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John Pilger

John Pilger

John Pilger (born October 9, 1939) is an Australian journalist and documentary filmmaker from Sydney.

Life and Career

Pilger's career in journalism began in 1958, and he has developed his reputation through both his reporting and the various books and documentary films that he has written or produced. He is best known in Britain for his investigative documentaries, particularly those on Cambodia and East Timor. He has acted as a war correspondent during conflicts in Vietnam, Cambodia, Egypt, India, Bangladesh and Biafra. In all of his work, Pilger has been a prominent and fervent critic of Western foreign policy. He has been subjected to ridicule and scorn from the right, with the late Auberon Waugh in Britain coining the verb 'to pilger'. The verb was also added to the 1991 edition of Oxford English Dictionary of New Words ([http://www.camera.org/index.asp?x_context=22&x_article=653]), but revoked in 1994 following complaints by Pilger. He is particularly scornful of the centre-left, and has vehemently condemned Johann Hari, Ken Livingstone, David Aaronovitch and William Shawcross.
- 1958 - 62 Reporter, freelance writer, sports writer and sub-editor - Daily & Sunday Telegraph, Sydney
- 1962 Freelance correspondent - Italy 1962
- 1962 - 63 Middle East desk, Reuters, London
- 1963 - 86 Reporter, sub-editor, feature writer and Chief Foreign Correspondent - Daily Mirror
- 1986 - 88 Editor-in-Chief and a founder, News on Sunday, London
- 1969 - 71 Reporter, World in Action, Granada Television
- 1974 - 81 Reporter/Producer, Associated Television
- 1981 - Documentary film-maker, Central and Carlton Television Following the 7 July 2005 London bombings, Pilger wrote articles condemning the bombings but arguing that their ultimate cause was the British Government's actions in invading Iraq in 2003. ([http://pilger.carlton.com/print/133472] and New Statesman 25 July 2005 issue) The articles attracted opprobrium in the United Kingdom media, which accused Pilger of "blaming the victims". Pilger has a son Sam (born in 1973) and a daughter Zoe (born in 1984).

Works

Publications

Pilger has written for the following publications:
- Daily Mirror (UK)
- The Guardian (UK)
- The Independent (UK)
- New Statesman (UK)
- The New York Times (US)
- The Los Angeles Times (US)
- The Nation: New York (US)
- The Age: Melbourne (Australia)
- The Sydney Morning Herald (Australia)
- The Bulletin: Sydney (Australia)
- Green Left Weekly (Australia) He has also written for various French, Italian, Scandinavian, Canadian and Japanese newspapers and periodicals, among others, and has contributed to the BBC's news service.

Selected documentaries


- Year Zero: The Silent Death of Cambodia 1979
- Japan Behind the Mask 1987
- Death of a Nation: The Timor Conspiracy 1994
- Vietnam: the Last Battle 1995
- Inside Burma: Land of Fear 1996
- Apartheid Did Not Die 1998
- Welcome To Australia 1999
- Paying the Price: Killing the Children of Iraq 2000
- Palestine Is Still the Issue 2002
- Breaking the Silence: Truth and Lies in the War on Terror 2003
- Stealing a Nation 2004

Books


- The Last Day (1975)
- Aftermath: The Struggles of Cambodia and Vietnam (1981)
- The Outsiders (1984)
- Heroes (1986)
- A Secret Country (1989)
- Distant Voices (1992 and 1994)
- Hidden Agendas (1998)
- The New Rulers of the World (2002)
- Tell Me No Lies (2004)

Play


- The Last Day (1983)

Awards

Awards include:
- Descriptive Writer of the Year (1966)
- Reporter of the Year (1967)
- Journalist of the Year (1967)
- International Reporter of the Year (1970)
- News Reporter of the Year (1974)
- Campaigning Journalist of the Year (1977)
- Journalist of the Year (1979)
- UN Media Peace Prize, Australia 1979 - 80
- UN Media Peace Prize, Gold Medal, Australia 1980 - 81
- TV Times Readers' Award (1979)
- The George Foster Peabody Award, USA (1990)
- American Television Academy Award ('Emmy') (1991)
- British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) - The Richard Dimbleby Award (1991)
- Reporters Sans Frontiers Award, France (1990)
- International de Television Geneve Award (1995)
- The Monismanien Prize (Sweden) 2001
- The Sophie Prize for Human Rights (Norway) 2003
- EMMA Media Personality of the Year 2003
- Royal Television Society: Britain's best documentary (2004-5)

Quotes


- "I know when Bush is lying. His lips move."[http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article5276.htm]

External link


- [http://www.johnpilger.com JohnPilger.com], also the source for much of this article Pilger, John Pilger, John

1939

1939 (MCMXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar).

