ABSTRACT
The Khmer people and their predecessors have occupied the Mekong River basin for at least the past four thousand years. While debate surrounds the nature and extent of the predecessor third through eighth century cultures of Funan and Chenla, by the ninth century ce, the Khmer kingdom had become a powerful civilization. Beginning with King Jayavarman II (802 ce) a succession of rulers expanded their empire across much of modern-day Thailand, Laos and Vietnam. Building from earlier lingual, cultural and religious inuences imported from India, the Khmer at their peak established a complex and sophisticated hierarchical society that produced one of the greatest architectural achievements of the ancient world: the multi-centered historic city of Angkor.
