Phnom Penh

In 1863, Cambodia came under French rule and later became part of French Indochina. After independence in 1953, Cambodia was initially spared the military conflicts in Indochina, but was drawn into the Second Indochina War after a military coup in 1970. After years of civil war, the Khmer Rouge established a reign of terror in 1975 that, according to various estimates, claimed 1.7 to well over 2 million lives until the Khmer Rouge were ousted by Vietnamese troops in 1979. Cambodia remained occupied by Vietnam for ten years, and the ousted Khmer Rouge resisted with guerrilla tactics. After 1989, with the cooperation of the United Nations, a peace agreement and the rebuilding of state structures followed, ending in 1993 with a new constitution and the restoration of the monarchy. Cambodia, at that time one of the poorest countries in the world after two decades of war, terror and occupation, has since made significant progress in the fight against poverty and underdevelopment and is now one of the fastest growing economies in AsiaRead more