Khmer Empire: A Visual History

The Khmer Empire was founded in 802 when Jayavarman II declared himself universal monarch on Mount Kulen. From its capital at Angkor it ruled modern Cambodia and much of Thailand, Laos and southern Vietnam, building an enormous hydraulic city and the temples of Angkor Wat (Suryavarman II, c. 1150) and the Bayon (Jayavarman VII, c. 1200). Angkor housed perhaps a million people. Wars with Champa, Thai advances, the strain of temple building, religious change to Theravada Buddhism and climate stress weakened it, and the Thai sacked Angkor in 1431.

When it existed: the era ribbon

The bold bar is Khmer Empire. The lighter bars are empires and wars from the same era and the same part of the world. Click any bar to jump to its page.

Khmer territory

Timeline of the Khmer Empire

1. 802
   Jayavarman II proclaims himself devaraja
2. 889
   Yasovarman I founds Angkor
3. 1113
   Suryavarman IIAngkor Wat begun.
4. 1177
   Chams sack Angkor
5. 1181
   Jayavarman VIIAngkor Thom and the Bayon.
6. 1296
   Zhou Daguan's visit
7. 1350
   Ayutthaya founded
8. 1431
   Thai sack Angkor

Foundation

Jayavarman II, returning from 'Java' (perhaps Srivijaya), consecrated himself devaraja, god-king, in 802 and unified the Khmer principalities of the Chenla period. Indravarman I and Yasovarman I built the first great reservoirs (barays) and moved the capital to Angkor around 900. Successive kings built state temples as mountain-shaped mausoleums: Bakong, Pre Rup, Baphuon.

Angkor Wat and the Bayon

Suryavarman II (1113-1150) built Angkor Wat, dedicated to Vishnu, the world's largest religious monument, and fought Champa and Dai Viet. The Chams sacked Angkor in 1177; Jayavarman VII drove them out, took Champa, and rebuilt on a vast scale as a Mahayana Buddhist: Angkor Thom with the smiling faces of the Bayon, Ta Prohm, Preah Khan, 102 hospitals and 121 rest houses along raised roads. The Chinese envoy Zhou Daguan described the city's splendour in 1296.

Decline

After Jayavarman VII the building stopped. Theravada Buddhism from Sri Lanka spread, undermining the god-king cult; the Thai kingdoms of Sukhothai and Ayutthaya broke away and attacked; the vast canal system silted and tree-ring evidence shows severe droughts and floods in the fourteenth century. Ayutthaya sacked Angkor in 1431 and the court moved to Phnom Penh; Angkor Wat itself was never abandoned as a shrine.

Related empires and wars

Chosen automatically by overlap in time and geography, plus a few hand picked connections.

Empires of the same era and region

• Srivijaya (650 to 1275)
• Yuan dynasty (1271 to 1368)
• Tang dynasty (618 to 907)
• First Portuguese Empire (1415 to 1663)

Wars of the same era and region

• Song-Dai Viet War (1075 to 1077)
• Burmese-Siamese wars (1547 to 1855)
• Mongol invasions and conquests (1206 to 1368)

8 surprising things about the Khmer Empire

1. Angkor Wat is the largest religious monument in the world and appears on Cambodia's flag.
2. Lidar surveys since 2012 revealed Angkor sprawled over about 1,000 km2, the largest pre-industrial urban complex known.
3. The temple faces west, unusual for Hindu temples, probably because it was Suryavarman II's funerary monument.
4. Zhou Daguan reported that the king appeared at a golden window and that Khmer women bathed naked in the moats every day.
5. Jayavarman VII's 102 hospitals were staffed with doctors and provisioned with honey, spices and drugs by royal decree.
6. The West Baray reservoir is 8 km long and still holds water.
7. Angkor Wat's bas-reliefs run for over 800 metres and depict the Churning of the Ocean of Milk with 88 demons and 92 gods.
8. The empire had no coinage; the economy ran on rice, labour and temple endowments.

Sources

• Khmer empire Encyclopaedia Britannica
• Khmer Empire Wikipedia
• Khmer Empire World History Encyclopedia
• Michael D. Coe, Angkor and the Khmer Civilization (2003) Thames and Hudson

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