The Khmer Civilization got into existence in the period from 802 to 1431 A.D. and extended as long as the modern Thailand-Burma Border in the West and Wat Phou of Laos in the North while in its peak. The ancestors and forefathers of the Angkor civilization are believed to have migrated into Cambodia along the Mekong River during the 3rd millennium BC. Their original center, proven by 1000 BC, was situated on the shoreline of huge lake called Tonle Sap, but a genuinely sophisticated and enormous irrigation system permitted the spread of the civilization to the country side from the lake.
Its beginning is based on the truth that the old Khmer rulers taken a proper political doctrine of their time, that enforce the unity among people. Furthermore, they had established a smart irrigation system to regulate the water of the great Mekong River for agricultures, which in turn improved its prosperity. The Khmer Civilization left excellent ancient monuments like the great Khmer temples of Angkor Wat and Bayon as well as many distinctive statues like Apsara.
No doubts, the ancient Khmers were great experts of stone carving. As we can observe today the unarguable evidences of numerous Angkor temples laying in the wide plain of Siem Reap, or even beyond its present-day border to the Preah Vihear at Dangrek Mountain, Phnom Rung and Phimai in Thailand and Wat Phu in Laos. Each one of these was constructed and carefully crafts by the ancient Khmers within successive centuries. This appears to contradict with the regular and easy-going life of the local Khmer people and villagers of their time. What push them to put these extraordinary endeavors.
The research of Khmer civilization in-depth is not simple and pain-taking by the historians and archaeologists. Although these evidences are essential for all of us to know the fundamental constituency of Khmer culture and its chronology, they were mostly involved with religious rituals, King's praise, and literature of Indian epics of "Ramayana" and "Mahabharata". There are little points stating concerning the normal life of the local people.
Curiously, we find out about the daily lifestyle of the ancient Khmers, not from the Khmer themselves, but from the Chinese annals. In the midst of 13th century during Chinese Yuan Dynasty, a Chinese ambassador named Zhou Daguan journeyed to Angkor, stayed with the local villagers, and explored this empire for a year before his return. He wrote in his Chinese chronicle relating to this awesome empire, and clarifies vividly how the people live together with the obvious portrayal of the Khmer society during those times.
The center of the Khmer Civilization was in the Angkor Wat area that is located in the basic of present-day Siem Reap province north of the Great Lake of Tonle Sap. During the path of Khmer history, the kingship was often attained by violent means with bloodshed throne. There had been successive capitals constructed by various kings in the area, some distance from each others; these capitals are in area of Angkor Wat and Roluos with the various names like Harihalara, Yasodharapura, Jayendanagari, Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom and some other Khmer temples are surely the artifacts of heritage Khmer Civilization.
Chronology of Angkor
During the classic period, the Khmer society was a multicultural mixture of Pali and Sanskrit rituals resulting from a fusion of Hindu and High Buddhist belief systems, most likely the results of Cambodia's role within the substantial trade system linking Rome, India and China throughout the last few centuries BC. This blend served as both the religious core of the society and as the political and economic basis on which the empire was built.
The Khmer society was led by a comprehensive court system with both religious and secular nobles, artisans, fishermen and rice farmers, soldiers, and elephant keepers: Angkor was defended by a military using elephants. The elites gathered and redistributed taxes, and temple inscriptions attest to a detailed barter system. A variety of products were exchanged between Khmer cities and China, such as rare woods, elephant tusks, cardamom as well as other spices, wax, gold, silver and silk.
Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907) ceramic has been discovered at Angkor: Song Dynasty (AD 960-1279) white wares such as Qingai boxes have been identified at several Angkor centers. The Khmer recorded their religious and political tenets in Sanskrit inscribed on stele and also on the temple walls throughout the empire.
Bas reliefs at Angkor Wat, Bayon and Banteay Chhmar describe great army expeditions to neighboring polities using elephants and horses, chariots and war canoes, although there does not seem to have been a standing military. The end of Angkor came to the mid-14th century, and was partly caused by a general change in religious belief in the community, from Hinduism and High Buddhism to much more democratic Buddhist practices. At the same, an environmental collapse is noted by some historians as having a role in the disappearance of Angkor.
Road Systems among the Khmer. The tremendous Khmer empire was united by the number of roads, consists of six main arteries stretching from Angkor for a total of 1,000 kilometers (620 miles). Supplementary roads and causeways served local traffic in and around the Khmer cities. The streets that interconnected Angkor and Phimai, Vat Phu, Preah Khan, Sambor Prei Kuk and Sdok Kaka Thom (as plotted by the Living Angkor Road Project) were fairly straight, and constructed of earth piled from each side of the route in long flat strips. The street surfaces were up to 10 meters (33 feet) wide and in some areas were raised up to 5-6 m (16-20 ft) above the ground. Read more: Khmer civilization part 2
Khmer Civilization:
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