Editing Angkor (section)

=== End of the Angkorian period ===
{{Main|Fall of Angkor}}
The end of the Angkorian period is generally set as 1431, the year Angkor was sacked and looted by [[List of Thai monarchs#1st Suphannaphum dynasty (1370–1388)|Suphannaphum-Mon]] dynasty of [[Ayutthaya Kingdom|Ayutthaya]] invaders, though the civilization already had been in decline in the 13th and 14th centuries.{{sfn|Higham|1989|pp=139–140}}{{sfn|Coedès|1968|pp=236–237}} During the course of the 15th century, nearly all of Angkor was abandoned, except for [[Angkor Wat]], which remained a Buddhist shrine.
Several theories have been advanced to account for the decline and abandonment of Angkor:

==== War with the Ayutthaya Kingdom ====
[[File:Map-of-southeast-asia 900 CE.svg|thumb|right|A map of the Khmer Empire (in red) in 900 AD]]
It is widely believed that the abandonment of the Khmer capital occurred as a result of Ayutthaya invasions. Ongoing civil wars with the [[List of Thai monarchs#1st Uthong dynasty (1351–1370)|Lavo-Khmer]] and [[List of Thai monarchs#1st Suphannaphum dynasty (1370–1388)|Suphannaphum-Mon]] dynasty of Ayutthaya were already sapping the strength of Angkor at the time of [[Zhou Daguan]] toward the end of the 13th century. In his memoirs, Zhou reported that the country had been completely devastated by such a war, in which the entire population had been obligated to participate.{{sfn|Coedès|1943|p=32}}

After the collapse of Angkor in 1431, many statues were taken to the Ayutthaya capital of [[Ayutthaya (city)|Ayutthaya]] in the west.{{sfn|Higham|2001|pp=139-140}} Others departed for the new center of Khmer society at [[Longvek]], southeast of Angkor in [[Kampong Tralach district]]. The official capital later moved, first in 1618 to [[Oudong]] around {{convert|45|km}} from [[Phnom Penh]] in [[Ponhea Leu District]], and eventually in 1865 to the present site of Phnom Penh.

==== Erosion of the state religion ====
Some scholars have connected the decline of Angkor with the conversion of the [[Khmer Empire]] to [[Theravada Buddhism]] following the reign of [[Jayavarman VII]], arguing that this religious transition eroded the Hindu concept of kingship that underpinned the Angkorian civilization.{{sfn|Chandler|1992|p=78 ff}} According to Angkor scholar [[George Coedès]], Theravada Buddhism's denial of the ultimate reality of the individual served to sap the vitality of the royal personality cult which had provided the inspiration for the grand monuments of Angkor.{{sfn|Coedès|1943|pp=64–65}} The vast expanse of temples required an equally large body of workers to maintain them; at [[Ta Prohm]], a stone carving states that 12,640 people serviced that single temple complex. Not only could the spread of Buddhism have eroded this workforce, but it could have also affected the estimated 300,000 agricultural workers required to feed them all.<ref>Richard Stone, [http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2009/07/angkor/stone-text Divining Angkor] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130529165158/http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2009/07/angkor/stone-text |date=29 May 2013 }}, National Geographic, July 2009.</ref>

==== Neglect of public works ====
According to Coedès, the weakening of Angkor's royal government by ongoing war and the erosion of the cult of the ''devaraja'', undermined the government's ability to carry out important public works, such as the construction and maintenance of the waterways essential for irrigation of the rice fields upon which Angkor's large population depended for its sustenance. As a result, Angkorian civilization suffered from a reduced economic base, and the population was forced to scatter.{{sfn|Coedès|1943|p=30}}

==== Natural disaster ====
[[File:Angkor Chau Say Tevoda 2009.jpg|thumb|right|[[Chau Say Tevoda]]]]
Other scholars attempting to account for the rapid decline and abandonment of Angkor have hypothesized natural disasters such as disease (Bubonic Plague), earthquakes, inundations, or drastic climate changes as the relevant agents of destruction.{{sfn|Coedès|1943|p=30}} A study of tree rings in Vietnam produced a record of early monsoons that passed through this area. From this study, we can tell that during the 14th–15th centuries monsoons were weakened and eventually followed by extreme flooding. Their inability to adapt their flooding infrastructure may have led to its eventual decline.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Buckley, B. M. |author2=Anchukaitis, K. J. |author3=Penny, D. |author4=Fletcher, R. |author5=Cook, E. R. |author6=Sano, M. |author7=Nam, L. C. |author8=Wichienkeeo, A. |author9=Minh, T. T. |author10=Hong, T. M. |name-list-style=amp |year=2010 |title=Climate as a contributing factor in the demise of Angkor, Cambodia |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |volume=107 |issue=15 |pages=6748–52 |doi=10.1073/pnas.0910827107|pmid=20351244 |pmc=2872380 |bibcode=2010PNAS..107.6748B |doi-access=free }}</ref>

Recent research by Australian archaeologists suggests that the decline may have been due to a shortage of water caused by the transition from the [[Medieval Warm Period]] to the [[Little Ice Age]].<ref>{{cite news |publisher=Australian Associated Press |title=Climate change killed ancient city |via=News AU |date=14 March 2007 |url=http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21380223-1702,00.html |access-date=12 November 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080116142532/http://www.news.com.au/story/0%2C23599%2C21380223-1702%2C00.html |archive-date= 16 January 2008}}</ref> [[Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory|LDEO]] [[Dendrochronology|dendrochronological research]] has established tree-ring chronologies indicating severe periods of [[drought]] across [[mainland Southeast Asia]] in the early 15th century, raising the possibility that Angkor's canals and reservoirs ran dry and ended expansion of available farmland.<ref>{{cite news |last=Nelson |first=Andy |title=The secret life of ancient trees |newspaper=Christian Science Monitor |date=10 November 2009 |url=http://features.csmonitor.com/environment/2009/11/10/the-secret-life-of-ancient-trees/ |access-date=12 November 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091112102431/http://features.csmonitor.com/environment/2009/11/10/the-secret-life-of-ancient-trees/ |archive-date=12 November 2009 |url-status=dead}}</ref>