Editing History of Cambodia (section)

==Cambodia Middle Period (1431–1863)==
{{Main article| Post-Angkor Period}}
[[File:AMH-7235-KB_Bird's_eye_view_of_Eauweck.jpg|thumb|left|[[Longvek]], the former capital of Cambodia]]
[[File:Flag of Cambodia (pre-1863).svg|thumb|right|Flag of [[Cambodia]] pre-1864]]
The term "Post-Angkor Period of Cambodia", also the "Middle Period"<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.history.ac.uk/reviews/item/4562 |title= Murder and Mayhem in Seventeenth Century Cambodia – The so-called middle period of Cambodian history, stretching from... – Reviews in History |date= 28 February 2009 |publisher= School of Advanced Study at the University of London |access-date= 14 June 2015 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150615182814/http://www.history.ac.uk/reviews/item/4562 |archive-date= 15 June 2015 |url-status= dead }}</ref> refers to the historical era from the early 15th century to 1863, the beginning of the French Protectorate of Cambodia. Reliable sources – particularly for the 15th and 16th century – are very rare. A conclusive explanation that relates to concrete events manifesting the decline of the [[Khmer Empire]] has not yet been produced.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/jan/14/what-the-collapse-of-ancient-capitals-can-teach-us-about-the-cities-of-today |title= What the collapse of ancient capitals can teach us about the cities of today by Srinath Perur – There had long been a debate about what led to the decline of Angkor and the southward move of the Khmer... | newspaper= The Guardian |date= 14 January 2015 |access-date=27 June 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url= http://michaelvickery.org/ |title=Cambodia and Its Neighbors in the 15th Century, Michael Vickery |date= 1 June 2004 | publisher= Michael Vickery’s Publications |access-date=8 June 2015}}</ref> However, most modern historians contest that several distinct and gradual changes of religious, dynastic, administrative and military nature, environmental problems and ecological imbalance<ref>{{cite news |url=http://legacy.utsandiego.com/news/world/20040613-0915-fallenangkor.html |title=Scientists dig and fly over Angkor in search of answers to golden city's fall by Miranda Leitsinger |newspaper=The San Diego Union-Tribune |date=13 June 2004 |access-date=19 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131224114808/http://legacy.utsandiego.com/news/world/20040613-0915-fallenangkor.html |archive-date=24 December 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref> coincided with shifts of power in Indochina and must all be taken into account to make an interpretation.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://archaeology.about.com/od/medieval/qt/Collapse-Of-Angkor.htm |title=What Caused the End of the Khmer Empire By K. Kris Hirst |publisher=About com |access-date=11 June 2015 |archive-date=1 January 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170101015438/http://archaeology.about.com/od/medieval/qt/Collapse-Of-Angkor.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/90520/Cambodia/52482/The-decline-of-Angkor |title= THE DECLINE OF ANGKOR | publisher= Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. |access-date=11 June 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://studiesofasia.wikispaces.com/file/view/EDAS8003A+Assignment+1+Khmer+civilisation+at+Angkor.pdf |title=The emergence and ultimate decline of the Khmer Empire was paralleled with development and subsequent change in religious ideology, together with infrastructure that supported agriculture. |publisher=Studies Of Asia |access-date=11 June 2015 |archive-date=20 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200620024207/https://studiesofasia.wikispaces.com/file/view/EDAS8003A+Assignment+1+Khmer+civilisation+at+Angkor.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> In recent years, focus has notably shifted towards studies on climate changes, human–environment interactions and the ecological consequences.<ref name="KHMER GEO">{{cite web|url=http://khmer-geo.com/siemreap/event/laser-scans-flesh-out-the-saga-of-cambodias-1200-year-old-lost-city|title=Laser scans flesh out the saga of Cambodias 1200 year old lost city|publisher=KHMER GEO|access-date=11 June 2015|url-status=usurped|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150614182252/http://khmer-geo.com/siemreap/event/laser-scans-flesh-out-the-saga-of-cambodias-1200-year-old-lost-city|archive-date=14 June 2015|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://phys.org/news/2012-01-explanation-sudden-demise-khmer-empire.html |title= Possible new explanation found for sudden demise of Khmer Empire |date=3 January 2012 | publisher= Phys org |access-date=11 June 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://studiesofasia.wikispaces.com/file/view/EDAS8003A+Assignment+1+Khmer+civilisation+at+Angkor.pdf|title=The emergence and ultimate decline of the Khmer Empire – ...the Empire experienced two lengthy droughts, during c.1340–1370 and also c.1400–1425...|publisher=Studies of Asia|access-date=19 June 2015|archive-date=20 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200620024207/https://studiesofasia.wikispaces.com/file/view/EDAS8003A+Assignment+1+Khmer+civilisation+at+Angkor.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=Climate as a contributing factor in the demise of Angkor, Cambodia |doi=10.1073/pnas.0910827107 |pmid=20351244 |volume=107 |issue=15 |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |pages=6748–6752|pmc=2872380|year=2010 |last1=Buckley |first1=B. M. |last2=Anchukaitis |first2=K. J. |last3=Penny |first3=D. |last4=Fletcher |first4=R. |last5=Cook |first5=E. R. |last6=Sano |first6=M. |last7=Nam |first7=L. C. |last8=Wichienkeeo |first8=A. |last9=Minh |first9=T. T. |last10=Hong |first10=T. M. |bibcode=2010PNAS..107.6748B |doi-access=free }}</ref>

