Natural resources of Cambodia include timber and gemstones, which were desired by early traders. Early voyagers and geographers knew the people of Cambodia as K_mâr. Trading settlements developed along the coastline (now a part of southern Vietnam). These ports of call were used by boats following the trade routes from the Bay of Bengal to the southern provinces of China. During the 6th century, Cambodia's population gradually concentrated along the Mekong and Tonlé Sap Riveres, perhaps related to the development of rice agriculture.
The Portuguese found their way to Cambodia not long after the conquest of Mallacca. Spanish authorities at Manilla (1594-1598) engaged in "fillibustering" expeditions to Cambodia with little result.
In the 1620s the Cambodian king turned to the Vietnamese for help against the Thais, permitting Vietnamese settlement along his kingdom’s southeast coast. There the Vietnamese port and stronghold of Saigon would develop. Vietnamese and Chinese adventurers and traders began to dominate other Cambodian ports. European accounts of Cambodia in the late 16th century and first half of the 17th century suggest a cosmopolitan trading life involving Chinese, Japanese, Malay, Arab and other traders. English trade with Cambodia began as early as 1616, the Portuguese followed with some factories, and then the Dutch established a Dutch factory. In 1641 Gerard van Wusthoff of the Dutch factory conducted an expedition up the Great River to Vienchang, the capital of one of the Laos states, about 1000 miles from the sea —a feat never repeated till the French missions of 1866-68.
The English established a factory at Pulo Condore, a group of islands off the coast of the Cambodian delta in 1702, but this came to an end in the massacre of its members by the Macassar sepoys of the garrison. But from the mid-17th century Cambodia became increasingly isolated from the sea, caught in the pincer movement of Thai and Vietnamese expansionism.
In 1810-12 the districts adjoining the Great Lake were seized, followed by the whole Delta and Cambodia was reduced to its present limits. In 1846 a king was enthroned under the joint investiture of Siam and Cochin-China. The French invasion of the Anamite provinces in the Delta took place in 1859.
Cambodia's rich and powerful past under the Hindu state of Funan and the Kingdom of Angkor was on the verge of dissolution by the mid-19th century. After repeated requests for French assistance, a protectorate was established in 1863; in 1864 the king, Morodam, was crowned in the presence of a French and of a Siamese representative; and a treaty was concluded, placing the kingdom under joint protection of those two powers. By 1884, Cambodia was a virtual colony; soon after it was made part of the Indochina Union with Annam, Tonkin, Cochin-China, and Laos. France continued to control the country even after the start of World War II.
The great river Mekong, known also as the Cambodia River, a name bestowed when its delta yet belonged to Cambodia, flows through the existing territory for about 250 miles, from NorthEast to SouthWest.
The "Great lake," is a shallow depression in an alluvial plain, retaining a part of the animal overflow of the rivers throughout the year, and subject to great variations in depth and extent. In the rains it is said to have a length of about 100 miles. with a breath of one third as much. Its average depth in the dry season is only 4 feet. The Udong River, running between the lake and the Mekong, fills a channel of great breadth. Its waters change their direction half-yearly, from June to December filling the lake from the Mekong, and from December to June draining the lake into the Mekong. The fishery is important to the people; it is carried on in the dry season, during which time extensive pile-villages are erected in the lake, where the drying and salting of the fish is carried on for use and trade.
Cambodia has two major ports, Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville, also known as Kampong Som, and five minor ones.
Phnom Penh, located at the junction of the Basak, the Mekong, and the Tonle Sab rivers. It remains an important port for international commerce as well as for domestic communications.
Sihanoukville is Cambodia's only deep water seaport.
Kompong Som's natural advantages include deep water inshore and a degree of natural protection from storms provided by a string of islands across the mouth of the bay.
The nation's extensive inland waterways were important historically in domestic trade. The Mekong and the Tonle Sap Rivers, their numerous tributaries, and the Tonle Sap provided avenues of considerable length, including 3,700 kilometers navigable all year by craft drawing 0.6 meters and another 282 kilometers navigable to craft drawing 1.8 meters. In some areas, especially west of the Mekong River and north of the Tonle Sab River, the villages were completely dependent on waterways for communications. Launches, junks, or barges transported passengers, rice and other goods produce and goods.
North China Herald, April 3, 1873
Shanghai, China
Editorial Selections
Fraser's Magazine on "The Press" In China.
" . . . Besides its own proper territory, the French Government exercises a protectorate over the Kingdom of Cambodia, whose territory, imbedded between Annam and Siam could hardly escape feudal subjection to one or other of these more powerful neighbours. When the French conquered Saigon, Cambodia was greatly under the influence of Siam; but M. de Carne* has lately told us how the political skill and firmness of the newcomers eventually defeated the Court of Bangkok, and how the treaty of 186S eventually placed King Norodom under the protectorate of France."
Angkor: Before And After: Cultural History Of The Khmers
