The term " Khmer Rouge ", French for " Red Khmer ," was coined by Cambodian head of state Norodom Sihanouk and was later adopted by English speakers.

The history of the communist movement in Cambodia can be divided into six phases: the emergence of the Indochinese Communist Party ( ICP ), whose members were almost exclusively Vietnamese, before World War II ; the 10-year struggle for independence from the French, when a separate Cambodian communist party, the Kampuchean ( or Khmer ) People's Revolutionary Party ( KPRP ), was established under Vietnamese auspices ; the period following the Second Party Congress of the KPRP in 1960, when Saloth Sar ( Pol Pot after 1976 ) and other future Khmer Rouge leaders gained control of its apparatus ; the revolutionary struggle from the initiation of the Khmer Rouge insurgency in 1967 – 68 to the fall of the Lon Nol government in April 1975 ; the Democratic Kampuchea regime, from April 1975 to January 1979 ; and the period following the Third Party Congress of the KPRP in January 1979, when Hanoi effectively assumed control over Cambodia's government and communist party.

Viet Minh units occasionally made forays into Cambodian bases during their war against the French, and, in conjunction with the leftist government that ruled Thailand until 1947, the Viet Minh encouraged the formation of armed, left-wing Khmer Issarak bands.

In 1863, the Cambodian king Norodom had requested the establishment of a French protectorate over his country.

Work resumed after the end of the Cambodian Civil War and, since 1993, has been jointly co-ordinated by the French, Japanese and UNESCO through the International Co-ordinating Committee on the Safeguarding and Development of the Historic Site of Angkor ( ICC ), while Cambodian work is carried out by the Authority for the Protection and Management of Angkor and the Region of Siem Reap ( APSARA ), created in 1995.

Cambodian schoolchildren in French Indochina at one point in the early 1940s began their school-day with prayers to Marshal Philippe Pétain, opening with the words, " Our father, which art our Leader, glorious be thy name ... deliver us from evil ".

French Union forces included colonial troops from the whole former empire ( Moroccan, Algerian, Tunisian, Laotian, Cambodian, and Vietnamese ethnic minorities ), French professional troops and units of the French Foreign Legion.

However, a boundary survey conducted by the French for the Franco-Siamese Treaty of 1907 deviated from the agreed upon international divide by mountains ' watershed and placed the temple on the French ( Cambodian ) side.

The much-publicized travels of the naturalist Henri Mouhot, who visited the Cambodian court, rediscovered the ruins at Angkor, and journeyed up the Mekong River to the Laotian kingdom of Luang Prabang from 1859 to 1861, piqued French interest in the kingdom's alleged vast riches and in the value of the Mekong as a gateway to China's southwestern provinces.

This agreement afforded the Cambodian monarch French protection ( in the form of a French official called a résident — in French resident ) in exchange for giving the French rights to explore and to exploit the kingdom's mineral and forest resources.

It was established in 1863 when the Cambodian king Norodom requested the establishment of a French protectorate over his country.

The first decades of French rule in Cambodia included numerous reforms into Cambodian politics, such as the reduction of the monarch's power and abolishment of slavery.

French forces later aided Norodom to defeat Si Votha under agreements that the Cambodian population be disarmed and acknowledge the resident-general as the highest power in the protectorate.

Likewise, Norodom was viewed as responsible for the constant Cambodian revolts against French rule.

Later territorial disputes between France and Siam over Battambang and Siem Reap Provinces led to France's occupation of Trat Province until Siam gave in to French pressure and ceded the provinces, originally Cambodian territory until the latter part of the 18th century, in 1907 along with Banteay Meanchey Province.

Infrastructure and public works were also developed under French rule, and roads and railroads were constructed in Cambodian territory.

Unlike in Vietnam, Cambodian nationalism remained relatively quiet during much of French rule mostly due to lesser education influence, which helped literacy rates remain low and prevented nationalist movements like those taking place in VIetnam.

However, among the French-educated Cambodian elite, the Western ideas of democracy and self-rule as well as French restoration of monuments such as Angkor Wat created a sense of pride and awareness of Cambodia's once powerful status in the past.

The immense influence on the identity of Cambodia to come was wrought by the Khmer Kingdom of Bhavapura, in the modern day Cambodian city of Kompong Thom.

Neutrality was the central element of Cambodian foreign policy during the 1950s and 1960s.

However, as early as March 12, 1970, the CIA Station Chief told Washington that based on communications from Sirik Matak, Lon Nol's cousin, that " the ( Cambodian ) army was ready for a coup ".

On October 9, the Cambodian monarchy was abolished, and the country was renamed the Khmer Republic.

" When Congress, in the summer of 1973, legislated an end to U. S. military action in, over, or off the shores of Indochina, the only U. S. military activity then going on was air support of a friendly Cambodian government and army desperately defending their country against a North Vietnamese and Khmer Rouge onslaught ... What destabilized Cambodia was North Vietnam's occupation of chunks of Cambodian territory from 1965 onwards for use as military bases from which to launch attacks on U. S. and South Vietnamese forces in South Vietnam.

