Cambodia enjoyed her prosperity as the Foonan kingdom from the first century

through the sixth, and as the Tchenla kingdom from the sixth century through

the middle of the eighth, and in the latter half of the eighth century came

under a brief occupation by the Jawa kingdom. She recovered her sovereignty

from the Jawa kingdom in the ninth century, and thus came the extremely

prosperous period of Angkor, under the Empire of Khmer which lasted until

the fifteenth century．



 Her capital, Angkor, had a large population of 70,000 to over 80,000 at the

peak of its prosperity. But in the later years, the Empire of Angkor was

often invaded by Thai and Vietnam, and in 1863 was reduced to a protectorate

of France, which was only the beginning of her suffering. In 1941,

the Japanese Army advanced to her territory and consequently the French

retreated, but with the surrender of the Japanese in 1945,the French came

back to power. Under the leadership of King Norodom Sihanouk, Cambodian

independence movement intensified, and on November 9,1953, she finally

attained the full independence as The Kingdom of Cambodia. In the beginning,

the government of the new kingdom took a neutral line in order to protect

its independence from the pressure of the neighboring counties and

superpowers, but in 1970, when Vietnam war was being fought in the background,

a coup d'etat lead by then Defense Minister Lon Nol, who was known to

be pro-American right-winger, marked the resumption of the suffering of Cambodia．



 Lon Nol's government was soon ousted by Pol Pot's Regime, which immediately

prevailed the reign of terror all over the country．

The purge, which started by the executions of Lon Nol's ministers and

politicians, was gradually expanded to include harmless intellectuals,

skilled workers, and even children in the execution list. It is largely

believed that an incredible one third of the entire population were

massacred in the four years from 1975 though 1979．



 Pol Pot's government was ousted by the invading Vietnamese Army and the

rise of the Pro-Vietnam Heng Samrin's government, and Pol Pot's Army went

into hiding in the jungles to start their guerrilla warfare. In July 1982,

Pol Pot's Army, together with Sihanouk's group and Son Sann's group, which

is a derivation from Lon Nol's group, established the Coalition Government

of Democratic Kampuchea ( renamed as the National Government of Cambodia

in 1990 ), but the civil war went on and there seemed to be no end to it.



 After 1987, the d'etente between the United States and Soviet Union paved

the way for Cambodia to pursue ａ peace however slowly．

But the civilian toll from explosions of the land mines planted in excessive

number during the civil war was constantly rising, and Cambodia was facing

immense difficulties that included the arrangements to return her refugees

to their original Land．

In order to help solve the entanglements of Cambodia, the United Nations'

Peace Keeping Operations were launched from 1992. In 1993, under the

surveillance of The United Nations, a general election was held, and ａ new

government was inaugurated, under whose leadership Cambodia is making

her firm steps toward peace．