The Perfect Tour Of Cambodia

India and Cambodia have had diplomatic ties since antiquity. The Hindu-inspired Angkor Wat temples and written Khmer, which is a descendant of southern India’s Pallava script, are only a few examples of India’s impact in Cambodia. The Non-Aligned Movement includes both of these countries.

The Cambodian area has been populated from prehistoric times. Jayavarman II crowned himself king in 802 AD, unifying the warring Khmer lords of Chenla under the banner of “Kambuja.” This was the start of the Khmer Empire, which lasted over 600 years. The Indianised empire aided the expansion of Hinduism and eventually Buddhism over most of Southeast Asia, as well as undertaking several religious infrastructure projects. The most renowned of these temples is Angkor Wat, which is a World Heritage Site. Cambodia’s authority declined in the fifteenth century, while its rivals Vietnam and Thailand gained stronger. Cambodia became a French protectorate in 1863 and eventually became part of French Indochina.

Cambodia obtained independence from France in 1953, following a period of Japanese rule during WWII. Despite Cambodia’s neutrality, the Vietnam War entered the nation along the Ho Chi Minh and Sihanouk trails in 1965. A coup in 1970 established the US-aligned Khmer Republic, which was toppled by the Khmer Rouge in 1975. From 1975 to 1979, the Khmer Rouge governed Cambodia and committed atrocities. They were deposed in the Cambodian-Vietnamese War. The de facto government became the Vietnamese-occupied People’s Republic of Kampuchea, with attempts to reconstruct the country after the massacre hampered by little international recognition and continuous fighting.

The 2017 PPP and nominal per capita incomes for Cambodia are $4,022 and $1,309, respectively. Cambodia is classified as one of the least developed nations by the UN. Most rural households rely on agriculture and allied subsectors for their livelihood. The main exports of Cambodia include rice, seafood, lumber, clothing, and rubber. Using its rice seed bank in the Philippines, the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) reintroduced more than 750 indigenous rice types to Cambodia. In the 1960s, several varieties had been gathered.

According to the Economist and IMF, yearly average GDP growth from 2001 to 2010 was 7.7%, placing it in the top ten nations in the world for annual average GDP growth. The fastest-growing sector in Cambodia was tourism, which saw an increase in visitors from 219,000 in 1997 to almost 2 million in 2007.