Cambodia is a country situated in the Southeastern part of Asia and is also known as the kingdom of Cambodia, which is its official name. It has its capital in Phnom Penh, has its official language as Khmer, and lastly, its official religion is Buddhism. It is a country that has been under two colonial rulers that are the Japanese and French. Both the colonials took control of the country in turns, for example, Japanese in the year 1945 declared Cambodia independent and immediately after French took over again. However, in 1953, the French granted freedom to Cambodia, and they became fully independent.
Interesting facts about Cambodia
1. Changes its name with the change of the government
This is a very funny and interesting fact as not many countries do or have done this before. To begin with, the first name, it was called the Khmer Republic in the year of the republican, then the government changed, and the name changed with it. When the Khmer regime took over, the name of the country changed to Democratic Kampuchea. Last but not least, it changed the name again under the government of Salvation Front, which was a leftist group. The name changed to the People’s Republic of Kampuchea. The last name which many of us are conversant with is the recent one, which is the kingdom of Cambodia.
2. Has the largest number of the youth population in Southeast Asia
Research has shown that just a third of the population is above 30, and the rest are two-thirds are under 30. Statistics also show that in every five Cambodian citizens, one of them lies between the age of 15 and 24. This youthful generation is advantageous to Cambodia since it has the ability to forward its country’s economic and social development.
3. Its flag is the only one in the world that includes the image of a building
Other flags have other symbols like animal’s crops and many more. Interesting though is that Cambodia has a building as a symbol incorporated in the middle of its flag. The flag has three colors, which are red, two blue at the top, and bottom and white .the red and blue are stripped while the while color fills the image of the temple in the middle. The temple is known as the Angkor Wat, which is in the center of the red-striped color.
4. The sixth-largest country in the world to have many landmines
Thirty years of War have made Cambodia a home of landmines that were planted during the period. The leaders from the Khmer Rouge and Hun Sen regimes and two more laid down many landmines which have done a lot of damage to the people of Cambodia, including leaving many disabled persons as casualties of the landmines. The worst thing is that the soldiers who were responsible for placing the mines do not have a memory of where they placed them. It is estimated that it may take around 100 years to get rid of all the landmines Cambodia.
5. No birthday celebrations
Very few people in Cambodia know their dates of birth since not many celebrate their birthdays like other people in different parts of the world. What is remembered of one’s birth is the season rather than the day and time, and this makes their birth date not special as most people in the rest of the world believe?
Leave a Reply