As a Khmer living in America, it's sad that Cambodia has been on a decline for many years since the collapse of the Khmer Empire. Much of the lands were lost to Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam, making Cambodia smaller than any of the three countries, plus Myanmar. I also feel powerless to learn that the country was colonized by the French, bombed by the Americans during Vietnam War, fallen into a civil war. This is just a remind that all empires will come to an end, including the US empire. But I'm glad the Khmer Empire last for about 600 years like the Roman Empire. So it's something for all the Khmer to be proud of.
Angkor declined because of climate change so the king had to shift the capital south because he wanted foreign ships to start docking in the area. According to a Spanish-Portuguese monk from the 16th century, in his journal. He wrote that Cambodia is very rich due to the resources. Right after the fall of Longvek, Cambodia started rebuilding the economy and started very heavily in trade. Not to mention they defeated the Spanish and later on the Dutch.
6:49 Fun fact, that particular reservoir is actually a real place called the West Baray reservoir, and it's one of the largest artificial lakes ever constructed in human history before the Industrial Revolution. The Smithsonian has a 1-minute video explaining the West Baray here on RU-vid. Even Angkor Wat is nothing compared to the size of the West Baray, despite holding the Guinness World Record as the largest religious structure in the world (if you do the math, you'll find you could fit TEN whole Angkor Wats inside the perimeter of the West Baray because the West Baray measures 7.8 by 2.1 km while Angkor Wat measures 1.5 by 1.3 km). Another fun fact, Angkor Wat is actually really tall, rising 213 feet into the sky. For comparison, the Tower of London stands 90 feet tall. The reason why Angkor Wat doesn't look tall in photographs is because it's so big in terms of width, but when you're up close you see its true height. One more fun fact, every year on the morning of the spring equinox, the sun rises directly above the central tower of Angkor Wat. Okay, one more fun fact: According to an academic paper called "Angkor Wat: an Introduction," Angkor Wat has pillars that cast shadows in the shape of Angkor Wat's silhouette. Great video! You're the first RU-vidr I've ever seen to talk about Queen Indradevi and Jayarajadevi in detail.
Mention one expert saying this, before roman conquered gaul, they focused on and dominated the mare nostrum, the mediteranian sea, ankor is an empire, a great one at that, but saying they were roman of the south east asia is a bit overstretching, as they didn't really control and have a say over the south east asian sea.
Have you ever studied about the Khmer empire Imperial system of cultural and population assimilation? They had a say over SEA this is why you see many Khmer temples, cities, roads, ports built in most of mainland SEA.
Hi Kirby! I visited Angkor Wat last March during the equinox, and I was truly in awe of how majestic the entire wat was during my one-day visit there. I am just curious now while watching your video, why should we be "inspired" by these women who were part of an empire that exploited what was believed to be 300,000 people and 6,000 elephants to dig manually the moat around the wat and the sophisticated wat itself? Why, in comparison with the West, would we "celebrate" the freedoms of women in Southeast Asia (or in the Khmer Empire at the least) when these freedoms we are talking about are just bestowed to rulers and not to the people? Many Angkor Wat visitors remember the shrine through the kings who ordered their construction but not through the hundreds of thousands of people (and elephants) who, in literal blood and sweat, built them.
When I watch the SEA game opening ceremony all the dancers are women meaning a lotus presentation and bamboos native to them and the host telling the story to the audience.
You are Kind and compassion human being whose willing to learn and understand and appreciate others historied in a good way instead of against in a bad way off , nsult of like racism off and prejudice of same human being thinkin others are stupid then just because they were conquered and trying to instinct off.. Should respected 19:15 same ancient indigenous people of the land but respect and honor of the khmer and thier ancestor and Archeologist of the world and historian of the world tell the trues about Cambodia instead of trying to gobagainst this and that thinkin themself are right khmer are wrong and supporting leaders that like conquered creat war of the world then telling lied about the kingdom they conquared is bad wrong and they're the conquared is right like mose colonise others country those.. You are Amazing,intelegense and humble like budha ..
You didn’t cover sports and food❤such as cock fighting like at Bayon temple and Angkor Wat temple. Please ask the tour guide they will show you about Khmer martial arts which is carved in the temple walls
That's not teaching in the K-12 education in PH by the teachers. Now I know firsthand. Well he is just telling a story about India like a book of biography which is a boredom like saying the ami da boh about chanting the sutras or scriptures. I think this world history teacher is telling about the three kinds of buddhism but the way he discuss is not clear. About a sense of human nature like emotions over reasons.
About the night market it is similar to the Thai people and PH but the language is not according to geography in RU-vid. Thailand and timor leste or east timor had similar spoken language like they can communicate interpersonal or personal in the streets or work.
