Cambodia has a relatively short history when compared to its neighbours. Sophisticated civilisation didn't develop in the region until around 1000BC. Up to that time the sparse population was one of isolated communities living on subsistence hunting and gathering or (in most instances) fishing. The fishing villages in particular are of interest to anthropologists, the stilted and floating villages that exist on the shores of Tonle Sap today are identical to those their ancestors inhabited over 3,000 years ago.

The first real organised culture to occupy the region was the Kingdom of Funan, one of Southeast Asia's most powerful dynasties and first established on the Mekong delta by Indian settlers. From the 1st century AD this powerful kingdom held sway over a vast swathe of this corner of the continent, spreading outwards from the Mekong and including the majority of what is present-day Cambodia. By the 6th century Funan was in decline, eventually becoming a vassal of Chenla, a northern dynasty.

The Indian culture of Funan though was the basis of the Khmer (or Angkorian) culture that arose in the 9th century. King Jayavarman II proclaimed the kingdom of Chambuja and so ensued a time of great prosperity and vision. The Khmer established a fabulous capital city, Hariharalaya, and engaged in huge projects, including the building of massive reservoirs. The arts and religion were also encouraged and flourished - with the building of Angkor Wat the crowning glory of the age.

In 1177 the Cham sacked Hariharalaya, but the Angkor kingdom was robust enough to survive and under Jayavarman VII the Cham were driven out. Jayavarman VII was Buddhist and converted the nation, building fabulous temples to Buddha everywhere. However, following his death Angkor went into decline. The city was captured by the Thai in the 1300s and looted, and the rise of Buddhism began to erode the hereditary hierarchy of Cambodian society. In the mid-1400s Angkor was finally captured and sacked for the last time by the Thais, plunging the country into its Dark Ages, a four century period in which the territory was the plaything of both Thailand and Vietnam as they struggled for supremacy.

The French arrived in the 1860s, quelling the Vietnamese and Thais before deciding to add Cambodia to its vassal states. In the epitome of Gunboat Diplomacy the French navy in 1880 sailed a boat right up the Mekong to Phnom Penh. Training its guns on the Royal Palace and King Nodorom was forced to sign a treaty with the colonial power.

French government right up to the end of World War Two was defined by being surprisingly peaceful. The 19-year-old king Sihanouk was appointed as a puppet ruler, but as he matured proved surprisingly adept at politics, and began to negotiate for peace. Finally he went into voluntary exile. The ensuing uprising left the French no option but to pronounce Cambodia independent, and Sihanouk returned in triumph to his own country, where he quickly renounced the throne, took up politics and was voted head of state by a landslide.

A collapse in the market for traditional crops caused poverty and widespread dissatisfaction. In March 1970 the army under General Lon Nol ousted Sihanouk, in his absence. Immediately the Americans, then fighting in Vietnam, invaded the country (with the government's permission) to eradicate the Communist Vietnamese bases that Sihanouk had allowed to be established along the border. It was unsuccessful. The Communists simply fled further into the interior, and the ranks of the Cambodian Communist army, the Khmer Rouge, were swelled by farmers and rural workers displaced by the American bombing campaign.

By 1975 the Khmer Rouge and its leader Pol Pot had seized power in Cambodia. In the ensuing four years over two million of Cambodia's intelligentsia were killed as Pol Pot eradicated all opposition to his severe brand of communism, and exiled the country from the international community. In 1978 the Vietnamese, tiring of the Khmer Rouge's constant skirmishing along its border, invaded the country, forcing Pol Pot to flee Phnom Penh. Amazingly several countries including the US refused to acknowledge the new Vietnam sponsored government, and the Khmer Rouge remained a threat, now being funded by various foreign powers. In the mid-90s the UN took a hand, establishing democratic elections to form an internationally recognised government. In 1991, Sihanouk returned to Cambodia after 13 years in exile, and was reinstated as king in 1993. After several years of ill health he went into self-imposed exile in 2004, and upon his abdication later the same year, his son Norodom Sihamoni was crowned king.

Although factions of the Khmer Rouge and other political extremists are still active in the country they are no longer capable of affecting a coup of the magnitude that Pol Pot did in the 1960s. The dictator's death in 1998 was greeted with mixed feelings in the country, many thinking that the failure to bring him to justice during his life was a gross oversight.

The coalition government that was instated in the mid-1990s fell out following a spat between Prince Ranariddh's National United Front and Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party. Hun Sen was instated as sole ruler in 1998 and has been relatively successful, opening up Cambodia to the outside world. The presence of many high-profile ex-Khmer Rouge officials in positions of authority has been a stumbling block to the country being fully accepted into the international community, though it is hoped that this will soon be redressed. After several years of setbacks, the USD 40 million required to bring Pol Pot's comrades to trial was finally secured in 2005 and a war crimes tribunal is scheduled to take place in 2006. One of the world's longest serving prime ministers Hun Sen remains in control as of 2007.