Phnom Penh: History

Pre-20th-Century History

Legend has it that Phnom Penh was founded when an old woman named Penh found four Buddha images that had come to rest on the banks of the Mekong. She housed them on a nearby hill, and the town that grew up here came to be known as Phnom Penh (Hill of Penh).

From the 1st to the 6th centuries, much of present-day Cambodia was part of the kingdom of Funan, whose prosperity was due in large part to its position on the great trade route between China and India.The golden age for Cambodia saw the Khmer empire of the Angkorian era, known for its unrivalled achievements in architecture and sculpture, which began under Jayavarman II in 802.

In the 1430s, Angkor was abandoned and Phnom Penh chosen as the site of the new Cambodian capital. The move has been much lamented as evidence of cultural decline but made practical sense. Angkor was poorly situated for trade and subject to attacks from the Siamese (Thai) kingdom of Ayuthaya. Phnom Penh commanded a more central position in the Khmer territories and was perfectly located for riverine trade with Laos and China via the Mekong Delta. The Tonlé Sap river also provided access to the rich fishing grounds of the Tonlé Sap lake.

By the mid-16th century, trade had turned Phnom Penh into a regional power. Indonesian and Chinese traders were drawn to the city in large numbers. A century later, however, Vietnamese incursions into Khmer territory had robbed the city of access to sea lanes, and Chinese merchants driven south by the Manchu (Qing) dynasty began to monopolise trade. The landlocked and increasingly isolated kingdom became a buffer between ascendant Thais and Vietnamese. In 1772 the Thais burnt Phnom Penh to the ground. Although the city was rebuilt, Phnom Penh was buffeted by the rival hegemonic interests of the Thai and Vietnamese courts until the French took over in 1863. Its population is thought not to have risen much above 25,000 during this period.

The French protectorate in Cambodia gave Phnom Penh the layout we know today. The city was divided into districts or quartiers : the French administrators and European traders inhabiting the area north of Wat Phnom between Monivong Blvd and the Tonlé Sap; the Chinese merchants occupying the riverfront area south of Wat Phnom to the Royal Palace and west as far as Norodom Blvd; and the Cambodians and Vietnamese living around and south of the palace. By the time of their departure, the French had left many important landmarks, including the Royal Palace, National Museum, Psar Thmei (New Market) and many impressive government ministries.

Modern History

The city grew quickly in the post-independence peacetime years of Sihanouk's rule. By the time he was overthrown in 1970, the population of Phnom Penh was approximately 500,000. As the Vietnam War spread into Cambodian territory, the city's population swelled with refugees, and reached more than two million in early 1975.

The Khmer Rouge took the city on 17 April 1975 and, as part of its radical social programme, immediately forced the entire population into the countryside. Different factions of the Khmer Rouge were responsible for evacuating different zones of the city; civilians to the east of Norodom Blvd were sent east, those south of the palace to the south, and so on. Whole families were split up on those fateful first days of 'liberation' and for many thousands of Cambodians their experience of the dark days of Khmer Rouge rule depended on which area of the city they were in that day.

During the time of Democratic Kampuchea, many tens of thousands of former Phnom Penhois - including the vast majority of the capital's educated residents - were killed. The population of Phnom Penh during the Khmer Rouge regime was never more than about 50,000, a figure made up of senior party members, factory workers and trusted military leaders.

Repopulation of the city began when the Vietnamese arrived in 1979, although at first it was strictly controlled by the new government. During much of the 1980s, cows were more common than cars on the streets of the capital, and it was not until the government dispensed with its 'communist' baggage at the end of the decade that Phnom Penh began to develop.

The 1990s were boom years for some: along with the arrival of the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (Untac) came a couple of billion US dollars, much of which went into salaries for expats. Well-connected residents were only too happy to help foreigners part with their money through high rents and hefty price hikes.

Recent History

While hardly a triumph for democracy, the first parliament did witness the Khmer Rouge's eventual death in 1998 after it was decimated by a series of mass defections. Two decades after the tragic Khmer Rouge revolution, a historic agreement between the UN and the Cambodian government created the first court to bring surviving members to trial, but bureaucratic bickering at home and abroad has stalled its opening. Many Cambodians lament that it's already too late since Pol Pot escaped punishment when he died in 1998.

The biggest recent changes to life in Phnom Penh started under former Mayor Chea Sophara who embarked on a one-man mission to clean up the city. This made him rather too popular with residents for Prime Minister Hun Sen's liking and he was brushed aside in 2003. However, his legacy lives on with roads being repaired, sewage pipes laid and riverbanks reclaimed. In 2007, the UN estimated that 35% of Phnom Penh's residents lived below the poverty line, so the struggle for justice and prosperity continues.

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