Cambodia (/kæmˈboʊdiə/ (About this soundlisten);[8] also Kampuchea /ˌkæmpʊˈtʃiːə/; Khmer: កម្ពុជា, Kămpŭchéa [ˈkampuciə]), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is 181,035 square kilometres (69,898 square miles) in area, bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, Vietnam to the east and the Gulf of Thailand to the southwest. Phnom Penh is the nation's capital and largest city. The sovereign state of Cambodia has a population of over 15 million. Buddhism is enshrined in the constitution as the official state religion, and is practised by more than 97% of the population.[9] Cambodia's minority groups include Vietnamese, Chinese, Chams and 30 hill tribes.[10] The capital and largest city is Phnom Penh, the political, economic and cultural centre of Cambodia. The kingdom is an elective constitutional monarchy with a monarch, currently Norodom Sihamoni, chosen by the Royal Council of the Throne as head of state. The head of government is the Prime Minister, currently Hun Sen, the longest serving non-royal leader in Southeast Asia, ruling Cambodia since 1985. In 802 AD, Jayavarman II declared himself king, uniting the warring Khmer princes of Chenla under the name "Kambuja".[11] This marked the beginning of the Khmer Empire, which flourished for over 600 years. The Indianised kingdom facilitated the spread of first Hinduism and then Buddhism to much of Southeast Asia and undertook many religious infrastructural projects throughout the region. Angkor Wat is the most famous of these structures and is designated as a World Heritage Site. In the fifteenth century, after the rebellion of Ayutthaya, which was formerly ruled by the Khmer Empire, Cambodia experienced the decline of power, while its neighbors Vietnam and Thailand grew stronger. In 1863, Cambodia became a protectorate of France, and later was incorporated into French Indochina of Southeast Asia. Cambodia gained independence from France in 1953. The Vietnam War extended into the country in 1965 with the expansion of the Ho Chi Minh Trail and establishment of the Sihanouk Trail. This led to the US bombing of Cambodia from 1969 until 1973. Following the Cambodian coup of 1970 which installed the right-wing pro-US Khmer Republic, the deposed King Sihanouk gave his support to his former enemies, the Khmer Rouge led by Pol Pot. With the support of the monarchy and North Vietnam, the Khmer Rouge emerged as a major power, taking Phnom Penh in 1975. The Khmer Rouge then carried out the Cambodian genocide from 1975 until 1979, when they were ousted by Vietnam and the Vietnamese-backed People's Republic of Kampuchea, supported by the Soviet Union, in the Cambodian–Vietnamese War. Following the 1991 Paris Peace Accords, Cambodia was governed briefly by a United Nations mission (1992–93). The UN withdrew after holding elections in which around 90 percent of the registered voters cast ballots. The 1997 factional fighting resulted in the ousting of the government by Prime Minister Hun Sen and the Cambodian People's Party, who remain in power. Cambodia is a member of the United Nations since 1955, ASEAN, the East Asia Summit, the WTO, the Non-Aligned Movement and La Francophonie. According to several foreign organisations, the country has widespread poverty,[12] pervasive corruption,[13] lack of political freedoms,[14] low human development[15] and a high rate of hunger.[16][17][18] Cambodia has been described by Human Rights Watch's Southeast Asian Director, David Roberts, as a "relatively authoritarian coalition via a superficial democracy".[19] Constitutionally a multi-party liberal democracy,[20] the country is de facto governed under one-party rule as of 2018.[21][22] While per capita income remains low compared to most neighboring countries, Cambodia has one of the fastest-growing economies in Asia, with growth averaging 7.6 percent over the last decade. Agriculture remains the dominant economic sector, with strong growth in textiles, construction, garments, and tourism leading to increased foreign investment and international trade.[23] The United Nations designates Cambodia as a least developed country.[24] The US World Justice Project's 2015 Rule of Law Index ranked Cambodia 125th out of 126 countries, far lower compared to other countries in the region.[25]
Cambodia
Filming Location(s)
for Filming Location(s) in World War II: The War in the Pacific
Suggested by celticrailwaytravell
The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia-Pacific War, was the scene of World War II, which took place in East Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and Oceania. Geographically, it was the largest theater of the war, including the huge war rampage in the Pacific, the war in the Southwest Pacific, the Second Sino-Japanese War, and the Soviet-Japanese War. The Second Sino-Japanese War between the Empire of Japan and the Republic of China had been ongoing since July 7, 1937, with hostilities extending as far back as September 19, 1931, with the Japanese invasion of Manchuria. The Pacific War itself began on December 7 (December 8 Japanese time) 1941, when the Japanese simultaneously attacked United States military bases in Hawaii, Wake Island, Guam, and the Philippines and invaded Thailand and the British colonies of Malaya, Singapore and Hong Kong. In the Pacific War, the Allies opposed Japan, aided by Thailand and to a lesser extent by Axis allies. The fighting consisted of some of the largest naval battles in history and incredibly fierce battles and war crimes across Asia and the Pacific Islands resulting in huge loss of life. The war culminated in massive Allied air raids on Japan, including the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, accompanied by a declaration of war by the Soviet Union and the invasion of Manchuria and other territories on August 9, 1945, causing the Japanese to announce their intention to surrender on August 15, 1945.
