No written records survive from the Khmer empire except inscription carved on temples and palaces, so its history has been pieced together from reliefs at places like Angkor Wat, records of Chinese visitors to the region and archaeological investigations.
The Khmer kingdom of Angkor could be said to have begun in 802 when King Jayavarman II (r.802-50) ostentatiously declared himself ‘king of the world’. He had grown up in the sophisticated Javanese court, possibly a hostage from one of Java’s Cambodian vassal kingdoms. On returning to Cambodia, he had set about rapidly increasing neighboring kingdoms, forming in the process a land he called Kambuja which, through his 802 declarations, he announced independent from Javanese rule. Although he was casting off the overlordship of Java, his years in the court there had not been wasted and his memories of its refined civilization were the seeds from which Khmer art would grow.
Under Jayavarman II’s immediate successors Kambuja’s central location meant that conquest could give way to trade, providing the wealth with which the first city of Angkor was built sometime around 900. As well as spending on building projects, the Khmer invested heavily in agriculture and irrigation, building a series of huge reservoirs, providing a further impetus to trade and allowing the population to expand.
In the early 12th century the Khmer empire began looking beyond its borders and an era of aggressive expansionism began. Under Suryavarman II kingdoms were conquered in Burma, the Malay Peninsula, and Thailand, extending to the borders of Laos. It was during this period that the city of Angkor reached its height and the great temple of Angkor Wat was built, taking 37 years to complete.
Expansionism brought its own problems and, following Suryavarman’s death – probably during an attempted invasion of Vietnam – the Khmer empire was briefly conquered. It rose again under the Buddist King Jayavarman VII (r. 1182- c.1266), who built a new capital at Angkor Thom (‘the Great City’). Under his enlightened rule, much of the infrastructure of the empire was laid down, including the construction of over 100 hospitals and an extensive road system linking the old and new cities, complete with inns for merchants and government officials.
The empire came under increasing pressure after Jayavarman VII’s death and began to contract in the face of Thai expansion and threats from Mongol China. By the time the Chinese diplomat Zhou Daguan arrived in Angkor the golden age of Khmer rule was already over, so his dazzling description of the court of king Srindravarman can only hint at the wealth and power his predecessors must have enjoyed.
After Srindravarman’s death in 1308, records become scarce. There is evidence that later king’s belief in a more personal form of Buddhism may have eroded their authority and archaeology shows that around this time much of the extensive water management system that supported the empire began to fall into disrepair. The empire never regained its former power and finally, in 1431, it was conquered by the Thai Ayutthaya kingdom. There is evidence that Angkor was not entirely abandoned at this time but, as the rump of the Khmer state moved south to the area around Phnom Penh, slowly the economic value of the site dwindled, By the time Antonio da Magdalena arrived in 1586 the surrounding jungle had grown back enough to convince him that this ‘lost city’ was not simply abandoned but had been empty for centuries.
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