Cambodia is a tropical land of densely forested hills, small scattered villages of thatched-roof houses, and emerald-green rice paddies (walled fields that can be filled with water for growing rice). It is bordered by Thailand on the west and northwest, Laos on the north and northeast, and Vietnam on the east and southeast. On the southwest is Cambodia's only outlet to the sea, a short stretch of coastline on the Gulf of Thailand.
The country is about 280 miles (450 kilometers) from north to south at its greatest extent, and about 360 miles (580 kilometers) from east to west. Its total area, including a number of small offshore islands, is 69.898 square miles (181,035 square kilometers), making it about the size of the state of Washington in the United States.
The center of the country is the flattest, most fertile, and most heavily populated and cultivated region. It consists of a moist lowland plain that lies between Cambodia's two major bodies of water: the Tonle Sap (Great Lake) and the Mekong River.
The Tonle Sap is a long, narrow lake in the west central part of the country. During the dry season (November to April), it covers an area of 1.200 square miles (3.120 square kilometers) and is nowhere deeper than 7 feet (2 meters). But during the rainy season (May to October), when it is fed by the waters of many rivers and streams. the Tonle Sap swells to about three times its normal area and reaches a depth of 35 feet (10.5 meters). This annual shallow flooding covers the surrounding countryside with a layer of moist, nutrient-rich mud, ideal for growing rice.
In addition to being the center of Cambodia's rice-growing provinces, the Tonle Sap also provides the country's second main food item: fish. Its warm, shallow waters teem with carp, lake chub, eels, and other species. In fact, the Tonle Sap is one of the richest freshwater fish hatcheries in the world, yielding as much as 26 tons of fish for each square mile. Dried or salted fish is a staple of the Cambodian diet, along with rice. Because of its richness in these two foods, the central plain around the Tonle Sap has been populated since ancient times. Angkor, the old capital and religious center of the Khmer Empire, is located near the northern end of the Tonle Sap.
The Mekong River is one of the longest rivers in Asia. It flows out of the Himalayan Mountains of Tibet (now part of China) and then winds through Laos, along the Laotian-Thai border, and into Cambodia. Within Cambodia, the river runs for approximately 315 miles (494 kilometers) from the northern border with Laos to the southern border with Vietnam. It then crosses southern Vietnam before emptying into the South China Sea. Fed by the melting snows of the Himalayan peaks and by the torrential downpours of the tropical rainy season, the Mekong reaches its deepest and fastest flow during August and September.
The Mekong is connected to the Tonle Sap by a short channel-like river called the Tonle Sap. This channel joins the Mekong about 65 miles (104 kilometers) south of the lake, where the river sweeps from westward to southward in a huge curve. Just below the junction with the Tonle Sap, a smaller river called the Bassac branches off from the Mekong and flows southward into Vietnam. The curve of the Mekong, together with the Tonle Sap flowing in and the Bassac flowing out, forms a watery X in south-central Cambodia, on the southern edge of the fertile, crowded central lowland. This crossing of rivers is the center of Phnom Penh, Cambodia's capital since the 15th century and its only sizable city.
RELIGION
The central lowland is surrounded by rolling, grassy plains called savannahs. They are slightly higher and drier than the central lowland and have a scattering of trees. In southern Cambodia, these plains run all the way to the Vietnamese border and the sprawling delta of the Mekong River. But to the north, east, and west, the savannahs give way to hilly or mountainous regions covered with dense tropical forest. These are the remote, thinly populated outer districts of Cambodia.
In the north and northwest, the Dang Rak Mountains run along the border with Thailand. The mountains take the form of a 200-mile (322 kilometer) escarpment, or cliff, that rises sheer from the Cambodian plain to heights of from 600 to 1,800 feet (180 to 550 meters). This sandstone cliff forms a natural boundary between the two countries. In the past, however, invading armies have climbed it in both directions. Today, secret paths over the cliff are used by smugglers who trade Cambodian gold for luxury items from Thailand to sell in Phnom Penh's black market. The mountain trails are also used by Khmer refugees fleeing to camps in Thailand.
In the northeast and east, along Cambodia's borders with Laos and central Vietnam, the country east of the Mekong River is a region of high plateaus, short, steep mountain ranges, and thick forests. Kompong Cham, Kratie, and Stoeung Treng, all located on the Mekong, are the major cities of eastern Cambodia. Settlement east of the river is limited to a few small towns and a multitude of tiny villages in clearings in the forest. Travelers use twisting footpaths on the mountain slopes or take canoes along the calmer stretches of the many streams. This inhospitable terrain continues into Laos and Vietnam.
In the southwest, two rugged mountain ranges form a highland region that separates the central lowland from Cambodia's short coastline on the Gulf of Thailand. The more northerly range is the Cardamom Mountains (named for a spice grown and used throughout Southeast Asia). This range rises south of Battambang and Pailin, the two major cities of Cambodia's northwest comer, and runs in a gentle curve parallel to the western shore of the Tonle Sap toward Phnom Penh. Cambodia's highest point, a peak named Phnom Oral, is located in the Cardamom Mountains. It is 5,949 feet (1,813 meters) high. The other range, the Elephant Mountains, runs along the southern part of the coastline, between the seaport of Kompong Som and the capital city.