Prince Ranariddh's royalist FUNCINPEC Party was the top vote recipient with 45. 5 % of the vote, followed by Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party and the Buddhist Liberal Democratic Party, respectively.

Mucalinda, the nāga king who shielded Gautama Buddha | Buddha as he sat in meditation, was a favorite motif for Cambodian Buddhist sculptors from the 11th century.

Pol Pot ( 19 May 1925 – 15 April 1998 ), born Saloth Sar (), was a Cambodian Maoist revolutionary who led the Khmer Rouge from 1963 until his death in 1998.

During the years that the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh, was controlled by the Khmer Rouge regime of Pol Pot ( 1975 to 1979 ), the border disputes continued.

* 1076: the Song Chinese allied with southern Vietnamese Champa and Cambodian Chenla to conquer the Lý Dynasty, which was an unsuccessful campaign.

This was followed by his first novel The Conquerors ( 1928 ), then by The Royal Way ( 1930 ) which was influenced by his Cambodian experience.

The racial makeup of Oakland was 134, 925 ( 34. 5 %) White, 109, 471 ( 28. 0 %) African American, 3, 040 ( 0. 8 %) Native American, 65, 811 ( 16. 8 %) Asian ( 8. 7 % Chinese, 2. 2 % Vietnamese, 1. 6 % Filipino, 0. 7 % Cambodian, 0. 7 % Laotian, 0. 6 % Korean, 0. 5 % Japanese, 0. 5 % Indian ), 2, 222 ( 0. 6 %) Pacific Islander ( 0. 3 % Tongan ), 53, 378 ( 13. 7 %) from other races, and 21, 877 ( 5. 6 %) from two or more races.

It was a derogatory term used by Norodom Sihanouk, dismissing the Cambodian leftists who had been organizing pro-independence agitations in alliance with the Vietnamese.

COSVN was initially located in Tây Ninh Province near the Cambodian border.

Marshal Lon Nol (; November 13, 1913 – November 17, 1985 ) was a Cambodian politician and general who served as Prime Minister of Cambodia twice, as well as serving repeatedly as Defense Minister.

Nol was educated in the relatively privileged surroundings of the Lycée Chasseloup-Laubat in Saigon, followed by the Cambodian Royal Military Academy.

He became an associate of King Norodom Sihanouk, and by the late 1940s, when he set up a right-wing, monarchist, pro-independence political group, was becoming increasingly involved in the developing Cambodian political scene.

Cambodian Art music is highly influenced by ancient forms as well as Hindu forms.

Cambodian French vocabulary has been influenced by Cambodian, Cantonese, and Teochew.

Cambodian art and the culture of Cambodia has had a rich and varied history dating back many centuries and has been heavily influenced by India.

Other scholars theorize that Khmer classical dance, as seen today, developed from, or was at least highly influenced by, Siamese classical dance innovations during the 19th century and precedent forms of Cambodian dance were different from the present form.

The United States claims that the bombing campaign took place no further than ten, and later twenty miles ( 32 km ) inside the Cambodian border, areas where the Cambodian population had been evicted by the NVA.

Prince Sihanouk, fearing that the conflict between communist North Vietnam and South Vietnam might spill over to Cambodia, publicly opposed the idea of a bombing campaign by the United States along the Vietnam-Cambodia border and inside Cambodian territory.

On October 4, 2004, the Cambodian National Assembly ratified an agreement with the United Nations on the establishment of a tribunal to try senior leaders responsible for the atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge.

In the months leading up to the Cambodian decision, troops from both nations had clashed over territory claimed by both countries immediately adjacent to Cambodia's Preah Vihear temple, leading to a deterioration in relations.

** U. S. President Richard Nixon asks the U. S. Congress for US $ 155 million in supplemental aid for the Cambodian government ( US $ 85 million is for military assistance to prevent the overthrow of the government of Premier Lon Nol by the Khmer Rouge and North Vietnam ).

* May 15 – Mayaguez incident: The American merchant ship Mayaguez, seized by Cambodian forces, is rescued by the U. S. Navy and Marines ; 38 Americans are killed.

* This is the base year ( year zero ) of the Saka era used by some Hindu calendars, the Indian national calendar, and the Cambodian Buddhist calendar.

* Khmer Serei, anti-communist and anti-monarchist guerrilla force founded by Cambodian nationalist Son Ngoc Thanh

This Cambodian statue, dated between 1150 and 1175 A. D., depicts the meditating Buddha being shielded by the naga Mucalinda.

Five Hòa Hảo battalions surrendered immediately ; Ba Cụt and three remaining leaders had fled to the Cambodian border by the end of the month.

A film version of The Sea Wall was first released in 1958, and remade in 2008 by Cambodian director Rithy Panh.

Tourists are encouraged by the Cambodian government to visit Choeung Ek.