60 Fun Facts About Cambodia

What is the capital and most populous city of Cambodia?

It has been the capital since 1865 and sits where the Tonle Sap river meets the Mekong.

Angkor Wat, built by Suryavarman II in the 12th century, is the world's largest what?

It was dedicated to Vishnu, later became Buddhist, and unusually faces west.

Cambodia's flag is one of only four national flags to feature a building. What is shown?

The others are Portugal, San Marino and Spain; the flag's blue stands for the king and red for the nation.

Which Khmer king declared himself a universal god-king in 802, founding the Khmer Empire?

He made the declaration in the Phnom Kulen mountains after freeing the Khmer from Java.

A 2007 satellite study concluded that Angkor had been the largest what in the world?

Its urban sprawl covered at least 1,000 square kilometres and may have held up to a million people.

Which kingdom sacked Angkor in 1431, prompting the capital to be abandoned?

The Khmer court moved south to Longvek; the empire's collapse is still debated by historians.

Which Khmer king built the Bayon, with its giant smiling faces, and was the empire's first devoutly Buddhist ruler?

He also built Angkor Thom, Ta Prohm, hospitals and rest houses across the empire.

Ta Prohm, the temple famously swallowed by tree roots, is nicknamed after which 2001 film shot there?

The Buddhist king founded it as a monastery dedicated to his mother; it was built without mortar.

Cambodia became a protectorate of which European power in 1863?

French rule lasted until 1953, interrupted by Japanese occupation in World War II.

Cambodia gained independence on 9 November of which year, under King Norodom Sihanouk?

Sihanouk abdicated two years later so he could enter politics as a prince.

Which general ousted Sihanouk in a 1970 coup and set up the US-aligned Khmer Republic?

He fled to Hawaii on 1 April 1975, sixteen days before the Khmer Rouge took the capital.

The Khmer Rouge took the capital in 1975 and ruled until 1979 under which leader, born Saloth Sar?

"Brother Number One" had studied radio-electronics in Paris; he died under house arrest in 1998 without facing trial.

Roughly what share of Cambodia's population died under the Khmer Rouge between 1975 and 1979?

Estimates run from 1.5 to 2 million dead of a population of around 7.8 million.

Under the Khmer Rouge, wearing what was said to be "as deadly as the yellow star"?

Doctors, lawyers, teachers and monks were targeted as the regime tried to build a peasant utopia from "Year Zero".

Tuol Sleng, the Khmer Rouge's notorious S-21 prison in the capital, was housed in what kind of building?

About 20,000 people were held there; only a handful survived, and its chief Duch was the first Khmer Rouge figure convicted, in 2010.

Which country invaded Cambodia in December 1978 and toppled the Khmer Rouge within weeks?

Hanoi installed the People's Republic of Kampuchea and stayed until 1989; China, the Khmer Rouge's patron, retaliated with a border war on Vietnam.

Which country was the Khmer Rouge's main foreign backer, supplying at least 90% of its aid?

Pol Pot met Mao in Beijing in June 1975 and received at least US$1 billion that year alone.

Which 1984 film about journalists Sydney Schanberg and Dith Pran won three Oscars?

Haing S. Ngor, a Cambodian doctor and genocide survivor, became the first Asian actor to win Best Supporting Actor.

Cambodian photojournalist Dith Pran is credited with coining which phrase during his 1979 escape?

He found 50 members of his family had died; he later worked for the New York Times.

Which UN mission ran Cambodia in 1992-93, the first time the UN directly administered an independent state?

It followed the 1991 Paris Peace Accords; the election restored Sihanouk as king.

Which former Khmer Rouge commander was Cambodia's prime minister from 1985 to 2023?

Born Hun Bunal, he changed his name in 1972; he now heads the Senate.

Hun Manet, PM from August 2023, was the first Cambodian to graduate from which academy?

He is Hun Sen's son and also holds a doctorate in economics from Bristol.

Cambodia's King Norodom Sihamoni, crowned in 2004, trained and worked in Europe as what?

Educated in Czechoslovakia, he was Cambodia's ambassador to UNESCO before succeeding his father Sihanouk.

Tonle Sap, Southeast Asia's largest freshwater lake, is famous for what annual phenomenon?

Monsoon floods push the Mekong back up the Tonle Sap river, swelling the lake to five times its size.

Bon Om Touk, Cambodia's Water Festival with its boat races, marks what moment in the year?

About a tenth of the population attends; a 2010 stampede on Koh Pich island killed some 350 people.

Cambodia's riel traded at about 4,100 to which currency in 2024, also used as daily money?

The Khmer Rouge abolished money altogether; the riel was reintroduced only in 1980.

Between 1975 and 1980, Cambodia had no currency at all because the Khmer Rouge did what?

They also emptied the cities and blew up the central bank.

Fish amok, one of Cambodia's national dishes, is a curry with what texture, steamed in a banana-leaf cup?

It uses kroeung spice paste, coconut milk and eggs, and is thought to be a royal dish from the Angkor era.

Prahok, sometimes called "Cambodian cheese" for its smell, is what?

Fish are trampled by foot to scale and gut them before months of fermentation.

Which Cambodian province gives its name to a black pepper protected as a geographical indication?

Under the French it was known as Indochinese pepper; nearby Kep serves it with crab.

