History

Though no written records have survived from the early Angkor empire, most of what is known has been derived from stone inscriptions on temple walls. Chinese diplomat, Zhou Daguan, visited the Khmer empire in 1296 - 1297 providing a clear account of day to day life at the time. Later, the French explorer, Henri Mouhot, travelled extensively throughout Indo-China in the mid-nineteenth century documenting his travels just prior to the French colonial period. Sadly, Cambodia's history has been overshadowed by the events of the late twentieth century. Pol Pot's communist ideology, the Khmer Rouge killing fields, genocide, civil war, and finally peace.