Eauweck, Hoost Stad van Cambodia

Title

Eauweck, Hoost Stad van Cambodia

Description

Map shows the jungle city Laweck in Cambodia.

ca. 150

Artist

Bellin (1703-1772)

Jacques-Nicolas Bellin (1703 Paris -1772 Versailles) was a French cartographer, engineer-geographer, marine hydrographer. As a contributor to the Encyclopédie, he wrote more than a thousand articles on maritime topics. As a cartographer, Bellin distinguished himself primarily in the field of sea cartography. From 1721 he worked for the Dépot des Cartes et Plans de la Marine, from 1741 until his death as an engineer-hydrograph of the Navy. In 1753 his atlas Neptune français, which covered all the coasts of France, was published, and in 1756 the hydrography françoise covering all seas of the earth. In 1764 the five-volume Petit Atlas maritime was published, which Bellin prepared on the orders of the Minister of the Navy, Choiseul. In addition, he wrote a number of geographical works and with Nouvelle méthode pour apprendre la geographie (1769) a geographic textbook for teaching. His maps illustrated, among other things, Bougainville's work Voyage autour du monde, published in 1771. As a co-author of the Encyclopédie edited by Diderot and d'Alembert, Bellin wrote more than a thousand articles in the field of shipping and navy.

Historical Description

The lower course of the Mekong was already in the 4th century BC. Settled by Khmer, Cham and Funanese. Jayavarman VII was the first king to replace the Hindu-oriented Linga cult with Buddhism, which came to Cambodia as early as the 9th century through the kingdom of Srivijaya. As a result, the kings lost their godlike status, which led to domestic political weakness. In the 13th century the Sukhothai Empire emerged in the west and developed into a strong regional competitor. Its successor empire Ayutthaya conquered Angkor in 1353. The Thai occupiers soon withdrew, but wars with Cham and Shan prevented the Angkor Empire from stabilizing. In 1431 Angkor was conquered again, after which the capital was moved to Phnom Penh. In the following centuries there was constant war with the Thai and Vietnamese; the only exception was the 16th century, when pressure from the west was eased by a strengthening of Burma and the Khmer empire experienced a late bloom. In the 17th and 18th centuries, Vietnam conquered large parts of the Mekong Delta, while Thailand occupied the northern regions of the empire. To prevent a complete takeover of the empire by Thailand and Vietnam, Cambodia turned to France, which had taken southern Vietnam in 1859. In 1863 the country became a protectorate of France under King Norodom I, and in 1887 it joined Vietnam and later Laos in the Indochinese Union. From 1884 Cambodia was practically a colony of France, although the monarchy remained. In 1991, in the Paris Peace Treaty, a political reorganization was agreed with the help of the United Nations.