Their staple diets were rice and fish . From the time of 800 AD to 1431 AD , within Cambodian history , this is referred to as the Angkor Period ' Ibid . During that time , the Khmer kings ruled over one of the largest regions in all of Southeast Asia . Their Hindu religious rituals were very important to the people and to the cultures and it was these beliefs that made the Khmer kingdom so powerful ( cite ) Many times these kings were seen to possess god-like qualities and were worshiped and honored as gods . This was done through the building of huge monuments which were built by slaves . Many of these temples were built in stone and were highly complex and even to this day , the formation of these temples within the Angkor Period , are regarded as the highest symbol of their culture . These temples serve as tourist attractions for the rest of the world as a sense of pride for the people of Cambodia

The French began their rule of Cambodia in 1863 but they soon discovered that Cambodia had not the hidden wealth they had hoped for and their dream of making Cambodia the Singapore of China ' was an illusion that would never come to fruition . During this time , the French did little to improve the life and conditions of Cambodia except to collect taxes and took what they could from Cambodia 's resources . However , modernization , which was occurring in the West and in France , was no present in Cambodia during this time . As a result , the relationship between the French and the Cambodian Nationalists were at times , contentious . One such example of this was the 1916 tax revolt . The French were collecting a higher tax from the citizens of Cambodia than in any of the three regions of Vietnam that thy occupied . This led to a march of thousands of peasants on Phnom Penh in to petition King Sisowath for a reduction of their taxes . But the effort was for naught and the villagers ' revolt lead to the...