History Cambodia

 Historical dates

Ist to 6th century: Kingdom of Fu Nan, on the confluence of China and India.
6th century: Kingdom of Chen La.
9th century: beginning of Angkorian period. For four centuries, the God-Kings of Angkor established an immense empire extending over the whole of the Indochinese peninsula to Burma.
12th-13th centuries: the height of the Khmer Empire, under the reign of King Jayavarman VII.
1431: pillage of Angkor by the Thais.
15th-18th centuries: the empire collapses and the Khmer Kings, weakened, are alternatively dominated by the Thais and the Vietnamese.
1863-1953: French Protectorate.
9 November 1953: independence of Cambodia.
1960: on the death of his father, Norodom Sihanouk became Head of State.
1965: the neutrality of Cambodia is broken over the Indochinese conflict. The country becomes an air base for the Viet Cong and the north-Vietnamese army. American bombardments.
1970: coup d'Etat by General Lon Nol; Sihanouk was overthrown; proclamation of the Republic of Cambodia.
1975: the Khmer Rouge (Communist) rebellion continued. 17 April, the fall of Phnom Penh. Proclamation of democratic Kampuchea.
1975-1979: Khmer Rouge regime, period of Cambodian genocide. A quarter of the country's population, two million people, was exterminated.
1979: overthrow of the Khmer Rouge regime by the Vietnamese; establishment of the Popular Republic of Kampuchea.
1989: the Vietnamese evacuated Cambodia. The very fragile State they left behind them tried to disarm the multiple factions opposing each other in order to take power.
23 October 1991: signature of peace agreements in Paris. Sihanouk returned to Phnom Penh in triumph.
1993: elections under the aegis of the UN; re-establishment of the monarchy, and beginning of the return to normal for Cambodia. Norodom Sihanouk became King.
October 2004: The King, Norodom Sihanouk, decided to abdicate, at 81 years of age.
October 2004: The counsellors to the throne elected Prince  Norodom Sihamoni as the new King.