Most of the nation consists of the Cambodian Plain. To the north is Thailand's northeast plateau; to the east the land rises towards Vietnam's Annamese mountains; and to the southwest the Cardamomes(2) and related ranges separate most of the plain from access to the Gulf of Thailand. The plain is drained by the Mekong(3) river system. The river enters from Laos to the north and flows into Vietnam. Tonle Sap(4), a large lake in the center of the plain, connects to the Mekong and acts as a spill lake. When the monsoon raises the river, the excess water enters the Tonle Sap and its margins; otherwise the lake drains southeastward to add to the Mekong.
More than eight in ten speak Central Khmer(5). Almost one in ten speak Vietnamese, another Austro-Asiatic language. No other linguistic group represents as much as one in twenty first language speakers. French is spoken by some as a second or third language.
About nineteen in twenty practice Theraveda Buddhism, blended with older animist beliefs. The former communist government murdered most Buddhist monks (bonzes) and their numbers are still much reduced from a few decades ago. Animism, which did not suffer as much, centers on protection from adversity brought on by various types of spirits. This help is assisted by several types of practicioners: shamans (kru), sorcerers (thmup), specialists in the rituals of life-cycles (achar) and fortunetellers(haor teay).
The capital, Phnom Penh(6), is at the confluence of the Mekong and the Tonle Sap's river. It now has a million and a half people but briefly in 1975 its entire population was driven away by the communist rulers.
It is speculated that the people who lived here in the first and second millenia B.C.E. were speakers of Austro-Asiatic languages. By the first century C.E. the Mon-Khmer peoples arrived, probably from southeastern China, and intermarried with the older residents. At this time influence from India became profound: the state of Funan(7) introduced Hindu-Buddhism, Sanskrit and Pali. Pre-Angkorian Old Khmer is said to have been spoken to 802, Angkorian Old Khmer to 1431 and Middle Khmer to the 18th century; obviously linguistic evolution did not so nicely correspond to political change as this chronology implies. As in other parts of southeast Asia, Hinduism--always more important to rulers than the masses--declined in the first half of the last millenium, and Singhalese Buddhism grew. Nonetheless some Brahmin-influenced political ritual persisted until 1970 and the local version of the tale of Rama remains popular. Khmer retains many Sanskrit and Pali loan words, especially for use in religious and--prior to communism--political contexts.
The Khmer Empire at its height influenced Thai culture, but later Thai, Vietnamese and French dmonance over Cambodia did not leave as much of a footprint.
north, from the nation's northeast
east and southeast
southwest
west, and also north of the nation's northwest
(1) Kampuchea officially; formerly the Khmer Republic; Cambodge in French. It was named after a kingdom in India: Kamboja.
(2) The Kravanh in Khmer.
(3) Mekongk in Khmer. It is the world's tenth longest.
(4) Also called Beong or Tonle Sab.
(5) Khmae is their name for the language.
(6) Pnum Penh officially. Pnum means hill or mountain.
(7) This is a transliteration of the modern Putonghua Chinese pronounciation of two Chinese characters which 2000 years ago were said "biu-nam", and which were a sinification of bnam, the old Khmer version of today's phnom or pnum (hill).