The contact of Cambodia with India started somewhere in the pre historic times when the sea trade relations between the two regions were established around the first century A.D. Funan was the first state in this region which absorbed and assimilated the Indian concepts in the early centuries of Christian era. The Sanskrit, tradition, customs, religion, arts, architecture and legal administrative systems were adopted in the pre Angkor historical period.
Jayavarman 2 founded Angkor dynasty in AD 802 and consolidated Kambuj. Thereafter, Kambuj Desh evolved into a powerful state from 9 century onwards and the Khmer became one of the highly evolved society in the world. They produced the world most beautiful temples from 9th to 13th century, from the combination of basic Indian and Khmer civilization in the field of religion, culture, art and architecture.
The kingdom of Kambuj was gradually losing its glory and power to its two immediate neighbors, Thais, and Champa in subsequent centuries. Siem Reap was abandoned as the capital and a dark era dawned on the one-time great empire with one of the richest cultural histories in the world, the temples, spirituality, and history were lost to civilization for over five hundred years.
By the closed of the 19th century, the main group of Angkor temples had been located after the French saw them in 1860 and felt into Colonialism for about one hundred years.
However, for four years in the late 1970s Cambodia came under the control of Pol Pot’s khmer rouge regime and felt victims to a failed political ideal that left over two million of the nation citizens dead from disease, malnutrition, and persecution.
In the early of 1990s a free and fair national election supervised by UNTAC formed a Kingdom of Cambodia and a new constitution with parliamentarian system. The king remains as the symbol of national unity to his people.