Cambodia

Cambodia is a state in Southeast Asia, on the Indochinese Peninsula. In the west and northwest it is bounded by Thailand, in the north by Laos, in the east and southeast by Vietnam, and in the south and southwest by the Gulf of Siam. Area, 181,000 sq km. Population, 7 million (1970). The capital is Phnom Penh.

Administratively, Cambodia is divided into the provinces (khet) of Batdambang, Kampong Spoe, Kampong Thum, Kam-pong Cham, Kampong Chhnang, Kampot, Kandal, Kaoh Kong, Kracheh, Mondol Kiri, Otdar Meanchey, Prey Veng, Pouthisat, Preah Vihear, Rotanokiri, Svay Rieng, Siemreab, Sto-eng Treng, and Takev. The cities of Bok Kou, Keb, Kampong Saom, and Phnom Penh form separate administrative units.

A large part of the country is occupied by the low-lying Cambodian Plain, composed chiefly of alluvial and lacustrine deposits. The coast along the Gulf of Siam is about 300 km in length. In western Cambodia are the Kravanh (Cardamomes) Mountains, with a maximum elevation of 1, 813 m (Mount Aoral), which are composed chiefly of sandstone. In the north are the southern spurs of the sandstone Dangrek Mountains, and in the east are found the western spurs of the Annamite Mountains, which are formed predominantly from crystalline rocks.

Cambodia has a subequatorial monsoonal climate, with humid summers and relatively dry winters. The hottest month is April (temperatures 29°-30°C on the plain) and the coolest month is December (25°-26°C). Annual precipitation varies from 700 to 1, 500 mm on the plain to 2, 000 mm in the mountains.

The country has a dense river system. The largest river is the Mekong, part of whose lower course flows through Cambodia. The Mekong’s water level fluctuates sharply with the seasons (12-15 m in the mountains and 7-9 m in the lowlands), with maximum discharge occurring in early autumn. The size of Tonle Sap, a large shallow lake in western Cambodia, also varies greatly.

Forests and thinly wooded areas occupy about three-fourths of Cambodia. In the east are deciduous tropical forests, and the mountains are covered with evergreen forests of valuable wood (sal, teak, and varnish and camphor trees), growing on lateritic soils. In the remainder of the country the prevailing vegetation is savanna with sparsely wooded areas and dense thickets of bamboo and shrubs. Mangrove forests grow on the coast along the Gulf of Siam. A considerable part of the Cambodian Plain has fertile alluvial soils.

The fauna is abundant and varied. There are tigers, panthers, black bears, and elephants in the mountains. Crocodiles arefound in the Mekong and its tributaries, and the numerouswaterfowl include pelicans and flamingos. Lake Tonle Sap is richin fish.

N. M. KAZAKOVA

The Khmer, or Cambodians, who number about 6 million (1970, estimate) and constitute 85 percent of the total population, live mainly in the central lowland. In the cities, the Mekong Valley, and the regions around Lake Tonle Sap there are about 200, 000 Vietnamese, about 400, 000 Chinese, and about 150, 000 Cham and Malays; about 100, 000 Upland Khmer (Kui, Mnong, Stieng) live in the northeast and about 30, 000 Lao in the east. About 3, 000 French live for the most part in the cities. The official language is Khmer, but French is also widely spoken. The Khmer and the majority of the Upland Khmer are Theravada Buddhists (some of the Upland Khmer have preserved their traditional beliefs), the Chinese are Confucianists and Mahayana Buddhists, the Cham and Malays are Sunni Muslims, and the French and some of the Vietnamese are Catholics.

The Gregorian calendar is the official calendar, although a lunar-solar calendar is also widely used.

The annual population growth rate has been estimated at 2.5 percent. Males constitute 50.2 percent of the total population and females 49.8 percent. In 1970 about 76 percent of the economically active population was engaged in agriculture, fishing, and forestry. The average population density is about 40 per sq km, with the highest density occurring in the Mekong Valley, around Phnom Penh, on the shores of Lake Tonle Sap, and in the coastal lowlands (250 or more per sq km). Northern and western Cambodia is very sparsely populated (two per sq km). Urban dwellers account for more than 12 percent of the total population. The largest cities are Phnom Penh (over 1.2 million in 1972), Batdambang, and Kampong Cham.

