Kingdom of Cambodia is country in Southeast Asia, also known as Kampuchea with a population of over 13 million people. Population growth per year is estimated at 1.8%, one of the highest rates in Asia. The rate of infant mortality is also high. Cambodia covers an area of 181,035 sq km (69,898 sq mi). Phnom Penh is the capital city. The country borders Thailand to its west and northwest, Laos to its northeast, and Vietnam to its east and southeast. In the south it faces the Gulf of Thailand (1. picture). The geography of Cambodia is dominated by the Mekong river (the longest river in Southeast Asia and the tenth largest in the world) and the Tonlé Sap (the largest lake in Southeast Asia), an important source of fish. The lake is one of the richest sources of freshwater fish in the world.
More than a thousand years ago, Cambodia was the center of the Khmer (Cambodian) kingdom of Angkor, a great empire that dominated Southeast Asia for 600 years. Cambodia is the successor state of the once powerful Hindu and Buddhist Khmer Empire, which ruled most of the Indochinese Peninsula between the 11th and 14th centuries.
Cambodia's main industries are garments and tourism. In 2006, foreign visitors had surpassed the 1.7 million mark. The tourism industry is the country's second-greatest source of hard currency after the textile industry. 50% of visitor arrivals are to Angkor, and most of the remainder to Phnom Penh. Other tourist destinations include Sihanoukville in the southeast which has several popular beaches, and the nearby area around Kampot including the Bokor Hill Station. Most tourists are from Asian countries.…
