Phnom Penh history

Phnom Penh was founded in the 14th century but didn't become the capital until 1866 when Cambodia became a French Protectorate. The 20th century was a difficult one for the city and country: it was occupied by the Japanese in WWII, then sided with the North Vietnamese against the Americans, resulting in them dropping bombs on Cambodia and causing a flood of refugees into the city.

Dissatisfied left-wing fighters, known as the Khmer Rouge, engaged in a civil war with the right-wing government culminating in them emptying Phnom Penh of its residents in April 1975 and returning the country to Year Zero with great brutality.

The invasion by the Vietnamese in 1979 started the very slow path to recovery. The city had been badly damaged and its treasures thrown into the river. On their return, many citizens found just shells of buildings in which to live. The country endured political turmoil until UN-backed elections in 1993 and the crowning of King Sihanouk the same year.

Since the late 1990s, when the Khmer Rouge were totally disempowered, political life has settled down to a certain extent and 2004 saw a new king, Sihamoni, take up residence in the Royal Palace following the abdication of his father. In 2009, tribunals, set up with the assistance of the United Nations, started to try the surviving senior Khmer Rouge leaders for atrocities committed during the genocide.