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The city takes its name from the Wat Phnom Daun Penh (known now as just the Wat Phnom or Hill Temple), built in 1373 to house five statues of Buddha on a man made hill 27 meters high.
Phnom Penh was also previously known as Krong Chaktomuk ( Chaturmukha ) meaning "City of Four Faces". This name refers to junction of the Mekong, Bassac , and Tonle Sap rivers crisscrossing to form a sort of X shape where the capital is situated at. Krong Chaktomuk is an abbreviation of the it's ceremonial name given by King Ponhea Yat which was "Krong Chaktomuk Mongkol Sakal Kampuchea Thipadei Sereythor Inthabot Borei Roth Reach Seima Maha Nokor" (ក្រុងចតុមុខមង្គល សកលកម្ពុជាធិបតី សិរីធរបវរ ឥន្ធបត្តបុរី រដ្ឋរាជសីមា មហានគរ។).
It first became the capital of Cambodia after Ponhea Yat, king of the Khmer Empire fled Angkor Thom when it was captured by Siam in 1431. There are stupa behind Wat Phnom that house the remains of Ponhea Yat and the royal family as well as the remaining Buddhist statues from the Angkorean era.
However, it was not until 1866 under the reign of King Norodom I that Phnom Penh became the permanent seat of government, and the Royal Palace (pictured) was built. This marked the beginning of the transformation of what was essentially a village into a great city with the French Colonialists expanding the canal system to control the wetlands, constructing roads and building a port.
By the 1920sCenturies: 19th century 20th century 21st century Decades: 1870s 1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s Years: 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 Events and trends Technology John Logie Baird invents the first working t Phnom Penh was known as the Pearl of Asia and over the next four decades continued to experience growth with the building of a railway to Kompong Som and the Pochentong International AirportPochentong International Airport is the main airport of Cambodia and is located in the country's capital city, Phnom Penh. Airports of Cambodia..
During the Vietnam WarThe Vietnam War was a war fought between 1957 and 1975 on the ground in South Vietnam and bordering areas of Cambodia and Laos See Secret War) and in bombing runs ( Rolling Thunder) over North Vietnam. See also the timeline of the Vietnam War. Fighting on, Cambodia, including Phnom Penh, was used as a base by the North Vietnamese ArmyVietnam War The People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) was the regularly trained and organized military force of the North Vietnamese government during the Vietnam War. The PAVN typically operated in regimental strength but sometimes formed elements as small as and the NLFThe National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam ( Vietnamese Mt Trn Gii Phong Min Nam Vit Nam), also known as the National Liberation Front (NLF) and as Front National de Libert (FNL), was the primary rebel organization fighting the US-backed Repub, and thousands of refugees from across the country flooded the city to escape the fighting between their own government troops, the NVA/NLF, the South VietnameseVit Nam Cng Hoa ( In Detail) National motto: ?? Official language Vietnamese Capital Saigon Last President Duong Van Minh Last Prime Minister Bu Van Mau Area Total % water 173,809 km² Not material population Total Density 19,370,000 (1973 est. 4/km²(1973 and its allies and the Khmer RougeThe Khmer Rouge or Khmers Rouges ("Red Khmers") was the French name, also widely used in the English-speaking world, for the communist organisation which ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979. The organisation's official names were Communist Party of Cambodia.
In 1975 the population was 2,000,000. The city fell to the Khmer Rouge and Democratic Kampuchea on April 17, the Cambodian New Year, and was evacuated by force; its residents being made to labor on rural farms as " new people ". Tuol Svay Prey High School was taken over by Pol Pot's forces and was turned into the S-21 prison camp, where Cambodians were detained and tortured. It is now the Tuol Sleng Museum and along with Choeung Ek ( The Killing Fields), 15 kilometers away, a memorial to those who were killed by the regime.