Events

January-March


- January 2 - End of term for Frank Finley Merriam, 28th Governor of California. He is succeeded by Culbert Levy Olson.
- January 13 - Black Friday: 71 people die across Victoria in one of Australia's worst ever bushfires.
- January 24 - Earthquake kills 30.000 in Chile – about 50.000 sq mi razed
- January 26 - Spanish Civil War: Troops loyal to Francisco Franco and aided by Italy take Barcelona.
- February 2 - Hungary joins Anticomintern Pact
- February 10 - Falangists take Catalonia
- February 27 - United Kingdom and France recognize Franco's government
- February 27 - Borley Rectory burns
- February 27 - Sit-down strikes are outlawed by the Supreme Court of the United States.
- March 2 - Pius XII becomes Pope
- March 3 - In Bombay, Mohandas Gandhi begins to fast in protest of the autocratic rule in India.
- March 14 - Slovak provincial assemble proclaims independence - priest Jozef Tiso becomes the president of independent Slovak government
- March 15 - German troops occupy the remaining part of Bohemia and Moravia; Czechoslovakia ceases to exist; beginning hostilities leading to WWII
- March 16 - Marriage of Princess Fawzia of Egypt to Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi of Iran
- March 22 - Germany takes Memel from Lithuania
- March 28 - Dictator Francisco Franco conquers Madrid, ending the Spanish Civil War
- March 28 - The last message from an adventurer Richard Halliburton - he disappears later
- March - End of the Great Arab Revolt in the British mandate of Palestine (started 1936)

April-June


- April 4 - Faisal II becomes King of Iraq.
- April 7 - Italy invades Albania - King Zog flees
- April 11 - Hungary leaves the League of Nations
- May 2 - Lou Gehrig's streak of 2130 consecutive Major League Baseball games played comes to an end. The record will stand for 56 years before Cal Ripken, Jr. breaks it.
- May 7 - Spain leaves the League of Nations
- May 22 - Germany and Italy sign the Pact of Steel.
- June 4 - Holocaust: The SS St. Louis, a ship carrying a cargo of 963 Jewish refugees, is denied permission to land in Florida after already having been turned away from Cuba. Forced to return to Europe, most of its passengers later die in Nazi concentration camps.
- June 17 - Last public execution in France - murderer Eugene Weidmann is decapitated by the guillotine.
- June 23 - Turkey annexes Hatay

July-August

Hatay]
- July 4 - The concentration camp Neuengamme becomes autonomous.
- July 6 - Holocaust: The last remaining Jewish enterprises in Germany are closed.
- August 2 - Albert Einstein writes President Franklin Roosevelt about developing the Atomic Bomb using Uranium. This led to the creation of the Manhattan Project.
- August 23 - Hitler and Stalin divide eastern Europe between themselves. Finland, the Baltic states and eastern Poland to the USSR. Western Poland to Germany (Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact)
- August 25 - An IRA bomb explodes in the centre of Coventry, England killing five people.
- August 27 - A Heinkel 178, the first jet-powered aircraft, flies for the last time.
- August 30 - Poland begins mobilization

September-October


- September 1 - World War II: Polish September Campaign - Nazi Germany attacks Poland, beginning the war
- September 2 - Following the invasion of Poland, Freie Stadt Danzig Danzig (now Gdańsk, Poland) is annexed to Nazi Germany.
- September 3 - World War II: France, Australia and the United Kingdom declare war on Germany.
- September 5 - World War II: The United States declares its neutrality in the war.
- September 6 - World War II: South Africa declares war on Germany.
- September 10 - Canada declares war on Germany.
- September 16 - Cease Fire ending undeclared Border War between The Soviet Union (and Mongolian allies) and Japan.
- September 17 - Soviet Union invades Poland and then occupies eastern Polish territories.
- September 27 - Warsaw surrenders to Germany; Modlin surrenders day later; last Polish large operational unit surrenders near Kock eight days later.
- October 8 - World War II: Germany annexes Western Poland.
- October 11 - Manhattan Project: US President Franklin D. Roosevelt is presented with a letter signed by Albert Einstein urging the United States to rapidly develop the atomic bomb.
- October 15 - The New York Municipal Airport (later renamed La Guardia Airport) is dedicated.

