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This was the first known Kingdom in the Lower Mekong Region. The Funan civilisation began from the year AD1 to AD500. Funan is an ancient kingdom located in southern Southeast Asian centered on the Makong Delta. It's downfall came because the kingdom relied too much on its trade system and soon was conquered by Chenla.
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The Chela Kingdom started around 560AD to 700 AD.
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The Khmer empire expands and King Jayavarman V came to the throne in 968. He ruled for the next sixty years and during his reign, there were many cultural and educational developments and, for the first time, women began to hold important positions in religious and social life. He commenced the construction of the Angkor Wat temple and because for this Buddhism became important.
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The Cham Kingdom, a Muslim state in what is now central Vietnam, invades much of the Khmer Empires eastern territory.
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Jayavarman VII defeats the Chams and expands the empire to the furthest extent to incorporate much of present day Laos, Thailand and Burma.
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King Jayavarman's rule lasted from around 1243 to 1298. Jayavarman VIII renounces Buddhism and orders that a Buddhist temples and images be destroyed and Hinduism become the main religion. In 1295, he was overthrown by his son-in-law Indravarman III (Srindravarman), who was a Buudhist.
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Buddhism becomes important again because of Indravarman and becomes the main religion of the Khmer Kings.
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In about 1431, the last Khmer king to use Angkor as the capital abandoned it. In the 1440s, the capital was moved to Phnom Penh.
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Siamese (Thai) king attacks and defeats the Khmer king in 1593. The Vietnamese then repeatedly attack the Khmer forces in the Mekong River delta and defeat the Khmer. The approximate modern borders of Cambodia are determined.
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Jayavarman II came to power in 802AD and he unifies smaller states to create one large empire. The capital is in the Angkor region of Cambodia. He had himself declared a devaraja, or god-king, una ceremony performed by Hindu high priests. This meant his authority to rule was unquestionable because it came from a divine source and that he himself was a God living on Earth.
