During its golden age (11th-13th century), the Khmer Empire was the big boss of Southeast Asia, controlling modern-day Cambodia + Central/Northeast Thailand + Southern Laos + parts of Southern Vietnam. Neighboring states like Champa (Central Vietnam), various Tai states (pre-Sukhothai Thai powers), and most Mon kingdoms were basically under Khmer military and diplomatic pressure.
By the 12th century, Angkor was straight up one of the largest urban areas on Earth. Turns out it was the biggest sprawling city complex in the pre-industrial world, area-wise. Conservative estimates put the Angkor metropolitan population at 700k-900k, maybe even over a million. That absolutely dunked on contemporary Paris and London and was on par with Constantinople.
Khmer architecture is considered peak engineering and art for its time globally. It wasn't just about big buildings; the key was precise math, geological know-how, and seamlessly integrating massive waterworks. Thanks to its "sandwich" foundation structure and precise stonework assembly (no mortar needed!), these structures have survived a thousand years in swamplands without crumbling. OP architecture, tbh.
The core of the Angkor civilization was its ridiculously huge hydraulic system—the largest pre-modern hydro-agricultural network in world history, right up there with Rome, Song China, and the Nile civilization. They built massive artificial reservoirs called 'Barays' to store monsoon rainwater for dry-season farming. This sophisticated irrigation allowed them to rice-farm up to three times a year, providing the massive food surplus needed to support huge construction projects and a booming population.
The Khmer Empire was heavily influenced by Indian culture but totally put their own spin on it. Early on, Hinduism (worshipping Shiva, Vishnu) was dominant, but later they incorporated Mahayana and Theravada Buddhism, showing some unique religious mashups. Khmer script, artistic style, and ruling philosophy were huge influences on surrounding states like the Ayutthaya Kingdom (ancient Thailand).
Khmer military power was why they could boss around mainland Southeast Asia from the 9th to 15th centuries. Their military flex was basically summed up by their "ancient tanks"—war elephants (equipped with ballistae, holy crap), cutting-edge siege weapons, and a disciplined infantry system. They also leveraged their geography (Tonle Sap Lake and Mekong River) to maintain a savage navy. They even managed to smack down the Mongol army of the Yuan Dynasty—the strongest force of the time—once.
BUT, starting in the late 14th century and early 15th century, decades of intense drought followed by massive floods kept hammering the region. Angkor's sophisticated but oversized canal system seized up, the agricultural foundation totally crashed, resources dried up, and the monarchy imploded. Ayutthaya (modern Thailand) seized the opportunity, pressured the declining Khmers directly, and sacked the capital, Angkor, in 1431. The capital moved near Phnom Penh, and Angkor was abandoned to the jungle, slowly fading away.
Now, the country is such a complete joke (좆밥, *jojbap*) that some hardcore Thai nationalists (국뽕, *gukppong*) openly distort history and cause chaos, and Cambodia can't even fight back properly. (Even if a country is screwed and you hate them, trying to steal their history like some sort of Northeast Project (동북공정, *Dongbei Gongcheng*) is super petty.)
"The consensus is that climate change and a massive hydraulic system failure wrecked the OG Khmers, leading to comparisons with modern collapsing cities like Tehran. Some argue French colonization saved them from permanent annexation by Thailand/Vietnam—unless you count Pol Pot, who is apparently a famous opera singer now. RIP intellectual class."
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