Phnom Penh (Khmer ភ្នំពេញ: Mul script 
; regular script 
) is the largest, most populous and capital city of Cambodia. It is also the capital of the Phnom Penh municipality.
Once known as the Pearl of Asia in the 1920s, Phnom Penh, along with Siem Reap, is a significant global and domestic tourist destination for Cambodia. Phnom Penh is renowned for its traditional Khmer and French influenced architecture, along with its friendly people.
It is also the commercial, political and cultural hub of Cambodia and is home to 1 million of Cambodia's population of 11.4 million.
Geography and climate
A Buddhist monk walking in front of the Royal palace in Phnom Penh.
Phnom Penh is located in the south-central region of Cambodia, at the confluence of the Tonle Sap and Mekong rivers. The city is located at 11.55° N 104.91667° E (11°33' North, 104°55' East, [1]).
The climate is hot year-round with minor variations. There are three basic seasons: the cool season from roughly November to January, the hot season from roughly February through May and the rainy season from roughly June through October.
Naming
The city takes its name from the Wat Phnom Daun Penh (known now as just the Wat Phnom or Hill Temple), built in 1373 to house five statues of Buddha on a man made hill 27 meters high. It was named after Daun Penh (Grandma Penh), a wealthy widow.
Phnom Penh was also previously known as Krong Chaktomuk (Chaturmukha) meaning "City of Four Faces". This name refers to the junction where the Mekong, Bassac, and Tonle Sap rivers cross to form an "X" where the capital is situated. Krong Chaktomuk is an abbreviation of its ceremonial name given by King Ponhea Yat which was "Krong Chaktomuk Mongkol Sakal Kampuchea Thipadei Sereythor Inthabot Borei Roth Reach Seima Maha Nokor".
History
Phnom Penh first became the capital of Cambodia after Ponhea Yat, king of the Khmer Empire fled Angkor Thom when it was captured by Siam in 1431. There are stupa behind Wat Phnom that house the remains of Ponhea Yat and the royal family as well as the remaining Buddhist statues from the Angkorean era.
It was not until 1866 under the reign of King Norodom I that Phnom Penh became the permanent seat of government, and the Royal Palace(pictured) was built. This marked the beginning of the transformation of what was essentially a village into a great city with the French Colonialists expanding the canal system to control the wetlands, constructing roads and building a port.
By the 1920s Phnom Penh was known as the Pearl of Asia and over the next four decades continued to experience growth with the building of a railway to Sihanoukville and the Pochentong International Airport.
During the 1970s, Phnom Penh's population swelled due to the US dropping hundreds of thousands of tons of bombs on rural Cambodia. These refugees were sent back to the countryside when FUNK took over in 1975. Vietnamese invaded Cambodia in 1979.
France, Australia, and Japan built factories in Cambodia in subsequent years. Loans were made from the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank to reinstate a clean water supply, roads and other infrastructure. By 1998, Phnom Penh's population was 862,000.
Tourism
Chedi of Wat Phnom in Phnom Penh.
The main tourist attractions in Phnom Penh include the Royal Palace, the Silver Pagoda, the National Museum, Independence Monument (Khmer: Vimean Akareach), Choeung Ek Genocidal Center, the Toul Sleng Museum of Genocidal Crime, and Wat Phnom. Phnom Penh, and Cambodia in general is a major destination for sex tourism.
Transport
Pochentong International Airport (Phnom Penh) is the largest airport in Cambodia. Most commercial and passenger air traffic in and out of the country is served here. Angkor International Airport (Siem Reap) is the next largest and mainly serves tourists to Angkor Wat. Buses and taxies leave the capital almost daily bound for Thailand and Saigon.
Administration
Administratively, Phnom Penh is a municipality, although, its status is equal to provinces of Cambodia. It is subdivided into 7 districts and 76 communes.
See also
References
External links
Official
Other
The content of this page is retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phnom_Penh under GFDL
