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Timeline of Cambodian history

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This is a timeline of Cambodian history, comprising important legal and territorial changes and political events in Cambodia and its predecessor states. To read about the background to these events, see History of Cambodia. See also the list of kings of Cambodia.

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

Before 1st century

Century Date Event
2,500 years ago The walled city of Angkor Borei in Takéo province is Cambodia's first known city, with archaeological excavations unearthing moats, reservoirs, brick monuments, and glass beads that were traded in from the Near East and India.

1st–8th centuries

Century Date Event
1st–6th Funan period – early state-like polities in delta and coastal regions, trading contact with India and China, "Indianisation" of Khmer society begins.
7th–8th Chenla period – shift in trade patterns causes decline of Funan, emergence of large kingdoms in inland area, Indianisation continues.
7th Isanavarman I of the Chenla Kingdom expanded Khmer influence to the Chao Phraya valley through his campaigns around the 7th century.

Dvaravati cities that fell under Khmer hegemony became Lavo.

9th century

Year Date Event
802 Jayavarman II declared independence from Srivijaya under the Sailendra, proclaiming himself the divine king of Kambuja.
835 Jayavarman II died. His son Jayavarman III succeeded him.
877 Jayavarman III died. He was succeeded by his cousin Indravarman I.
890 Indravarman died. His son Yasovarman succeeded him.

10th century

Year Date Event
968 Jayavarman V succeeded Rajendravarman II as ruler of Kambuja, now the Khmer Empire.

11th century

Year Date Event
1001 Jayavarman V died. He was succeeded by Udayadityavarman I.
1002 The king died. A civil war ensued between Jayaviravarman and Suryavarman I, both of whom claimed the throne.
1010 Suryavarman became the uncontested king of the Khmer Empire.
1050 Suryavarman died. He was succeeded by Udayadityavarman II, a descendant of Yasovarman's wife.
1066 Udayadityavarman died. Harshavarman III succeeded him.

12th century

Year Date Event
1107 Jayavarman VI died. He was succeeded by Dharanindravarman I.
1113 Dharanidravarman died, possibly murdered by his great nephew Suryavarman II who succeeded him.
1132 An attempted invasion of Vietnam was defeated.
1150 Suryavarman II died, possibly in a military campaign against the Cham of Central Vietnam. Dharanindravarman II succeeded him.
1160 Dharanindravarman died. He was succeeded by Yasovarman II.
1177 Cham invaders took control of Yasodharapura, the Khmer capital, and executed the king.

13th century

Year Date Event
1203 Jayavarman VII forcibly annexed the south of Champa.
1219 Jayavarman VII died. He was succeeded by Indravarman II.
1238 Two Thai chieftains in the city of Sukhothai declared the establishment of the Sukhothai Kingdom and its independence from Angkorian dominion.
1243 Indravarman II died. Jayavarman VIII succeeded him.
1283 Jayavarman VIII agreed to pay tribute to the Mongol Empire in lieu of suffering invasion.
1295 Jayavarman VIII was allowed to abdicate after being deposed by his son-in-law Indravarman III (Srindravarman), the first king to make Theravada Buddhism the state religion.

14th century

Year Date Event
1351 The Siamese Ayutthaya Kingdom laid siege to Angkor for a year and a half, then invaded and conquered it, leaving an Ayutthayan prince to rule.
1357 King Suryavong led the Khmer army in retaking Angkor from the Siamese.

15th century

Year Date Event
1431 The Thai invade Angkor. The Khmer capital is relocated to Srei Santhor and next year to Phnom Penh.
1471 Thousands of Cham settle in Cambodia as refugees from the fall of Vijaya (northern section of Champa) to the Vietnamese.

16th century

Year Date Event
1505 The royal Khmer court moves to Oudong.
1525 The royal Khmer court moves to Longvek.
1593 King Sattha requested protection from the Spanish governor of the Philippines against the Thai.
1594 The Thai captured the Cambodian capital, Longvek, and installed a military governor there.
1595 Sattha died in Laos
1597 Spanish adventurers install a son of King Sattha on the throne.
1599 The Spanish in Cambodia were massacred by Malay warlords.

17th century

Note that names vary considerably from source to source, as do dates.

