Why France Deposited Protectorate in Cambodia?
Add to Favorites
Print
Send to a Friend
Publish this on your site
Send to a friend by YMAuthor: Vicheka Lay
A glance to the very first initiative of French protectorate in Cambodia: a great wonder that has yet to be solved.
History, to me, is a never-ending phenomenon, since its traces have printed in all over its historically aggrieved sites. Cambodia, one of the world’s tabulated countries, located in Southeast Asia, was probably the most stigmatized mainland under France’s advantageous protectorate. This is one of the reasons why the Cambodian-French colonial history will never be totally ignored, in particular, by the writer of this research essay.
Until presently, countless legacies are still prevailing on Cambodian sovereignty, including Civil law tradition, artifacts, language, spiritual arts and even the political paths. The sole and foremost scope of the following pages intentionally accompany all the readers concerned back to Cambodia’s retrospect during the French protectorate for almost a century ago.
To be precise and detailed, there are too many phases of history that led to French governmental jurisdiction over Cambodian sovereignty. However, this would be beyond the theme of this research essay. Therefore, to ease the tension, only the most relevant evidence will be unveiled. Though tough history between Cambodia and her two giant neighbors, Thailand and Vietnam, Cambodia started to face the most protracted foreign (Vietnamese and Thai) interferences in 1620s (Chandler, History of Cambodia, p. 94). Simultaneously, there were also internal power-seizing war between Royal line. The two evidences proved great difficulties for any reigning king to sustain his power. Seeing her malicious neighbors, King Duang decided to seek for a distant support from a Western country (France). King Duang may wrongly assume that France would be less interest-centered than Thailand and Vietnam. But the question is “why it was France, but not other super powers in Western Europe or East Asia (China or India)?
Celebrated world historian, such as Henri Mouhot never rejected that Cambodia was an empire in Asia in the bygone past. Her richness in natural resources (physical treasures) and artifact masterpiece, such as Angkor Wat (spiritual masterpiece) have put Cambodia into a very attentive position on the world stage.
The rational behind French protectorate is not just about her richness in resources and intellectuality, but it was the French pioneers who revealed Cambodian positive and negative images to the world. Henri Mouhot (1826-1861), French naturalist, was probably the first man to unveil Cambodia’s exceptional prosperity, but the owner of such the exception prosperity seems to ignore such the patrimony (Chandler, History of Cambodia, p. 140.) “Richness” & “ignorance”, I suspect, were probably the two most penetrative persuasions for France’s decision to deposit its protectorate on the Cambodian sovereignty. Moreover, some document seemed to throw indirect hints that King Duang had some knowledge in French language and even took sometimes to study in France before the protectorate era.
In the nutshell, it was arisen from the French intellectuals, revelation of Cambodia’s physical and natural affluence and perhaps, our “laziness” & “easiness-to-obedient- the-boss” attitude are the profound incentives for French protectorate from the very early stage.
Vicheka Lay's Last Articles :
Letter Concerning Israeli and Lebanese Crisis to Cambodian Minister of Foreign Affairs
Aspects Surrounding Power-Separation of the Kingdom of Cambodia
One Form of Right to Self-Expression Shall be Obstructed
Two Meanings behind the Term: "The World is Yours"
Legal Philosophy: One Reason to Why Law is the Must
A Biography of KHIEU Samphan (PhD)
What is a Covering or Cover Letter?
Cambodian Resort: Koh Kong Province
Cambodian Law on Marriage and Family
Rate : Why France Deposited Protectorate in Cambodia?
| Rating: 0 Votes: 0 Visits: 18 |