The 2 queen did exist but not quite the way you are talking. When the king was only a poor guy that get lost in the wood Indratevi the big sister help him out, than fall in love and get married. In Khmer Empire, we don't choose a king we choose a queen. Among all the royal family the one that have the most knowledge and the prettiest in the family is choose to do the competition. Everyone can vote whit a gold coin the princess they love. The little sister is choose as a crown princess, Jayarajadevi is not her name. Who ever want to be king need to be able to lift the king sword '' press khan'' and have to marry the crown princess.
Can you cite your sources? Because based on what archaeologists and historians have been able to piece together so far was that Jayavarman VII was not a "poor guy", he was the son of a Khmer king. And where did you get that queens are chosen, not kings? It sounds like you're confusing Jayavarman VII's legacy for some older Khmer mythology. Everything you wrote contradicts everything written about Jayavarman VII and his wives. And that last bit about being able to lift the sword sounds like the story of Aquaman. Are you talking about Aquaman or Jayavarman VII?
@@d.c.3534 For the sword lifting to find the rightful king, it have been done since Khmer nation exist. Even now , they still do it before the king start his reign , they do the ceremony of sword lifting, but with a fake sword. Our history of sword lifting is 3 thousand year older than the story of Aquaman. You know what? Old Khmer mythology have more truth than Khmer history right now. Why? I tell you why. Look at all source of Khmer history. Not one have been take from Khmer source. French and Sanskrit is the source. When they try to understand something they look to India culture, religion and belief , but they don’t look to Khmer nation. They compare a broken apple to an orange, and say yea that is an orange. When I was a kid, I was proud that Cambodia was a French protector . To know more I read a book about it. There is a sentence that make me stop reading history book. “There is a lot of effort put on to change Khmer believe and education.” That is the only thing tru about all khmer history. What that sentence mean? They don’t think Khmer believe and knowledge have any value. They try to elimination Khmer writing, put French writing like they do it in Vietnam. By doing that they kill or put in jail khmer people that don’t approve them. This is when the Khmer root and history have been cut of. Hundred of thousand teacher and monk have been kill school shut down. You won’t find this in history book, they won’t say they are bad. You need to reed between the line. The source of my story is from a golden book of khmer history. The name of the book is “Moha VereaK boros Khmer” You can’t find it because it’s still in hiding. In that book, Jayavarman VII is not the mighty king, he have build nothing, he only destroy. By the way Jayavarman is a tittle not a king name. In every king reign there is 8 war master, the strongest one is the minister of war, he have under his commend 7 Jayavarman, each Jayavarman have 100 000 man on their commend.
@@saromom4558 I respectfully disagree on Khmer text and folklore being more accurate than western theories. Khmer have a rich storytelling and they can be quite embellished. And many times there are different versions of the same folklore. Any theory, whether written in Khmer, English, French, etc. should undergo peer-review to eliminate the possibility of bias and there needs to be some evidence to at least support said theory. There's a quote "History is written by victors" that people should keep in mind when they read or hear something. I know the names of Khmer kings past are titles, not the birth name and can change even after death. Khmer archeologists and historians are also very active in the field. What's written in French or English are also the work of Khmer academics. They're the ones out there at excavation sites, translating Old Khmer and Sanskrit engraved in stone to piece together the past, not relying on folklore, an oral tradition. There's a Khmer historian with the Royal University of Phnom Penh who discovered a stone with Old Khmer inscription estimated to be from early 600 AD that mentions Suvarnabhumi, a region that is mentioned in old Indian and Buddhist texts, but no one has been able to determine the location. It still needs to undergo peer-review. There are Khmers, especially the older generation, who romanticize about the French colonial times. But anyone who is familiar with the process of colonization, whether they take place in Africa, North America or Asia, would know the natives suffer, are stripped of land and power and are forced to assimilate. It's nothing to be proud of, to have your people governor by outsiders who think they are above you. I know about the French's attempt to Romanize the Khmer language and they did succeed for a short time. Also, it was Portuguese missionaries who initially Romanized Vietnamese language and later the French continued on with it. People don't need to read between lines, but open their eyes and recognize a pattern from the past. You will see history is repeating itself, but in a slightly different way. Since Cambodia opened its doors in the 80s/90s, it was in a very vulnerable state and outsiders came looking to exploit the people and the land. Look at the power dynamic between locals in Cambodia and expats. They are in Cambodia because they profit in some way. They don't need to integrate into Khmer culture, learn Khmer language. They don't need to bend to Khmer; their money, thus power, demands that Khmers bend to them. You have expats creating RU-vid channels from the West and the East, encouraging their own to move to Cambodia because it's cheap and it provides job opportunities that they wouldn't qualify for in their own country. You have Khmers leaving comments like "We welcome all!" and fail to think long term about how the influx of expats will raise the cost of living for them, especially when most Khmers already struggle to survive. If the growth continues, Khmers will be priced out just like some areas in Mexico and Portugal where expats from the west were moving to. You have some expats boasting in online forums about living in Cambodia for over 20 years, but still don't know Khmer. And expat kids who are raised in Cambodia attending international schools where they only learn English because why bother to learn Khmer. Not worth their time. Khmers will bend to them. I see some expats criticizing, looking down on Khmers in the comments section of RU-vid and online forums. Some create TikTok videos to "educate" Khmers on how to act and think, to force their ideologies on local Khmers. Don't be outraged about the colonization of Cambodia that took place in the past. Be outraged about the colonization that's taking place now.
