The ancient city of Angkor has probably done more to make Camboja known in Europe than any recent achievements of the Khmer race.  In the centre of it stands the temple now called Bayon and outside its walls are many other edifices of which the majestic Angkor Wat is the largest and best preserved.  King Indravarman (877-899) seems responsible for the selection of the site but he merely commenced the construction of the Bayon.  The edifice was completed by his son Yasovarman (889-908) who also built a town round it, called Yasod harapura, Kambupuri or Mahanagara.  Angkor Thom is the Cambojan translation of this last name, Angkor being a corruption of Nokor ( = Nagara).  Yasovarman’s empire comprised nearly all Indo-China between Burma and Champa and he has been identified with the Leper king of Cambojan legend.  His successors continued to embellish Angkor Thom, but Jayavarman IV abandoned it and it was deserted for several years until Rajendravarman II (944-968) made it the capital again.  The Chinese Annals, supported by allusions in the inscriptions, state that this prince conquered Champa.  The long reigns of Jayavarman V, Suryavarman I, and Udayadityavarman, which cover more than a century (968-1079) seem to mark a prosperous period when architecture flourished, although Udayadityavarman had to contend with two rebellions.  Another great king, Suryavarman II (1112-1162) followed shortly after them, and for a time succeeded in uniting Camboja and Champa under his sway.  Some authorities credit him with a successful expedition to Ceylon.  There is not sufficient evidence for this, but he was a great prince and, in spite of his foreign wars, maintained peace and order at home.

Jayavarman VII, who appears to have reigned from 1162 to 1201, reduced to obedience his unruly vassals of the north and successfully invaded Champa which remained for thirty years, though not without rebellion, the vassal of Camboja.  It was evacuated by his successor Indravarman in 1220.

After this date there is again a gap of more than a century in Cambojan history, and when the sequence of events becomes clear again, we find that Siam has grown to be a dangerous and aggressive enemy.  But though the vigour of the kingdom may have declined, the account of the Chinese traveller Chou Ta-kuan who visited Angkor Thom in 1296 shows that it was not in a state of anarchy nor conquered by Siam.  There had however been a recent war with Siam and he mentions that the country was devastated.  He unfortunately does not tell us the name of the reigning king and the list of sovereigns begins again only in 1340 when the Annals of Camboja take up the history.  They are not of great value.  The custom of recording all events of importance prevailed at the Cambojan Court in earlier times but these chronicles were lost in the eighteenth century.  King Ang Chan (1796-1834) ordered that they should be re-written with the aid of the Siamese chronicles and such other materials