Year Date Event
1602 King Suriyopear (nephew of Sattha) installed with help of Ayutthaya.
c.1616 Nguyen Phuoc Nguyen, king of Hue, approaches Suriyopear to form a military alliance directed at their enemies Ayutthaya (for Suriyopear) and the Trinh dynasty of Hanoi (for Nguyen).
1618 Suriyopear abdicates, enters a monastery (dies next year). His son Chey Chettha II becomes king.
1623 According to the Chronicles and popular Cambodian belief, in this year King Chettha II allowed Vietnamese refugees from the Trịnh–Nguyễn Civil War to settle in the Khmer sea port of Prey Nokor. Professional scholars do not believe this happened.
1628 Death of Chettha II; followed as king by his son Ponhea Tu, while his younger brother Outhei takes the title Ubhayoraj, or senior king.
1632 Ponhea Tu killed after rebelling against the Ubhayoraj. Followed by his younger half-brother Ponhea Nur
1640 Death of Ponhea Nur in suspicious circumstances. Followed by Padumaraja I, son of Outhei.
1642 Murder of Padumaraja and Outhei by Ramadhipadi, son of Chettha II. Ramadhipati converts to Islam and takes the name Ibrahim.
1658–59 Two sons of Outhei rebel against Ramadhipati/Ibrahim and call on Vietnamese help. First Vietnamese intervention in Cambodia, four more in the course of the century. Ramadhipati/Ibrahim captured and removed to Hue, where he dies. Ang Sur, son of Outhei, becomes king.
1690 The Mekong Delta region of Cambodia (from Prey Nokor to Psar Dek and Moat Chrouk) was officially annexed by Vietnam.
1698 An emissary arrived in Prey Nokor to establish Vietnamese administration over the expatriate population.

18th century

Year Date Event
1749 The Vietnamese conquered the Mekong Delta.
1779 A new Khmer king, Ang Eng, was installed under Thai protection.

19th century

Year Date Event
1820 A Khmer revolt took place against Vietnamese rule .
1841 Ang Duong becomes king.
1851 Cambodia successfully overthrew the Vietnamese occupation.
1856 November 25 Ang Duong dispatches a letter to French Emperor Napoleon III requesting intervention to protect Cambodia's territorial integrity.
1860 In January, Angkor Wat is "rediscovered" by French naturalist and explorer Henri Mouhot.
1860 Ang Duong dies. His son Norodom succeeds him.
1863 Faced with a domestic rebellion, Norodom was forced to accept an offer of protection from the French.
1887 October Cambodia was subsumed into the Indochinese Union.
1897 The Résident supérieur was granted the royal powers of tax collection, rule by decree, and appointment of royal officials and crown princes.

20th century

Year Date Event
1941 Japanese occupation of Cambodia: Japanese troops occupied Cambodia.
King Sisowath Monivong died. The French chose his grandson Norodom Sihanouk to succeed him.
1945 After its defeat in World War II, Japan relinquished its Indochinese territories.
1953 9 November Cambodia officially gained its independence from France.
1955 2 March King Sihanouk abdicated in favour of his father, Norodom Suramarit.
1963 27 August Cambodia severed ties with South Vietnam.
1970 18 March General Lon Nol overthrew Sihanouk and established a republic. Start of the Cambodian Civil War and the US Cambodian Campaign
1975 17 April The Khmer Rouge allied with Sihanouk captured Phnom Penh and declared the establishment of Kingdom of Cambodia.
1976 2 April Sihanouk exiled and establishment of Democratic Kampuchea under total Khmer Rouge control.
1977 31 December Cambodia broke relations with the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
1979 7 January Cambodian-Vietnamese War: Vietnamese troops captured Phnom Penh establishing the People's Republic of Kampuchea. The rule of the Khmer Rouge is over.
1989 26 September The last Vietnamese troops withdrew from Cambodia.
1992 16 March A United Nations peacekeeping force, the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC), began monitoring Cambodia.
1993 May Cambodia held free elections. The Khmer Rouge boycotted them.
24 September A new constitution was ratified, under which the Cambodian monarchy was restored. Norodom Sihanouk returned to the throne.
1997 The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, a tribunal for the Khmer Rouge, was established.
1998 15 April Death of Pol Pot.

21st century

Year Date Event
2003 18 January An Angkor newspaper reported that Suvanant Kongying, a Thai actress, had claimed that Angkor Wat rightfully belonged to Thailand.
28 January Thai television programs were banned from broadcasting in Cambodia.
29 January 2003 Phnom Penh riots: Nationalist rioters destroyed the Thai embassy in Phnom Penh.
7 July Cambodian parliamentary election: Prime Minister Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party won a majority of seats in the National Assembly.
2004 14 October King Norodom Sihanouk abdicated. His son Norodom Sihamoni was crowned as his successor.
2008 June 2008 Cambodian-Thai stand-off: Clashes began with Thailand over territory immediately adjacent to the Preah Vihear Temple.
2012 15 October Former King of Cambodia Norodom Sihanouk died in Beijing at the age of 89.
2014 3 January Military police opened fire at opposition protesters, leaving 3 people dead and more than 20 injured.

References

  • "Battambang's prehistoric site La'ang Spean open to visitors".
  • "A voyage with an explorer, from Angkor to the grave".
  • "New Perspectives on Early Cambodia from the Lower Mekong Archaeological Project" (PDF). angkordatabase.asia. The Khmer Institute. 2001.
  • "Jacobsen history challenged".
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