REFERENCE

To the mid-19th century. Information about the earliest settlement of Cambodia dates from the early Neolithic period (fifth millennium B.C.), by which time tribal organization had already arisen and the population had begun to farm, fish, and hunt. By the middle of the first millennium B.C. the ancestors of the Khmer had developed a distinctive Bronze Age culture. The working of iron began at the end of the first millennium B.C., when the tribal system had disintegrated among the people of the fertile valleys of Cambodia and the Mekong Delta and the formation of a class society had begun.

The first state known to have existed on the territory of Cambodia was Funan, which flourished in the Mekong Delta between the first and sixth centuries A.D. The economic base of this society was the commune; its principal occupation was wet rice cultivation. The cities were large craft and commercial centers, and Funan maintained trade and cultural relations with southern India and China. Funan was a monarchy. Ancient Cambodia was strongly influenced by Indian culture, including Hinduism and Buddhism. A class society developed in the central and northern parts of present-day Cambodia between the first and fifth centuries. The states that arose in these regions recognized Funan’s suzerainty until the middle of the sixth century, after which they became independent.

In the seventh and eighth centuries the states of Land Chenla and Water Chenla were established in Cambodia. In this period the economic position of the landed aristocracy weakened, such new forms of exploitation as corvee and mortgage appeared, the sale of land became widespread, and a free peasantry arose. Middle-level landholders in the service of the state became a more important element in Cambodian society. The civil service gradually merged with the higher ranks of the Hindu priesthood and acquired a hierarchical structure. Indigenous elements began to dominate the culture, and a written Khmer language developed. The Kambuja empire began to form in the Mekong Delta and adjoining regions in the ninth century, becoming the largest state on the Indochinese Peninsula by the 11th century. From the 11th through the 13th centuries Khmer feudal lords several times conquered Champa, waged wars with Dai Viet (Vietnam), and reached the borders of Pagan. Cambodian territory was greatly expanded. Prolonged warfare and the construction of many temples, such as Angkor Wat, Angkor Thorn, and Bayon, were accompanied by a further subjugation of the communal peasants. Class struggle, manifesting itself in peasant uprisings, intensified. By the late 13th century the Kambuja empire had disintegrated, and by the end of the 14th century the theocratic power of the monarch had disappeared. The core of the ruling class comprised feudal chiefs without landed estates, whose payment for services was a share of the taxes collected from the communal peasants. When land ownership by temples (which had arisen in the ninth century) was abolished in the late 14th century, the number of peasants directly dependent on the state increased. A temporary economic stabilization of feudalism led, especially in the first half of the 16th century, to a growth of the productive forces of society—improvements in the irrigation system and expansion of rice fields. The 16th century saw the development and growing importance of cities, including Phnom Penh (which had become the capital in 1443), Lovek, Pursat, and Oudong. The royal government promoted the dissemination of Buddhism, and enormous statues of Buddha were erected. In the late 16th century Thai armies ravaged the western part of the country.

In the 18th and 19th centuries Cambodia’s social structure rested on peasant communes that were as a rule under direct state control. There were few large feudal landholdings or small manors. In the early 18th century Cambodia’s growing weakness brought it under the domination of Siam and Vietnam.

