Norodom of Cambodia

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Norodom (Khmer:ព្រះបាទនរោត្តម) (1834-1904) ruled as king of Cambodia from 1860 to 1904. He was the eldest son of King Ang Duong[1] and half-brother of Prince Si Votha as well as the half-brother of King Sisowath. Norodom is cognate with Narottam in Sanskrit which means Best(Uttam) of men(Nar).Norodom was considered to be the first modern Khmer king. He was credited with saving Cambodia from disappearing altogether. In 1863,to prevent the two powerful neighbours, Vietnam and Siam, from swallowing Cambodia altogether he invited France to become Cambodia protectorate. Many Cambodians believed that this brilliant act and his shrewdness did actually save Cambodia from disappearing.

When he was born, Cambodia was under Vietnamese and Siamese rule. The two powers had partitioned the country between them, but the royal family remained in the Siamese zone, as the Vietnamese were more authoritarian than the Siamese. Nonetheless, Vietnam and Siam frequently fought wars over Cambodian territory. The royal capital of Cambodia was in Oudong, but the main center of the area was the capital of Siam in Bangkok. Prince Norodom was sent by his father to study in Bangkok, where he studied Buddhist scriptures as well as the ancient Pali language.

[edit] Rule

In 1860, when King Ang Duong died, Norodom became his successor but remained uncrowned because the Siamese royal court refused to release the Cambodian royal regalia, effectively made Norodom a viceroy of the Siamese king. After Norodom put Cambodia under the French Protectorate in 1863 the Siamese royal court agreed to let Norodom be crowned king. In 1864 Norodom was crowned, the coronation being supervised jointly by the French and Siamese officials. Nonetheless, the young king began to rule over a country in civil turmoil. The Siamese and the Vietnamese had traditionally treated Cambodia as a buffer state, but France began to encroach on both Siamese and Vietnamese territory. However, the country was weak and subject to the power struggles between France and Siam. Not only where there rebel groups intent on getting the Siamese and the Vietnamese out of Cambodia, but also bandit groups. At the same time, King Norodom inherited a major Cham rebellion against Khmer rule which his father began to sustain but died before he could defeat them. In 1862, Norodom lost control over the region and abandoned the capital of Odong and fled to the safety of Battambang (though the capital was still at Odong) and later flees Cambodia altogether and goes into exile in Bangkok. Seeing that the Siamese and Vietnamese overlords had gotten Cambodia into civil strife, the French forced King Norodom to return to Odong in 1863 and sign a treaty of protection with France, which transferred the country from Siamese and Vietnamese to French colonial rule. Cambodia thus became an independent French protectorate, though it was highly autonomous. Nonetheless, in 1884, France took control of Laos and overran Vietnam. France and Siam entered war over Laos in 1893, ending with a treaty ceding Lao to France after the French blockade of Bangkok. In 1907, Siam ceded Battambang and Siem Reap, its last claim in Cambodia after continued pressure from France.

[edit] French Protectorate

In 1884 the French authority forced King Norodom to sign a treaty giving the French Protectorate virtually all administrative controls over Cambodia, including finances, a life line of Norodom's rule. Norodom resisted but with the Frenc gunboats buoyed outside the front gate of the royal palace he had no choice but to sign. The French actions cause widespread popular anger.In 1885 and 1886 Prince Si Votha, Norodom's half brother led a revolt against the French rule. The French suspected that Norodom was secretly supporting Si Votha's actions and the French blamed him for inciting the revolts. The revolt ended when the Cambodians were assured by King Norodom that the French had offered concessions to him. After the restoration of the calm of 1885-1886 revolt Norodom was in a position of temporary strength. To prevent another revolt, the French was less inclined to force the king to the wall once more.

The rest of Norodom's rule was nothing but puppetry on the part of the French. Before he died in 1904 he appointed his son, Prince Yukanthor[2], as heir apparent to the throne, before Yukanthor had a fall-out with the French. The French changed a lot in Cambodia, moving the capital from Oudong to Phonm Penh. Norodom could do nothing to prevent this, and died in 1904 in Phnom Penh. His body was cremated in the traditional Buddhist fashion in 1906.

He was succeeded by his half-brother and the Crown Prince, Prince Sisowath.

He is considered the first modern king of Cambodia.

Preceded by Ang Duong

King of Cambodia 1860 to 1904

Succeeded by Sisowath

[edit] References

1. Encyclopedia Britanica.com 2. Milton E. Osborne, The French Presence in Cochinchina and Cambodia