Which religion is followed by more than 95% of Cambodians and is the state religion?

The country has some 4,400 monastery temples; the Cham minority are mostly Muslim.

The Khmer language belongs to which language family, alongside Vietnamese and Mon?

Unlike Thai and Vietnamese it is not tonal; its script derives from India's Pallava script.

The oldest dated inscription in Khmer script, found at Angkor Borei, dates from which year?

The script is an abugida descended via Pallava from Brahmi, and is also used to write Pali.

Cambodia's Royal Ballet, which nearly died out under the Khmer Rouge, is on which UNESCO list?

Historically it performed at coronations and royal funerals; the Apsara dance is its best-known form.

Bokator, an ancient Cambodian martial art on UNESCO's heritage list, has a name meaning what?

Oral tradition says Khmer armies used it before Angkor was founded; the modern kickboxing sport Kun Khmer grew from it.

Pchum Ben, the 15-day festival when Cambodians offer food to their ancestors, is timed to what belief?

Monks chant all night; families honour relatives up to seven generations back and, often, victims of the Khmer Rouge.

Which checked cotton scarf, worn as headwrap or baby sling, is a Cambodian national symbol?

Bokator fighters wrap it round their waists and fists; the Khmer Rouge made red ones part of their uniform.

Which small, round-headed dolphin survives as a critically endangered population in the Mekong?

Its high forehead and lack of a beak give it a permanent smile.

Cambodia's national mammal, the kouprey, is what kind of animal?

First described in 1937 and last confirmed in the wild in 1969, it may already be extinct.

Cambodia's national bird, the giant ibis, is confined mainly to which part of the country?

It is the largest ibis species alive and critically endangered.

Cambodia's highest peak, Phnom Aural at 1,813 m, lies in which mountain range?

The Cardamoms were the Khmer Rouge's last stronghold and hold Southeast Asia's largest remaining rainforest tract.

The ICJ awarded Preah Vihear temple to Cambodia over Thailand in 1962 and again in which year?

Its 2008 World Heritage listing reignited the border dispute and led to armed clashes.

Sambor Prei Kuk was Isanapura, capital of which pre-Angkorian kingdom?

Its 7th-century brick temples include unusual octagonal ones.

Banteay Srei, the pink-sandstone "jewel of Khmer art", is unusual among Angkor's major temples for what?

Consecrated in 967, its miniature scale and deep carvings made it a favourite; a young André Malraux was arrested for looting it in 1923.

Which Chinese envoy's 1296-97 stay at Angkor gave the only surviving eyewitness account of Khmer daily life?

He served the Yuan emperor Temür Khan and described the court of Indravarman III.

Which French naturalist popularised Angkor in the West after his 1860 visit?

His tomb lies outside Luang Prabang.

Cambodia's Olympic debut in 1956 took place in Stockholm rather than Melbourne. Why?

It later missed 24 years of Games because of the Khmer Rouge and has never won a medal.

In which year did Cambodia, as the Khmer Republic, qualify for its first AFC Asian Cup?

They finished fourth; the team is now nicknamed the Angkor Warriors.

Battambang's famous "bamboo train", the norry, was an improvised vehicle running on what?

A bamboo platform on wheels driven by a small motor, it hit 50 km/h and simply dismantled to let oncoming carts pass.

Sinn Sisamouth, the "King" of Cambodia's 1960s rock scene, died how?

Fellow star Ros Serey Sothea, the "Queen with the Golden Voice", also vanished under the regime.

The capital's Central Market, a yellow art-deco landmark, was claimed on opening in 1937 to be what?

Its 26-metre dome has four arched arms radiating out across the block.

Which 'New Khmer Architecture' architect designed Cambodia's Independence Monument?

Sihanouk personally instructed him; it stands 37 m tall at the junction of Norodom and Sihanouk Boulevards.

Cambodia's Khmer Rouge maintained a last stronghold until 1998, where Pol Pot died. Where was it?

It lies near the Thai border in Oddar Meanchey; Ta Mok, "the Butcher", was captured nearby in 1999.

The Khmer name Kampuchea derives from a Sanskrit name meaning 'land of the descendants of' whom?

A 10th-century inscription tells of the hermit Kambu marrying the nymph Mera to found the Kambu-Mera solar dynasty.

Which explorer's chronicler recorded the name 'Camogia' in 1524, the earliest European use of 'Cambodia'?

Pigafetta cited it in his account of Magellan's first voyage around the world.

Cambodia's oldest known archaeological site, the cave of Laang Spean, has lower layers dated to about when?

The site belongs to the Hoabinhian period and its upper layers hold Cambodia's earliest dated pottery.

Into how many provinces, including the autonomous municipality, is Cambodia divided?

Beneath them sit 159 districts and 26 municipalities, then communes and quarters.

Roughly what share of Cambodia's exports comes from the garment industry?

Tourism is the second-biggest earner of hard currency and employs about 26% of the workforce.

What is distinctive about the Cambodian cyclo, or cycle rickshaw?

Cyclos were popular in the 1990s but are giving way to motorcycle-drawn remorques and Indian rickshaws.

How many casinos did Cambodia have by 2018, up from 57 in 2014?

Casinos, Angkor, Sihanoukville's beaches and Phnom Penh are the main draws; most 2018 arrivals were Chinese.