French colonial rule (from the mid-19th century to 1953). In the mid-19th century France, which had embarked on a policy of conquest in Indochina, sought to extend its colonial rule to Cambodia. In 1863 it imposed a protectorate treaty on Cambodia, which in 1884 was superseded by a still more oppressive treaty making Cambodia virtually a French colony. The Khmer monarchy, placed under the control of a French governor-general, retained only executive power in local affairs. In 1887, Cambodia, Annam, Tonkin, and Cochin China became part of the Indochinese Union, which the French colonialists established in order to centralize the colonial administration; Laos was later incorporated into the union. The Khmer economy came under the control of the French, who abolished the king’s ultimate ownership of land and created a “concessionary reserve” out of which agricultural land was allocated to French citizens and to members of the bureaucratic elite who collaborated with the colonialists. Cambodia’s domestic market was opened to the unlimited and tariff-free import of French goods, which delayed national industrial development. In addition to retaining such long-standing feudal taxes as the head tax and the land tax, the colonialists also introduced a number of new taxes, including taxes on livestock, on peasant homes, and on sugar and coconut palms. Direct taxes accounted for 50 percent of the income of the state budget, the bulk of which was spent on maintaining the colonial administration and army and on subsidizing French planters and entrepreneurs. The people resisted the subjugation of Cambodia and waged an armed struggle for the restoration of independence. The largest uprisings took place in the 1860’s under the leadership of Atiar Sua and Pu Kombo and in the 1880’s and 1890’s under the leadership of Prince Si Vattha. The 1890’s saw the beginning of the systematic colonial exploitation of Cambodia by French capitalists. During World War I (1914-18) the French imperialists increased their export of raw materials, and Khmer soldiers fought in Europe. In the 1920’s there was a still greater influx of French capital into the Cambodian economy and an increase in the cultivation of rubber (about 60 percent of all French investments in Cambodia), corn, rice, coffee, and pepper, which were produced for export. In the late 1920’s and the 1930’s from 15, 000 to 20, 000 tons of rubber, from 150, 000 to 250, 000 tons of rice, and from 300, 000 to 400, -000 tons of corn were exported annually. An extensive network of highways was built. Industry developed slowly and there were only a few small mining and light industrial enterprises. French capital dominated industry and trade.

The major forms of exploitation were the rent-tax and the state corvee. Usury flourished, and from 80 to 85 percent of the peasant households were almost permanently indebted to moneylenders. Except on plantations, only a small fraction of the agricultural output was produced for the market, and there was little stratification among the peasantry. Buddhism dominated the Cambodians’ outlook. The independence struggle continued in the form of peasant uprisings, the largest of which, the uprising in Kampong Chhnang Province under Atiar So (1926), was cruelly suppressed by punitive expeditions. In the 1930’s many progressive representatives of the Khmer working people and intelligentsia joined the Communist Party of Indochina, which was founded in 1930. The national liberation struggles of the Khmer and Vietnamese peoples were closely intertwined. The national liberation struggle gathered momentum in 1937 and 1938 under the favorable conditions created by the accession to power of the Popular Front government in France. In World War II (1939-45), the Japanese occupied Cambodia (1940). Although the country formally remained a French protectorate, the Japanese occupation forces turned Cambodia into a military base, forced the population to construct military installations, intensively exploited the country’s natural resources, and exported agricultural raw materials. The Cambodian people rose up against the intensified imperialist oppression. The insurrections that began in 1943 against the foreign imperialists—the movement led by the priest Hem Chieu and the armed uprising in Phnom Penh—were cruelly suppressed. In March 1945 the Japanese military command announced the dissolution of the French protectorate and the restoration of Cambodia’s “independence.” The resistance movement against the Japanese imperialists arose under the leadership of the patriotic organization Free Khmer (Khmer Issarak). After 1945, when the French imperialists landed troops in Cambodia in an attempt to restore their rule, the resistance movement turned against the French. On Jan. 7, 1946, the French colonialists forced the royal government to accept an agreement (modus vivendi) restoring the French protectorate over Cambodia. Between 1946 and 1949 the Khmer Issarak movement spread to the southeastern, southwestern, and northwestern regions; partisan bases were created; and people’s committees operated in some of these regions.

The upsurge of the patriotic movement in Cambodia and throughout Indochina, primarily resulting from the defeat of the Japanese imperialists, compelled the French colonial administration to grant the country “internal autonomy.” Elections to a constituent assembly were held in Cambodia in September 1946. The assembly ratified a constitution, the first in Cambodia’s history, which took effect on May 6, 1947. The constitution confirmed Cambodia’s “autonomy” within the French Union and laid the foundation for a bourgeois democratic regime. Cambodia was proclaimed a constitutional monarchy, and bourgeois democratic freedoms were guaranteed. The supreme legislative body was a parliament (the National Assembly) elected for four years by universal, direct, and secret balloting. All Cambodian subjects who had reached the age of 20 were granted the right to vote, with the exception of monks and servicemen and their wives. The constitution provided for the Council of the Kingdom as the second house of the National Assembly. The supreme executive body was the Council of Ministers.

