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Click here to return to AsiaExplorers Cambodia Travel Guide
Hostels in Cambodia | Hotels in Cambodia | Books on Cambodia
Hostels in Cambodia | Hotels in Cambodia | Books on Cambodia
Phnom Penh, the capital of CambodiaThe destination is location in Cambodia. Visit AsiaExplorers Cambodia Travel Guide for useful information to help you prepare for a trip there. If you are looking for budget accommodation in Cambodia, use the Budget Accommodation Guide.Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, was founded in the 14th century. It has been the capital of Cambodia since 1866 during the time of King Norodom. It is located by the banks of the Sap River, where it joins the Mekong and Bassac. The Sap runs all the way to the great Tonle Sap Lake. The cultural, commercial as well as political capital of Cambodia, Phnom Penh suffered greatly during the civil war in the 1970s. The onset of fighting between government forces and the Khmer Rouge in 1970 drove refugees from the war-torn countryside into Phnom Penh, causing its population to increase from ca 500,000 in 1970 to ca 2 million in early 1975. When the Khmer Rouge took the city, they evacuated the whole city, driving the population into the countryside to work as forced labourers. During that period, many of the intellectuals, from professionals like doctors and lawyers to teachers, were brutally killed. By the time the Khmer Rouge were overthrown in 1979, the city had become virtually a ghost town, with no more than 50,000 residents and its universities and cultural institutions no longer in operation. It gradually revived through the 1980s. The transportation center of Cambodia, Phnom Penh is the focus of four highways radiating out to the provinces. It is the terminus of the country's only two railroads—one extending to the Thai border and another to the deepwater port of Kompong Som on the Gulf of Thailand. There is an international airport in nearby Pochentong. Origin of the name Phnom PenhPhnom Penh takes its name from Wat Phnom Daun Penh, which today is know as just Wat Phnom or Hill Temple. Wat Phnom was built in 1373 to house five statues of Buddha on a 27 meter high man-made hill. It was named after a wealthy widow by the name of Daun Penh or Grandma Penh. Chan Chaya Pavilion, at the Royal Palace of Phnom Penh. Phnom Penh was also previously known as Krong Chaktomuk which means "City of Four Faces". The "four faces" refers to the confluence of the Mekong, Bassac, and Tonle Sap rivers forming an "X" where the capital is situated. Krong Chaktomuk is itself an abbreviation of the ceremonial name given by King Ponhea Yat which was "Krong Chaktomuk Mongkol Sakal Kampuchea Thipadei Sereythor Inthabot Borei Roth Reach Seima Maha Nokor". History of Phnom PenhAfter repeated assault by the kingdom of Siam eroded its power, Ponhea Yat (1405-1467), the king of the Khmer Empire fled Angkor Thom in 1431 when the Siamese forces of Ayutthaya captured it. From Angkor, the capital was transferred to Phnom Penh, for a short period, in 1432. Then it moved to Lovek which was also attacked by the Siamese in 1594. The next site was Udong, which served as the Khmer capital on more than one occasion between 1618 and 1866, when the capital was finally moved to Phnom Penh. The stupa behind Wat Phnom houses the remains of Ponhea Yat and the royal family as well as the remaining Buddhist statues from the Angkorean era. Phnom Penh National Museum. As previously mentioned, Phnom Penh only became the permanent seat of government in 1866, under the reign of King Norodom I, and the Phnom Penh Royal Palace was built. This marked the beginning of the transformation of Phnom Penh from a village into a great city. The French Colonialists expanded the canal system to control the wetlands. They constructed roads and built a port. By the 1920s Phnom Penh was known as the Pearl of Asia and over the next four decades continued to experience growth with the building of a railway to Sihanoukville and the Pochentong International Airport. During the Vietnam War, Cambodia was used as a base by the North Vietnamese Army and the Viet Cong, and thousands of refugees from across the country flooded the city to escape the fighting between their own government troops, the NVA/NLF, the South Vietnamese and its allies and the Khmer Rouge. In 1975 the population was 2,000,000. Phnom Penh was taken by the Khmer Rouge and Democratic Kampuchea on April 17, 1975, the Cambodian New Year, and was evacuated by force; its residents being made to labour on rural farms as "new people". Tuol Svay Prey High School was taken over by Pol Pot's forces and was turned into the S-21 prison camp, where Cambodians were detained and tortured. It is now the Tuol Sleng Museum and along with Choeung Ek (The Killing Fields), 15 kilometers away, a memorial to those who were killed by the regime. The Khmer Rouge were finally driven out of Phnom Penh by the Vietnamese in 1979 and the people began to return to the city. A period of reconstruction began, spurred by continuing stability of government, attracting new foreign investment and aid by countries including France, Australia, and Japan. Loans were made from the Asia Development Bank and the World Bank to reinstate a clean water supply, roads and other infrastructure. By 1998, Phnom Penh's population was 862,000. Travel Tips
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