The Khmer Empire

Between the 9^th and 15^th centuries, the Khmer empire of Cambodia dominated Southeast Asia. The Khmers were highly skilled builders and engineers. They constructed cities with massive temple complexes, palaces, lakes and canals.

Before the Khmer people founded their empire in 802, they set up two smaller states. The first was Funan and the second, dating from 600, was Chenla. The Khmer empire was created by a strong king named Jayavarman I, who united people living in what are now parts of Cambodia, Thailand, Laos and Vietnam. He and his successors were worshipped as gods.

The ancient books of the Khmers have long since been destroyed, so what we know about them comes mostly from Chinese writings – the Chinese traded with the Khmers, buying spices and rhinoceros horns from them.

The many stone carvings in the ruins of the Khmers’ greatest building – in the temple of Angkor Wat and in the city of Angkor Thom – also provide a valuable picture of everyday life, as well as recording sacred stories and victories in battle.

The Khmers built their wealth on rice. They dug irrigation ditches to water their rice fields and grew three crops a year. Never living far from water, they built houses on stilts beside rivers and on the shores of the lake named Tonle Sap.

Surayavarman II, leader of the Khmers from 1113 to about 1150, built Angkor Wat. A successful war leader, he fought in Thailand and Vietnam. The Khmer empire reached its height in the reign of Jayavarman VII (1181-1220). He builts roads, hospitals and temples. Like all Khmer kings, he was a Hindu, although most of the people in the empire were Buddhists. The Khmers were fierce warriors, but in the 1400s they were overrun by the Thais. The great city and temple at Angkor were abandoned, and became overgrown by jungle.