Under the Franco-Cambodian treaty signed in Paris on Nov. 8, 1949, France recognized de jure the independence of Cambodia as an “associated state” within the French Union. The Cambodian legislature, however, refused to ratify the treaty because France in actuality retained the entire administration of the country. The national liberation movement in Cambodia was growing in strength, and a congress of people’s representatives of all strata of the population convened in April 1950 on the initiative of the Khmer Issarak leadership. The congress formally approved the creation of the National United Front (Nekhum Khmer Issarak) and its program and by-laws and elected the Central Executive Committee. The congress also formed the Central Liberation Committee and adopted the Declaration of Independence of Free Khmer. To rally anti-imperialist forces and to coordinate the struggle of the peoples of Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos to drive out the French colonialists, their common enemy, the creation of a united liberation front of these three countries was formally approved in March 1951. In June 1953 the French government recognized Cambodia’s sovereignty in foreign affairs, and in August of that year agreements were concluded for the transfer to the government of Cambodia of full control over foreign policy and the judiciary. On Nov. 9, 1953, an official ceremony was held in Phnom Penh marking the end of French rule and the withdrawal of French troops. This day was declared a national holiday, the Independence Day of Cambodia.

Independent Cambodia. At the Geneva Conference on Indochina in 1954 the Cambodian delegation announced that its country would not join any military alliances and would not permit any foreign bases on its soil. The following year Norodom Sihanouk, who had become king on Apr. 25, 1941, abdicated in favor of his father Norodom Suramarit in order to found and lead the political organization, the People’s Socialist Community (Sangkum). The Sangkum was victorious in the general elections for the National Assembly held on Sept. 11, 1955. The National Assembly voted on September 25 to replace the phrase in the 1947 constitution “Cambodia is an autonomous state belonging to the French Union as an associated state” with the phrase “Cambodia is a sovereign and independent state.” The first Sangkum government, formed in October 1955, carried out various social reforms, including granting women the right to vote and recognizing their social equality with men (law of Dec. 6, 1955); voters were given the right to recall deputies. The government adopted a policy of developing the national economy, eradicating the consequences of colonial rule, and reducing the country’s dependence on foreign economic aid (see below: Economic geography). At the same time monarchical groups within the country attempted to restrict the role of the progressive forces.

Cambodia pursued a foreign policy of neutralism and peaceful coexistence, joining the UN in 1955 and establishing diplomatic relations with the USSR on May 13, 1956. In 1957 a neutralist foreign policy was provided for by law.

When King Norodom Suramarit died in 1960 the throne remained vacant. The position of head of state was established on June 12, 1960, and invested with great power under the constitution. Norodom Sihanouk became the head of state of Cambodia. In 1962 the government proposed that foreign powers recognize Cambodia’s neutrality and territorial integrity and give it international guarantees. In view of the increased subversive activities of US imperialism, the Cambodian government rejected American aid in November 1963 and requested that all American missions and services in Cambodia connected with American aid programs be closed.

On Mar. 18, 1970, a coup d’etat took place in Cambodia, removing Norodom Sihanouk, who was abroad at the time, from his position as head of state. General Lon Nol became the leader of the Phnom Penh regime that resulted from the coup d’etat. The armed aggression of the USA in Cambodia began in late April 1970. Under the pretext of eliminating the “threat to the lives of American soldiers in South Vietnam,” large units of American and Saigon troops (20, 000 men) invaded Cambodia from the south. Their strength increased to 80, 000 by late May.

Cambodian patriots responded to the aggression with efforts to consolidate the progressive national forces, and the National United Front of Cambodia (FUNK) was created in May 1970. The FUNK emphasized in its political program that it would coordinate its actions with the struggle of the Vietnamese and Laotian peoples against American aggression on the Indochinese Peninsula. The Royal Government of National Union of Cambodia, headed by Penn Nouth and Khieu Samphan, was established at the same time. The patriotic forces of Cambodia created the Cambodian People’s National Liberation Armed Forces, which began an armed struggle against the American and Saigon interventionists and the troops of the Phnom Penh regime.

The pressure of public opinion in the USA and other countries forced the American government to withdraw its troops from Cambodia on June 30, 1970, although tens of thousands of soldiers of the Saigon puppet regime remained in the country and the US Air Force carried out heavy bombings of Cambodian areas held by the patriotic forces. The USA increased military and financial aid to the Phnom Penh authorities.