[[Epigraphy]] in temples, ends in the third decade of the fourteenth, and does not resume until the mid-16th century. Recording of the [[List of monarchs of Cambodia#Khmer Empire (802–1431)|Royal Chronology]] discontinues with King Jayavarman IX Parameshwara (or Jayavarma-Paramesvara) – there exists not a single contemporary record of even a king's name for over 200 years. Construction of monumental temple architecture had come to a standstill after [[Jayavarman VII]]'s reign. According to author [[Michael Vickery (historian)|Michael Vickery]] there only exist external sources for Cambodia's 15th century, the Chinese Ming Shilu annals and the earliest Royal Chronicle of Ayutthaya.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://michaelvickery.org/vickery1996mak.pdf |title=Mak Phœun : Histoire du Cambodge de la fin du XVIe au début du XVIIIe siècle |publisher=Michael Vickery |access-date=11 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150214095913/http://michaelvickery.org/vickery1996mak.pdf |archive-date=14 February 2015 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://epress.nus.edu.sg/msl/source.html|title=The Ming Shi-lu as a Source for the Study of Southeast Asian History|publisher=Southeast Asia in the Ming Shi-lu|access-date=12 June 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150622235550/http://www.epress.nus.edu.sg/msl/source.html|archive-date=22 June 2015|df=dmy-all}}</ref> Wang Shi-zhen (王世貞), a Chinese scholar of the 16th century, remarked: "The official historians are unrestrained and are skilful at concealing the truth; but the memorials and statutes they record and the documents they copy cannot be discarded."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.epress.nus.edu.sg/msl/MSL.pdf|title=The Ming Shi-lu as a source for Southeast Asian History by Geoff Wade, Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore 2.5 CHARACTERISTICS OF THE MSL AS A HISTORICAL SOURCE|publisher=National University of Singapore|access-date=11 June 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150701055419/http://www.epress.nus.edu.sg/msl/MSL.pdf|archive-date=1 July 2015|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.siamese-heritage.org/jsspdf/1971/JSS_061_1c_Wyatt_AbridgedChronicleOfAyudhyaOfPrinceParamanuchitchinorot.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.siamese-heritage.org/jsspdf/1971/JSS_061_1c_Wyatt_AbridgedChronicleOfAyudhyaOfPrinceParamanuchitchinorot.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |title= THE ABRIDGED ROYAL CHRONICLE OF AYUDHYA | publisher= The Siam Society |access-date=12 June 2015}}</ref>

The central reference point for the entire 15th century is a [[Ayutthaya Kingdom|Siamese]] intervention of some undisclosed nature at the capital [[Yasodharapura]] (Angkor Thom) around the year 1431. Historians relate the event to the shift of Cambodia's political centre southward to the region of [[Phnom Penh]], [[Longvek]] and later [[Oudong]].<ref name="Google Books"/><ref name=":1" />
{{blockquote|"As Siam became Cambodia’s primary nemesis after the demise of Angkor, it put an end to the pattern of ambivalent sovereignty that Cambodia’s imperial experiment on its western frontier had so effectively prolonged."<ref name="Lowman 2011"/>}}

[[File:1780_Raynal_and_Bonne_Map_of_Southeast_Asia_and_the_Philippines_-_Geographicus_-_Philippines-bonne-1780.jpg|thumb|left|1780 map of Cambodia and Southeast Asia]]

