ABSTRACT
Cambodia occupies an area of 181,040 square kilometers, about the same size as the state of Washington. Today’s Cambodia, with offi cial boundaries created during colonialism, belies the fact that lowland Khmer live across its borders in Vietnam and ailand, and that upland Khmer live across the border in Laos and Vietnam. With the exception of the mountainous areas along the Lao and Vietnamese borders, most of Cambodia is fl at, dominated by extensive forests and open plains, where wet-rice cultivation is the norm. e country is drained by two major rivers. e mighty Maekhong (also spelled Mekong), more than a kilometer wide at the capital, Phnom Penh, fl ows from southern Laos through Cambodia on the way to its delta in Vietnam, where it divides into nine branches. Starting from the Great Lake in western Cambodia, the Tonle Sap River fl ows southeast to join the Maekhong at Phnom Penh, where the Basak River adds to the fl ow. Cambodia is a land whose culture is closely related to the water on which its people depend.
