Cambodia

Cambodia or Kampuchea is a country officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia and once known as the Khmer Empire.

The country is located in the region - South-eastern Asia. Its capital city is Phnom Penh. Population of this country in 2003 was 14,144,000 with population density 78 per sq km. It has a surface area of 181,035 sq km and currency - riel.

Cambodia is a small kingdom in Indo-China, occupying an area as large as Scotland in the plains of the Lower Mekong. The coast-line is washed by the Gulf of Siam; the landward boundaries touch Siam, Annam, and French Cochin-China; in the N. are stretches of forest and hills in which iron and copper are wrought; a branch of the Mekong flows backward and forms the Great Lake; most of the country is inundated in the rainy season, and rice, tobacco, cotton, and maize are grown in the tracts thus irrigated; spices, gutta-percha, and timber are also produced; there are iron-works at Kompong Soai; foreign trade is done through the port Kampot.

The capital is Pnom-Penh lies on the Mekong. The kingdom was formerly much more extensive; remarkable ruins of ancient grandeur are numerous; it has been under French protection since 1863.