On Oct. 9, 1970, the Lon Nol regime in Phnom Penh proclaimed the Khmer Republic. In March 1972 Lon Nol disbanded the parliament and government and declared himself president of the republic. A new constitution was adopted by a referendum held in Phnom Penh on Apr. 30, 1972. A presidential election was held on June 4, and members of the National Assembly were elected on September 3 and the Senate on September 17. The Central Committee of the FUNK declared all these measures to be illegal. While pursuing in Cambodia a policy of “Vietnamization” (the essence of which was to make Asians fight Asians), the USA continued its military and financial aid to the Phnom Penh regime, and the US Air Force actively supported the operations of the Saigon and Phnom Penh troops against the patriotic forces.

Led by the FUNK, the Cambodian national liberation forces, composed of regular and regional units of various sizes and partisan detachments, gained strength. In 1971 and 1972 they were victorious on all major strategic points of the Cambodian front and were able to paralyze the operations of the Phnom Penh troops. By late 1972 the patriotic forces of Cambodia had liberated a large part of the country.

By 1972 the FUNK comprised the Peasant Alliance, the Association of Patriotic Teachers and Intelligentsia, the Union of Khmer Writers, the Association of Democratic Youth, representatives of national minorities and of the Buddhist leadership, several student organizations outside Cambodia, and other organizations.

The struggle of the people of Cambodia against the aggression of American imperialism was supported by all progressive forces, above all by the socialist countries. The statements of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR and of the government of the USSR of May 4, May 10, and July 15, 1970, condemned the aggressive actions of the USA in Cambodia. The heads of government of the socialist countries (Bulgaria, Hungary, the German Democratic Republic, Mongolia, Poland, Rumania, the Soviet Union, and Czechoslovakia) declared on May 14, 1970, that their governments would continue to render all necessary aid to the peoples of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. In the address of the Twenty-fourth Congress of the CPSU (1971) entitled “Freedom and Peace to the Peoples of Indochina!” it was stated that the Soviet Union “consistently and vigorously supported and supports the liberation movement of Laos and Cambodia, which makes an outstanding contribution to the cause of peace and the national independence of peoples.” The statement of the Political Consultative Committee of the member states of the Warsaw Pact (January 1972) expressed support for the Cambodian patriots. In 1975 the Cambodian patriotic forces gained a decisive victory and liberated the country’s entire territory.

REFERENCES

D. V. DEOPIK and IU. IA. MIKHEEV

The National United Front of Cambodia (FUNK) was founded in 1970.

During the protectorate period, Cambodia served as a source of agricultural raw material for France. Since 1953, during the years of independence, the country has been gradually overcoming the legacy of colonialism. A two-year plan (1956—57) and a five-year plan (1960-64) for developing the national economy were adopted and essentially fulfilled. The economy comprises a state sector (industrial enterprises, the power industry, irrigation, communications, transportation), a national private capitalist sector, and a mixed sector in which both national and foreign capital participate. The government bought up some of the assets of the French companies, nationalized foreign trade and commercial banks in 1963, and established the National Bank in 1965. But foreign capital remains important in the economy; French capital is especially significant in the rubber industry. After the events of 1970 (see above: Historical survey) the country’s economy was in an extremely difficult situation, and the American and Saigon aggression caused great economic damage.

Agriculture is the mainstay of the economy. According to UN data for 1966, agriculture, forestry, and fishing accounted for about 41 percent of the gross national product; industry, power production, and construction for about 17 percent; and trade, transportation, and other branches for about 42 percent. Farms of small and middle landowners predominate. Between 1956 and 1959, in order to reduce capitalist exploitation of the peasants, the government encouraged the development of supply and marketing cooperatives and expanded government credit in the countryside. There were 1, 200 tractors in 1970. In 1967 agricultural land covered 3.6 million hectares (ha), or 20 percent of Cambodia’s total area, of which 2.8 million ha, or 78 percent, were under cultivation and about 0.6 million ha, or about 17 percent, were pasture.

