Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Phnom Penh grew quickly in the post-independence peacetime years of Norodom Si-
hanouk's rule. By the time he was overthrown in 1970, the population of the city was ap-
proximately 500,000. As the Vietnam War spread into Cambodian territory, the city's pop-
ulation swelled with refugees and reached nearly three million in early 1975. The Khmer
Rouge took the city on 17 April 1975 and, as part of its radical revolution, immediately
forced the entire population into the countryside. Whole families were split up on those
first fateful days of 'liberation'.
During the time of Democratic Kampuchea, many tens of thousands of former Phnom
Penhois - including the vast majority of the capital's educated residents - were killed. The
population of Phnom Penh during the Khmer Rouge regime was never more than about
50,000, a figure made up of senior party members, factory workers and trusted military
leaders.
Repopulation of the city began when the Vietnamese arrived in 1979, although at first it
was strictly controlled by the new government. During much of the 1980s, cows were
more common than cars on the streets of the capital. The 1990s were boom years for
some: along with the arrival of the UN Transitional Authority in Cambodia (Untac) came
US$2 billion (much of it in salaries for expats).
Phnom Penh has really begun to change in the last 15 years, with roads being repaired,
sewage pipes laid, parks inaugurated and riverbanks reclaimed. Business is booming in
many parts of the city, with skyscrapers under development, investors rubbing their hands
with the sort of glee once reserved for Bangkok or Hanoi, and swanky new restaurants
opening. Phnom Penh is back, and bigger changes are set to come.