The highland region formed by these ranges is sparsely inhabited, difficult to travel in, and unmapped in places. It is a barrier that has long kept Cambodia's small coastal lowland isolated from the more prosperous central lowland. Because the Mekong River has traditionally been used as the main travel route from the central part of the country to the outside world, the coastal region never developed into a major center of trade. In the 1960s, though, a road was pushed through the jungles and the Elephant Mountains to connect Phnom Penh with the coast. Cambodians started building the deep-water port of Kompong Som with help from the United States. After the PRK took control of the country, the work on the harbor was carried on with aid from the Soviet Union. Today, the port handles oil tankers and other ships that are too large to navigate the Mekong River. The population of the coastal region is growing, and the government plans to develop centers of manufacturing and industry near the port. (Please read also Khmer Culture)
CLIMATE AND WEATHER
Cambodia is located between the Tropic of Cancer and the Equator, which means that it is in the world's north tropical zone. Like all tropical countries, it is always hot, or at least warm. (Some tropical countries have cold regions at high altitudes, but Cambodia's mountains, although they are rugged, are not high enough to be cold.)
Daytime temperatures in April, the warmest month, average about 95º Fahrenheit (35º Centigrade). In January, the coolest month, daytime temperatures average 82° Fahrenheit (280 Centigrade). Nights are usually noticeably cooler, but even in the mountains in January a really chilly night is very rare. Frost, snow, and ice are unheard of.
Cambodia has what is called a monsoonal climate, meaning that its weather is governed by strong, prevailing winds called monsoons. These winds create two seasons in Cambodia. During the wet season, from May to October, the monsoon winds blow from the southwest and bring torrential downpours of rain almost every day. The country receives between 75 and 80 percent of its yearly rainfall during this 6-month period. Even when it is not actually raining during the wet season, it is still very cloudy and humid.
During the dry season, from November to April, milder winds blow from the northeast. Rain is much less common, and sunshine replaces the clouds of the wet season. Cambodia's total yearly rainfall varies from about 200 inches (5.080 millimeters) on the sea-facing slopes of the Cardamom and Elephant ranges to about 55 inches (1.400 millimeters) in the central lowland.
PLANT AND ANIMAL LIFE
Cambodia is shaped something like a bowl. The flat center of the bowl is the central lowland, and its rising sides are formed by the narrow ring of savannah around the lowland and the steeper highlands toward the country's borders. Each of these regions has its own characteristic vegetation.
Since the beginning of history, the central lowland has been given over to cropland. Rice is grown in flooded paddy fields, and corn, tobacco, and other crops are grown in dry fields. Marshy areas around the Tonle Sap and other waterways are often covered with reeds and lotuses (blossoming water plants). The nearby savannahs are covered with grass, which can reach heights of 5 feet (1.5 meters) in the better-watered districts. The lowland and the savannahs have many varieties of fruits and flowers, both wild and cultivated.
The eastern and northern forests have a thick undergrowth of bamboo, vines, rattan (a flexible fiber plant from whose stalk furniture can be woven), and palm trees. From this tangled mass of vegetation rise the hardwood giants of the forest mahogany, teak, greenheart, and other woods prized by furniture makers and boat builders. Soaring as much as 100 feet (30 meters) above the forest floor, these hardwoods would be the basis of a profitable timber industry if they were not so difficult to reach and harvest. Some scattered logging and forestry takes place west of Kratie. The harvested timber is floated down the Mekong in giant rafts, with the woodsmen and their families living in huts on top of their harvest.
Pine forests cover the highest parts of the Cardamom and Elephant ranges. Lower down, the mountains are covered with thick tropical rain forests like those of the eastern hills. On the seaward slopes, where the monsoons dump their greatest loads of rain, the forest reaches heights of more than 150 feet (45 meters). The coastal region is largely blanketed in evergreen forests and impenetrable jungles of mangrove trees (low, twisted trees that crowd along the tide line).
Animals native to Cambodia include wild oxen, tigers (now an endangered species), black panthers, spotted leopards (also endangered), bears, numerous species of monkey, and wild boar. Dogs are more common than in neighboring Vietnam, where they are a favorite dish. Centuries ago, the Cambodians domesticated the water buffalo, which is used throughout the country to pull plows and carts.
Elephants are found in the outer districts. Unlike the fierce African elephant, the Asian elephant can be domesticated and trained. Years ago, elephants were used throughout Southeast Asia in heavy labor, such as road making and pulling big loads. Today, they have been largely replaced by tractors, but some elephants and their handlers still find work hauling logs from the eastern forests down to the river at Kratie.
The country has many species of birds, including peacock (whose gorgeous, multicolored tail feathers were a profitable export during the years when they were used in French hats), pheasant, and wild duck. The Tonle Sap area is rich in fish-loving water birds such as egrets, pelicans, and cormorants. Cambodia also has plenty of snakes. Three of the world's most deadly poisonous species _ the cobra, the king cobra, and the banded krait _ are found there. Fortunately for the Cambodians, most of whom go barefoot all the time, all three species are rather rare.