Crop cultivation is the leading branch of agriculture; the principal crop is rice, covering 66 percent of the cultivated area. It was estimated in 1971 that 1.9 million ha were planted to rice, chiefly on the alluvial land along the Mekong River and Lake Tonle Sap, and that the total harvest reached 2.7 million tons. Corn (94, 000 ha sown, 122, 000 tons harvested in 1971), sweet potatoes and yams, and soybeans are important food crops. Cambodia also produces sugar palms, coconut palms, sugarcane, black pepper, peanuts (15, 000 tons harvested in 1970), tobacco, cotton, jute, sesame seeds, cassava, ramie, and kapok (coarse plant fiber). Among important fruit crops are oranges and tangerines (40, 000 tons), bananas (141,000 tons), and pineapples (41,000 tons). The growing of hevea has become very important, and 35, 000 tons of natural rubber were produced in 1971. Livestock is raised primarily to provide draft animals. In 1969-70, Cambodia had 3.3 million head of cattle, including 0.9 million water buffaloes.

The annual production of commercial timber is about 400, 000 cu m. Other forest products include cardamom, gutta-percha, and lacquer. Fishing is especially developed on Tonle Sap. In 1968, 171,000 tons of fish were caught in inland waters and the Gulf of Siam.

Industry for the most part utilizes local agricultural raw materials. Mineral resources have been inadequately studied. Phosphorite, magnesite, iron ore, nonferrous metal ores, precious stones, marble, and basalt are extracted on a small scale. Electricity is supplied mainly by thermal power plants; 133 million kW-hr were produced in 1970. The principal processing industries include flour milling, rice husking, sugar refining, tobacco curing, fish packing, and the making of alcoholic beverages. Rubber processing and woodworking are also significant. Between 1956 and 1968 relatively large metalworking, woodworking, paper, textile, cement, food, and petroleum-refining enterprises were built in the state sector. The output of building materials has increased. Several industries were built with the help of socialist countries, including textile and paper factories, a plywood plant, a cement plant, a tractor and automobile assembly plant, a tire plant, a brewery, and a sugar refinery. Industry is concentrated in Phnom Penh, Batdambang, and Kampong Saom. Small-scale industry is found throughout the country, mainly in the private sector, and supplies the population with consumer goods and food products.

In 1970 the country had 652 km of railroad and about 5,000 km of paved highways. Waterways, especially the lower Mekong, are important in transport. Phnom Penh is a major center of river and ocean transport and has a freight turnover of more than 0.5 million tons. The seaport of Sihanoukville (Kampong Saom) was built in 1960 on the coast of the Gulf of Siam. Pochentong international airport is near Phnom Penh. Cambodia exports rice, natural rubber, corn, lumber, sesame seeds, kapok, black pepper, fish, and fish products; its chief imports are machinery, equipment, textiles, metals, and metal products. Its leading trade partners are France, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, the USA, the Federal Republic of Germany, and Great Britain. The monetary unit is the riel.

G. G. SOCHEVKO

Exact demographic data for the birth rate, mortality, and infant mortality are not available. Infectious, primarily parasitic, diseases predominate. Cambodia has a high incidence of helminthiasis—ankylostomiasis, ascariasis, and trichocephalosis. About half of the population lives in regions in which malaria is endemic. Diseases that are found everywhere include trachoma, amebiasis, typhoid fever, paratyphoid, fungus diseases, and arbovirus infections (dengue and the chikungunya), and there are frequent cases of mite rickettsiosis (tsutsugamushi).

In the central lowland region there is a high incidence of ankylostomiasis (especially in the southwestern and northeastern parts of the region), ascariasis, and trichocephalosis; salmonellosis and cutaneous mycosis are widespread. Cases of fasciolopsiasis have also been recorded in the lowland area, as well as clonorchiasis and opisthorchiasis (in the northern part of the region). Malaria is endemic in the mountain regions surrounding the lowland; cases of Japanese encephalitis have been recorded here, and also of wuchereriasis (in the foothills of the Kravanh Range) and taeniasis (in the northeast). Between 1956 and 1960 the USSR built a 500-bed hospital with outpatient facilities in Phnom Penh as a gift to the Cambodian people. In 1965, Cambodia had 70 hospitals with 4, 700 beds (0.7 beds per 1,000 population), 273 doctors (one per 25, 000 population), 13 dentists, 31 pharmacists, and about 2, 700 auxiliary medical personnel (more recent data are unavailable).