@@d.c.3534 I am aware of Vietnam colonization , I also know their action to proceed Khmer extermination , even if I'm not in the country. My country is in my heart. “Suvarnabhumi” Sovan is a Baley word mean gold, “phoum” is a khmer word mean village. Where they find the stone, that place is Sovanaphoum. I was a kid, after reading a few page I understand what French colonization have done to Khmer nation, there is no way to be proud of that. By the time they write Khmer history, they shut down Khmer knowledge people. Write history of a country whit no info from Khmer nation itself, how much truth is in there? All Khmer history is refer to French first writing. I’m not frustrate about the past fake history, just trying give comment of what I believe to be real and true. Like you say history repeat, if you lost in the past, you will still lost in present. My intention is to raise awareness. People chose to believe what they want.
@@saromom4558 Vietnam and Cambodia have a long, complicated history dating back centuries. The two have been at war with each other. Vietnam invaded Cambodia during different periods, but there have been history of aid between the two countries as well. Ethnic Khmers were forced to assimilate in Vietnam territory, but ethnic Vietnamese have also suffered in Cambodia during Lon Nol administration, Khmer Rouge regime and even in modern times, especially during elections. And let's not forget the Ba Chuc massacre. I don't understand why you bring up Vietnamese colonization, but neglect to mention Chinese colonization of Cambodia which is extremely visible above all else. Or the slower, but surely colonization brought about by the west again. At the end of the day, it's the government who is responsible for protecting its sovereignty, its people and heritage. I know what Suvarṇabhūmi means. I brought up the stone to let you know of more recent excavations, new theory concerning Khmer history by Khmer historians. And, no, the presence of the actual stone does not indicate that is the place of Suvarṇabhūmi. They need to work within a broader scope here. I don't understand the continued reference to what earlier French academics wrote about Khmer history. It sounds like you're holding onto outdated materials. There are historians and archeologists alive today, both from the west and Cambodia, who have challenged earlier works. History is being rewritten all the time, especially with the help of modern technology. Even ancient Chinese texts about Cambodia have been reexamined and reinterpreted. Therefore, all Khmer history does not refer to earlier French writings. It's a good idea to keep up with new discoveries in Cambodia because research did not just stop at the end of the French colonization.
Khmer empire start off from what is now south Vietnam , and we hardly had war with the Vietnamese , our rivalry were the Cham and the Javanese . All of them are Austronesian .
@@Don69Muk not really at that period Khmer empire lost the war to the Javanese and the king was capture to the Javanese but then create a resistance force to overthrown the Javanese and take back what is now Thailand Cambodia to half of what is now Malaysia .
@@Don69Muk Khmer and Javanese have trading relation way before that , but back then Khmer empire was called funan or phinom which was the empire that was not yet split up of the Mon and Khmer , after spilt up then the Khmer empire reunited Khmer Mon under the name of Khmer empire .
Bros, Chek out who wrote Khmer history, learn your history from Khmer root not outside peopler like French historian . From the start the Khmer territories touch Burma and China. Thailand and Laos are the same nation that came from China. When their country is taking over by China , Khmer people give them a place to stay. The Cham is nothing close to a powerful kingdom. The Cham is a mix of Khmer and Burma. In the past Burma try to take over Khmer country, not bye direct war, but by friendship and infiltration. When Khmer nation trust them there are a lot of marriages between the 2 nation. Before Khmer realized, they get kill and lost all the power, Burma did rule over Khmer country for one generation, but we somehow take back our country, Champa came from the Baley Khmer Champa Sak, that mean people that leave their home. We can't Burma-Khmer live anywhere, we make them move , give them a territory near China. They become Champa country, not a strong country, khmer alway help Champa when they have problem, they rule their country only 200 year old.
Are you saying Overseas Filipino Workers built Angkor Wat? Actually, like present day Cambodian Wats (temples) across the world, Angkor Wat was built by the volunteer effort of the Cambodian (Khmers) community. There are Cambodian names and family names, which are still present today, carved into the walls (plaques) of Angkor Wat as a recognition to those who sponsored the construction, either by directly building, donating materials, etc. This is a revered Cambodian tradition as we see it as a blessing for our family and future descendants, therefore, no disputes on who the builders were. Westerners are projecting their own biases by incorrectly labeling Angkor Wat builders as forced laborers or slaves.
Kirby!, thank you for your hard works, but as a Khmer, one significance thing is that you are talking about Cambodian history, culture of Angkor Wat. You are wearing a Thai made, Thai style shirt. This is a turn off to Cambodians!. These 2 races hate each other to death!, the Thais always jealous of the Khmers! especially about Angkor Wat!
