Angkor

Long ago, a great city lived in Cambodia.

The city was very big. It had many roads and canals. These canals helped carry water to crops.

Angkor was the capital of the Khmer Empire. This empire was in Cambodia. It grew from the 9th to the 15th centuries.

In 802 AD, a leader named Jayavarman II became king. He called himself a god-king. Many kings followed him. They built many temples. Most of these temples were for Hindu gods. Some were for Buddhist gods.

One famous king was Suryavarman II. He built the huge Angkor Wat temple. He built it between 1113 and 1150. The temple has walls and a moat. These parts represent the world and the oceans.

Angkor was a very big city. It had a smart water system. People used canals and reservoirs to move water. This helped farmers grow crops. This system is called a hydraulic city.

Scientists use a tool called LiDAR to study the site. This tool uses light to see through thick forests. It helps them find old buildings and roads. Today, many people visit Angkor to see its history.

Angkor was a grand capital city of the Khmer Empire. It is located in the country we now call Cambodia. This huge site contains many different buildings. You can find religious temples, libraries, and wide moats there. Some buildings were used by officials for the king's palace. Most of the great temples were made of stone. However, buildings outside the main area were often made of wood or tiles.

The city worked using a very smart water system. Scientists call it a "hydraulic city." This means it had a complex network to manage water. The people used canals and large reservoirs to store water. This helped them during the unpredictable monsoon seasons. It also helped them water many crops at once. This system supported a very large number of people.

The history of Angkor began a long time ago. In 802 AD, a leader named Jayavarman II became king. He called himself a "god-king." This started the Angkorian period. Later, King Yasovarman built a new city called Yasodharapura. He built a massive reservoir to help the land. The empire flourished from the 9th century until the 15th century.

Many famous structures were built by different kings. King Suryavarman II built the huge Angkor Wat between 1113 and 1150. It is a very large religious monument. The temple has walls that are nearly half a mile long. It was built to show Hindu ideas about the world. There are over one thousand temples in the whole area. Some people believe the city held up to 1,000,000 people.

Today, we use special tools to learn more about Angkor. Archaeologists use a tool called LiDAR to see through thick forests. LiDAR uses light to find hidden roads and monuments. This helps us see how big the city really was. In 1992, Angkor became a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This helps people protect the ruins for the future. Every year, about two million people come to visit.

Angkor was the grand capital city of the Khmer Empire. It is located in modern-day Cambodia, north of the Great Lake known as Tonlé Sap. The name Angkor comes from the Khmer word *nokor*, meaning "kingdom." This word itself was derived from the Sanskrit word *nagara*, which means "city." Today, the site is a massive archaeological area containing religious temples, libraries, and moats.

The city functioned as a "hydraulic city" due to its advanced water management. This was a sophisticated infrastructure system used to stabilize, store, and disperse water. The network included canals and large reservoirs, which are sometimes called *barays*. This system helped the population manage the unpredictable monsoon seasons. It also provided irrigation for many crops at once. This water control was essential to support a very large population.

The Angkorian period began in AD 802. This was when the Khmer Hindu monarch, Jayavarman II, declared himself a "universal monarch" and a "god-king." This title, known as *devaraja*, linked the king to the god Siva. Before this, the region consisted of independent principalities called Funan and Chenla. Jayavarman II unified these areas through military campaigns, alliances, and marriages. He eventually moved his influence toward the Kulen Hills.

As the empire grew, kings built massive structures to reflect their power and religion. In 889 AD, King Yasovarman built a new city called Yasodharapura. He constructed a massive reservoir and a central temple on a hill called Phnom Bakheng. Between 900 and 1200 AD, the empire produced many architectural masterpieces. Most of these temples were built for Hindu or Buddhist practitioners. The site contains over one thousand temples in total.

One of the most famous structures is the temple complex of Angkor Wat. King Suryavarman II built this massive monument between 1113 and 1150. He built it as his personal temple mausoleum after consolidating his power. The walls are nearly half a mile long on each side. The design portrays Hindu cosmology, with towers representing Mount Meru. The moat represents the oceans surrounding the world.

Archaeologists have used new technology to understand the true scale of this civilization. They use a tool called LiDAR, which stands for Light Detection and Ranging. LiDAR uses light to see through dense forests that cover the ruins. This technology revealed an urban sprawl of at least 1,000 square kilometers. It also showed that Angkor was the largest pre-industrial city in the world by surface area. Research suggests the area may have supported between 750,000 and 1,000,000 people.

The empire eventually faced decline and changes in leadership. In 1351, the region fell under Ayutthayan suzerainty. A Khmer rebellion against Siamese authority led to the sacking of Angkor in 1431. This caused the population to migrate south to Longvek. Today, Angkor is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, a status it received in 1992. This helps experts conserve the site for future generations. About two million people visit the ruins every year.