I. B. PANINA and O. L. LOSEV

S. I. KARTUSHIN

The first secular schools arose in the mid-19th century with the coming of the French colonialists. In 1953 the country had only 980 state primary schools with 173, 000 students, about 1, 500 primary temple schools with about 100, 000 students, seven secondary schools, and one institution of higher learning. By the end of the colonial period about 80 percent of the population was illiterate. After independence, the educational system was greatly expanded. In 1965 the proportion of illiterates among persons over the age of 15 had declined to 67 percent. In 1967 state allocations for education amounted to 1.4 billion riels, or 21.6 percent of the budget.

The public education system comprises the six-year free primary school (two levels, three years each), the collège (four years of instruction), and the lycée (seven years of instruction, divided into two levels of four and three years respectively). The curricula of the collège and of the first level of the lycée are identical; at the second level of the lycée students may specialize either in the humanities or in the natural sciences and mathematics. Graduates of a lycée receive the “full baccalaureate,” which carries the right to enter an institution of higher learning. In 1965-66 the public education system comprised 1, 129 state schools, 1, 531 temple schools, and 93 secondary schools (20 lycées and 73 collèges). In 1968-69 there were 998, 000 pupils in the primary schools and 107, 000 students in the secondary schools. Vocational and technical education is provided by vocational schools and technical collèges, which admit graduates of primary schools. Skilled workers are trained by vocational centers. In 1966 there were 23 vocational and technical schools, as against five in 1954, the largest of which were the National School of Art and Crafts in Phnom Penh and a technical collège in Kampong Cham. In 1967-68, 5, 800 students were receiving vocational and technical training. Teacher training is provided by pedagogical centers and the National University. Cambodia had nine institutions of higher learning, with 14, 500 students in 1968-69. The largest of these institutions are the National University, which was founded in 1960 and has departments of medicine, pedagogy, law, commerce, letters and humanities, and the social sciences, and the Royal Technical University in Phnom Penh. Between 1962 and 1964 the USSR built the Higher Technological Institute in Phnom Penh as a gift to the Cambodian people.

In Phnom Penh are the National Library (31,000 volumes), the National Museum (founded in 1917, with a collection ofKhmer art from the sixth to the 20th centuries), and the museumof the royal palace.

E. S. CHESHKOVA

The earliest traces of Cambodian literature of the pre-Angkor period (second to ninth centuries) are the Sanskrit inscriptions on the walls of the Vo-canh temple in present-day Vietnam (third century) and of the Tonle-Bati temple (sixth century). The first inscriptions in ancient Khmer date from the early seventh century. During the Angkor period (802-1433) there was a flowering of Khmer culture, which developed under the influence of Brahmanism and Mahayana Buddhism. Important writers who used Sanskrit were Yasovarman II, Kavisvara, Eukindra, and Subhadra, and major authors who wrote in Khmer included Kaosathitpadey Kau, Duong, Tieu Non, Neakpang, Samphear, and Phokdey. Some literary works of the Angkor period were written in Pali. Among important works are the lyrical narrative poem Indravedi and the epic Reamker, both written in Khmer and using themes from the Indian Ramayana. The most significant event in the literature of the middle period (1434-1862) was the folk narrative poem Turn and Teav (15th century) about a boy and girl’s tragic love. Under the French colonial regime (1863-1953) Sottan Preytya En, Saom Loth, and Nu Khan continued to create traditional works. One of the best works of this period is the narrative poem Sratop Tyek by Bamrae Utey Ngyng, using themes from ancient legends. The 1930’s and 1940’s saw the appearance of the first novels with a humanistic orientation: The Rose of Paili (1936) by Nyok Thaem, Sophat (1938) by Rim Kin, and The Wilted Flower (1947) by Nu Hat. The Union of Khmer Writers was established in 1955, soon after the country attained independence. The works of such writers as Tuy Ol, Hel Sumpha, Suon Soren, and Nop Savan raised important social and political problems. Folklore is being collected and published.

IU. A. GORGONIEV

IU. D. LEBEDEV

I. B. MARUNOVA

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