Sources for the 16th century are more numerous. The kingdom is centred at the Mekong, prospering as an integral part of the [[Indian Ocean trade|Asian maritime trade network]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.siamese-heritage.org/jsspdf/2001/JSS_095_0c_Polenghi_MarinisDellaMisioni1663AnnotatedTranslat.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.siamese-heritage.org/jsspdf/2001/JSS_095_0c_Polenghi_MarinisDellaMisioni1663AnnotatedTranslat.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |title= Giovanni Filippo de MARINI, Delle Missioni… CHAPTER VII – MISSION OF THE KINGDOM OF CAMBODIA by Cesare Polenghi – It is considered one of the most renowned for trading opportunities: there is abundance... | publisher= The Siam Society |access-date=1 July 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Anthony Reid|title=Charting the Shape of Early Modern Southeast Asia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YNMGBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT10|year=2000|publisher=Silkworm Books|isbn=978-1-63041-481-8|page=10}}</ref> via which the first contact with [[Age of Discovery|European explorers and adventurers]] does occur.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.themua.org/collections/files/original/dbfc18c3e3c6e83a95c2df47dcd683b8.pdf |title= Maritime Trade in Southeast Asia during the Early Colonial Period | publisher= University of Oxford |access-date=12 June 2015}}</ref> Wars with the Siamese result in loss of territory and eventually the conquest of the capital Longvek in 1594. [[Richard Cocks]], of the [[East India Company]] established trade with [[Kingdom of Cochin|Cochin]], China, and Cambodia by 1618, but the Cambodia commerce was not authorized by the directors in London and was short-lived until it was revived in 1651, again without authorization.<ref>Bassett, D. K. “The Trade of the English East India Company in Cambodia, 1651-1656.” ''Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland'', no. 1/2, 1962, pp. 35–61. 
[http://www.jstor.org/stable/25202509 JSTOR website] Retrieved 23 Oct. 2023.</ref> The Vietnamese on their "Southward March" reach Prei Nokor/Saigon at the Mekong Delta in the 17th century. This event initiates the slow process of Cambodia losing access to the seas and independent marine trade.<ref>{{cite book|author=Peter Church|title=A Short History of South-East Asia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8S5PXyWMEeAC&pg=PT24|year=2012|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-1-118-35044-7|page=24}}</ref>

Siamese and Vietnamese dominance intensified during the 17th and 18th century, resulting in frequent displacements of the seat of power as the Khmer royal authority decreased to the state of a vassal.<ref>{{cite book|author=Cathal J. Nolan|title=The Greenwood Encyclopedia of International Relations: S-Z|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FMJ8KP8i3v0C&pg=PA1653|year=2002|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-313-32383-6|page=1653}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Ooi |first=Keat Gin |author-link=Keat Gin Ooi |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QKgraWbb7yoC&pg=PA566 |title=Southeast Asia: A Historical Encyclopedia, from Angkor Wat to East Timor |publisher=ABC-CLIO |year=2004 |isbn=978-1-57607-770-2 |page=566}}</ref> In the early 19th century with dynasties in Vietnam and Siam firmly established, Cambodia was placed under joint suzerainty, having lost its national sovereignty. [[British Empire|British]] agent [[John Crawfurd]] states: "...the King of that ancient Kingdom is ready to throw himself under the protection of any European nation..." To save Cambodia from being incorporated into Vietnam and Siam, the Cambodians entreated the aid of the [[Luzones]]/Lucoes (Filipinos from [[Luzon]]-[[Philippines]]) that previously participated in the Burmese-Siamese wars as mercenaries. When the embassy arrived in Luzon, the rulers were now Spaniards, so they asked them for aid too, together with [[Mexican settlement in the Philippines|their Latin American troops]] imported from [[Viceroyalty of New Spain|Mexico]], in order to restore the then Christianised King, Satha II, as monarch of Cambodia, this, after a Thai/Siamese invasion was repelled. However that was only temporary. Nevertheless, the future King, [[Ang Duong]], also enlisted the aid of the French who were allied to the Spanish (As Spain was ruled by a French royal dynasty the [[Bourbon Dynasty|Bourbons]]). The Cambodian king agreed to colonial France's offers of protection in order to restore the existence of the Cambodian monarchy, which took effect with King [[Norodom of Cambodia|Norodom Prohmbarirak]] signing and officially recognising the French protectorate on 11 August 1863.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.siamese-heritage.org/jsspdf/1991/JSS_081_2b_Sternstein_LondonCompanysEnvoysPlotSiam.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.siamese-heritage.org/jsspdf/1991/JSS_081_2b_Sternstein_LondonCompanysEnvoysPlotSiam.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |title=London Company's Envoys Plot Siam |website=Siamese Heritage |access-date=7 May 2015}}</ref><ref name="Owen2005">{{cite book|first=Norman G. |last=Owen|title=The Emergence Of Modern Southeast Asia: A New History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=py5Xh0-pw18C&pg=PA117|year=2005|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|isbn=978-0-8248-2890-5|pages=117–}}</ref>