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                      Cambodia in Brief

                      The Kingdom of Cambodia

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                      Map of provinces of Cambodia
                      Capital City: Phnom Penh with population of 1,300,000

                      Population: 13,363,421 people

                      Religions: Theraveda Buddhist 95%, other 5%

                      Languages: Khmer (official) 95%, French, English

                      Economy: Tourism and clothing sector are Cambodia’s fastest growing industries. Cambodia expects 1 million foreign tourists in 2004.

                      Natural Resources: Oil and gas, timber, gemstones, and hydropower potential. Increased illegal logging and stripped mining for gems threatens Cambodia’s habitats.
                       

                      Government: Multiparty democracy under a constitutional monarchy was established in September 1993.


                      Provinces of Cambodia

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                      Flag of Cambodia
                      Provinces of Cambodia: 20 provinces: Banteay Mean Chey, Battambang, Kampong Cham, Kampong Chhnang, Kampong Spoe, Kampong Thum, Kampot, Kandal, Koh Kong, Kracheh, Mondol Kiri, Otdar Mean Chey, Pouthisat, Preach Vihear, Prey Veng, Rotanakir, Siem Reap, Stoeng Treng, Svay Rieng, and Takao.

                      4 municipalities: Keb, Pailin, Phnom Penh, and Preah Sihanouk. ( we will update some more new provinces soon)


                      Ankgor Wat is a symbol of Cambodia. Cambodia has the only flag that incorporates a building in its design


                      What is the capital of Cambodia?

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                      Royal palace in Phnom Penh
                      Phnom Penh is the capital of Cambodia. It potrayed to Cambodia as the center for direct the country's economic grown to be the source of renewed domains after 1979 such as industrial, commercial, cultural, tourist and historical center.

                      Once known as the "Pearl of Asia" in the 1920s, Phnom Penh, along with Siem Reap is a significant global and domestic tourist destination for Cambodia in addition to its traditional but modern revision surrounding the entire city has demonstrated the valuable resort to attract the majority to tourism experience.

                      Phnom Penh is the wealthiest and most populous city in Cambodia. It is also the commercial, political and cultural hub of Cambodia and is home to more than 2 million of Cambodia's population of over 14 million.


                      The People of Cambodia

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                      Cambodian Religion Celebration
                      According to the General Population Census of 1998 the total population of Cambodia is 11.4 million, with an annual growth rate of some 2.8 per cent. The population density is approximately 45 people per square kilometer.

                      An estimated 1.2 million people reside in the capital, Phnom Penh. Other major centres of population include Sihanoukville, Siem Reap, Battambang, Takeo, Kompong Cham and Kompong Thom.

                      Ethnic Khmers make up some 96 per cent of Cambodia's total population.

                      The largest single minority group is that of the Cham-Malays, who are settled mainly along the Mekong to the north of Phnom Penh. Descended from the inhabitants of the ancient kingdom of Champa in what is now southern coastal Việt Nam, they adopted their faith and script from the Malays who settled in Kampot at the invitation of Muslim Khmer King Chan in 1642.

                      Partly urbanised, often educated and much involved in trade and commerce, the Cham were severely persecuted during the Pol Pot years and their present population of just over 200,000 compares to a figure of over 800,000 during the 1950s and 1960s.

                      Numbering around 50,000, the ethnic Chinese constitute another important ethnic group in Cambodia, although, as in neighbouring Thailand, they have been assimilated to a greater degree than in many other parts of South East Asia. As such they may be contrasted with the community of some 95,000 ethnic Vietnamese, which mostly retains its cultural distinctiveness.

                      Cambodia is also home to some 20 culturally distinct hill tribes, most of which occupy the mountainous districts of the north east.

                      The majority of these hill tribes hail from the Mon-Khmer group of the Austro-Asiatic language family and their traditional homeland straddles the border with southern Laos and the central highlands of Việt Nam.

                      Most numerically significant of Cambodia’s hill tribe ethnicities are the Kui of Preah Vihear Province; the Pnong (or Mnong) of Mondulkiri, Ratanakiri, eastern Kratie and south east Stung Treng Provinces; the Brau with their sub-groups the Kravet and the Krung of Ratanakiri and eastern Stung Treng Provinces; the Tampuan, Jarai and Rhade (or Ede) of Ratanakiri Province; and the Stieng of Kratie Province.

                      Nearly 85 per cent of the Cambodian people are involved in subsistence farming, living in small villages of stilted huts with exterior and partition walls made of palm mats and floors of woven bamboo strips resting on bamboo joists. Swidden ('slash-and-burn') farming techniques practiced by many of the hill tribes of the north east and illegal logging carried along on the border with Thailand continue to pose a serious threat to the environment, whilst landmines remain a serious hindrance to agricultural development. As in neighbouring Laos, poverty, disease and malnutrition are widespread amongst outlying rural communities, although in recent years the government has been making strenuous efforts to redress this situation.- (Cambodia Cultural Profile)

                      Cambodian History in brief, click here
                      Killing Fields Museum in Seattle, Washington