{"title":"Kenneth T So","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"khmer-kings-and-the-history-of-cambodia-book-kenneth-t-so-9781934431375","title":"The Khmer Kings and the History of Cambodia","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe fall of Angkor did not provide the coup de grAce to Cambodia. The kingdom was still relatively strong after the Angkor period up until the fall of Longvek in 1594. After Naresuan had conquered Cambodia, he took back to Ayutthaya all the Khmer treasures such as sacred manuscripts, chronicles, books of code of laws, custom and tradition, skilled people, and a great number of Khmer families.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAs the threat from Siam grew stronger, King Norodom who succeeded his father Ang Duong called on France for protection to thwart off Siam's hegemony. This period is called the French Protectorate Period which later turned into the Colonial Period. It started in 1863 and ended in 1953 after Cambodia obtained its independence from France on 9 November 1953 through the leadership of King Norodom Sihanouk.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe Colonial Period brought about the loss of Cochinchina, a Khmer territory under the French Protectorate. Unilaterally, France gave Cochinchina, which the Khmer calls Kampuchea Krom, to Vietnam on 4 June 1949. In a strange way, Cambodia owes France a great debt of gratitude for saving the country from extinction. The loss of Kampuchea Krom cannot totally be blamed on the French because the policy of Chey Chetha I and subsequent fratricidal wars between different branches of the royal family had allowed the Annamese\/Vietnamese to settle in Cambodia in great numbers, and by 1949 the Vietnamese population had outnumbered that of the Khmers many folds. Due to civil wars and Annamese\/Vietnamese's policies, Khmers living in Kampuchea Krom had to escape their birth place to come to central Cambodia which left more space for the Annamese\/Vietnamese to occupy.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe Contemporary Period, which started after the independence of Cambodia from France, has gone through many regime changes such the Khmer Republic, the Democratic Kampuchea aka Khmer Rouge, People's Republic of Kampuchea under the occupation of the Vietnamese, and the current Kingdom of Cambodia.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe contemporary is discussed and analyzed in great detail in this book.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51054268842257,"sku":"NIN9781934431375","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51323492761873,"sku":"CIN1934431370G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51329850671377,"sku":"CIN1934431370VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1934431370.jpg?v=1751124984"},{"product_id":"khmer-kings-and-the-history-of-cambodia-book-kenneth-t-so-9781934431368","title":"The Khmer Kings and the History of Cambodia","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe history of Cambodia is essentially the history of the Khmer kings. Power can be very seductive and addictive; and for this reason, kings or people with power would not voluntarily relinquish what they had and they would use any means necessary to maintain their control for absolute power. Sometimes it was easier for the king to rule his country than his family. This was certainly true for Cambodia when the kings begat many children from their multiple wives and concubines, creating many possible successors in competition for his throne. These shared bloodlines, across multiple generations, resulting in complicated and tumultuous family relationships wherein the family members would conspire against one another for power or the right to rule.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis book also discusses the origin of the Khmers and how Chenla, the state under the vassalage of Funan, came to conquer its master state, but ultimately the kingdom had to split into the Land and Water Chenla. The breakup of Chenla brought chaos and civil wars into the region. Srivijaya (Java) invaded Water Chenla and subjugated the country to a vassal state before Jayavarman I declared Kambuja's independence from Java. A new emerging period sprung up and Angkor, also known as the Kambuja Period, replaced Chenla as the dominant state in the region. The ascendancy of Angkor reached its zenith under the reigns of Suryavarman I, the builder of Angkor Wat, and Jayavarman VI, the builder of Bayon.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe emergence of Ayutthaya brought economic and military challenges to Angkor, which resulted in the fall of Angkor. The rivalry between Ayutthaya and Angkor pushed the Khmer kings to relocate their capitals farther east which started a new period, known as the Longvek period.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThroughout the above periods, the Chief Brahman priests who held hereditary functions since the time of Jayavarman I were always involved in the affairs of the state and were close advisors to the kings. Their roles in shaping up the policies and affairs of the country were second only to those of the kings.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51054366097681,"sku":"NIN9781934431368","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51422097572113,"sku":"CIN1934431362VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1934431362.jpg?v=1751380584"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/collections\/author-books-by-kenneth-t-so.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}