Vietnamese for support, strengthening both Thailand and Vietnam at Cambodia’s expense. Thailand extended its territory into Cambodia but lost these areas as European colonisers moved in during the nineteenth century. The colonial era and the present Colonisation by European powers brought many changes to South-East Asia. Only Thailand remained independent. Portugal’s capture of Malacca (in modern-day Malaysia) in 1511 and Spain’s colonisation of the Philippines were followed by Dutch, British and French empire-building in the region. The Dutch came to control most of modern Indonesia, the British took Burma and Malaya, and the French took Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia in the nineteenth century. The French met strong resistance in Vietnam, but when France declared a protectorate over Cambodia in 1862, it had the approval of the Cambodian king, who feared losing more territory to Thailand and Vietnam. The Khmer prince Norodom Sihanouk declared Cambodia’s independence in 1953 but Cambodia was to suffer terribly when it was caught up in the Vietnam War in the 1960s and 1970s. It then suffered even more under the secretive Khmer Rouge regime from 1975 to 1979. The Khmer Rouge called the first year of their rule Year Zero. Through forced evacuation of the cities, forced labour and mass murder, they tried to wipe out all traces of the past. Today, Cambodia is a very poor country. In some ways its distant past continues to shape its present. After years of civil war, Cambodia has returned to its traditional monarchy and once again Theravada Buddhism is its state religion. Angkor rediscovered Angkor Wat continued to be visited by Buddhist pilgrims after the city was abandoned in the fifteenth century, but the rest of the city was overtaken by the jungle. Gigantic tree roots spread over the temples, which became hidden as they were cloaked by the encroaching forest. However, in the nineteenth century, French archaeologists began the process of rediscovering Angkor, clearing the jungle from temples and restoring the site by repairing foundations and making drains to prevent further damage from water. Since the 1990s, conservation work has been coordinated by UNESCO and government bodies from France, Japan and Cambodia.
SOURCE3 An Angkor temple overgrown with tree roots
SOURCE4 Buddhist monks look on as visitors explore the ruins of Angkor.
Jacaranda Humanities Alive 8 Victorian Curriculum Third Edition
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