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Siam Nakhon Province
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Siam Nakhon was a changwat (province) of Thailand. It was ceded to French Indochina in 1906. It is now located in Cambodia and known as Prey Veng.
Siem Reap province used to be the province with the capital city of the Angkorian Empire in ancient time until its decline in the 17th century. The Siamese took advantage of this decline and the in-fighting between the Khmers for the Angkorian throne. Thus Siam was able to sack Angkor Wat with the help of the Khmer Leu. The Khmer Leu means in Khmer "Upper Khmer" and it consist of today Thailand's provinces such as Surin, Sisakaet, Buriram. The Khmer Leu were one of the powerful assets of the Angkorian Empire due to their mastery of training and fighting with war elephants.
Siem Reap city (Angkor Wat) was being sacked many times by the Siamese from 17th Century and onwards. During the 18th century, Siem Reap city was under total Siamese control. The Siamese then called this province Siam Nakhon, meaning Siamese town.
At the beginning of the 20th century the province had to be ceded to French Indochina due to the higher military power. The French justified their claim by former relationships of the court of Angkor to the Vietnamese.
The province was renamed Siem Reap, which in Khmer means Siamese Defeated, referring to the fact that the Siamese are no longer in control of Angkor War and its temples.
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