November-December


- November 4 - World War II: US President Franklin D. Roosevelt orders the United States Customs Service to implement the Neutrality Act of 1939, allowing cash-and-carry purchases of weapons by belligerents.
- November 6 - World War II: Sonderaktion Krakau
- November 6 - The Hedda Hopper Show debuts with Hollywood gossip Hedda Hopper as host (the show ran until 1951 and made Hopper a powerful figure in the Hollywood elite).
- November 8 - Venlo Incident: Two British agents of SIS are captured by the Germans.
- November 8 - In Munich, Adolf Hitler narrowly escapes an assassination attempt while celebrating the 16th anniversary of the Beer Hall Putsch.
- November 15 - In Washington, DC, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt lays the cornerstone of the Jefferson Memorial.
- November 16 - Al Capone released from Alcatraz
- November 30 - Winter War begins: Soviet forces invade Finland and reach the Mannerheim Line, starting the war.
- December 2 - La Guardia Airport opens for business in New York City.
- December 14 - League of Nations expels the USSR because of attacking Finland
- December 25 - A Christmas Carol was read before a radio audience for the first time.
- December 27 - Earthquake in Eastern Anatolia, Turkey, destroys the town of Erzingan - about 100.000 dead
- December 26 - Mining strike in Boringae, Belgium
- December 30 - USSR invades Finland

unknown dates


- Batman created by Bob Kane (and, unofficially, Bill Finger).
- Nuclear fission discovered independently by Lise Meitner and Otto Hahn
- Kirlian photography invented by Semyon Kirlian
- Siam changes its name to Thailand
- A logging crew sets off a second forest fire in the Tillamook Burn, which destroys 190,000 acres (769 km²)

Ongoing events


- Spanish Civil War (1936-1939)
- Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945)

Births

January


- January 2 - Jim Bakker, American televangelist
- January 2 - John McBon, Argentianian Tv Star Ed the Repairman
- January 3 - Bobby Hull, Canadian hockey player
- January 6 - Valeri Lobanovsky, Ukrainian footballer and manager (d. 2002)
- January 10 - Sal Mineo, American actor (d. 1976)
- January 10 - Bill Toomey, American athlete
- January 11 - Ann Heggtveit, Canadian skier
- January 17 - Maury Povich, American talk show host
- January 18 - James Gritz, U.S. Presidential candidate
- January 19 - Phil Everly, American musician
- January 20 - Chandra Wickramasinghe, British Astonomer, Scientist, Poet.
- January 21 - Wolfman Jack, American disk jockey and actor (d. 1995)
- January 22 - Ray Stevens, American musician
- January 29 - Germaine Greer, Australian writer

February-March


- February 6 - Mike Farrell, American actor
- February 10 - Adrienne Clarkson, 26th Governor General of Canada
- February 10 - Roberta Flack, American singer
- February 10 - Peter Purves, British actor and television presenter
- February 12 - Ray Manzarek, American keyboardist
- February 13 - Beate Klarsfeld, Romanian Nazi hunter
- February 21 - Gert Neuhaus, German artist
- February 28 - Daniel C. Tsui, Chinese-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- February 28 - Tommy Tune, American dancer, choreographer, and actor
- March 8 - Robert Tear, Welsh tenor
- March 13 - Neil Sedaka, American singer
- March 20 - Brian Mulroney, eighteenth Prime Minister of Canada
- March 26 - James Caan, American actor
- March 31 - Zviad Gamsakhurdia, President of Georgia (d. 1993)
- March 31 - Volker Schlöndorff, German film director

April-May


- April 2 - Marvin Gaye, American singer (d. 1984)
- April 4 - Hugh Masakela, South African musician
- April 7 - Francis Ford Coppola, American film director
- April 7 - Sir David Frost, English television personality
- April 13 - Seamus Heaney, Irish writer, Nobel Prize laureate
- April 13 - Paul Sorvino, American actor
- April 16 - Dusty Springfield, English singer (d. 1999)
- April 22 - Jason Miller, American actor (d. 2001)
- May 1 - Judy Collins, American singer and songwriter
- May 7 - Sidney Altman, Canadian-born chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- May 7 - Ruud Lubbers, Prime Minister of the Netherlands
- May 7 - Jimmy Ruffin, American singer
- May 7 - Marco St. John, American actor
- May 9 - Ralph Boston, American athlete
- May 12 - Ron Ziegler, Richard Nixon's White House Press Secretary (d. 2003)
- May 13 - Harvey Keitel, American actor
- May 19 - Livio Berruti, Italian athlete
- May 19 - Dick Scobee, astronaut (d. 1986)
- May 21 - Heinz Holliger, Swiss oboist and composer
- May 23 - Reinhard Hauff, German film director
- May 25 - Ian McKellen, English actor
- May 29 - Al Unser, American race car driver
- May 30 - Michael J. Pollard, American actor

June-August


- June 3 - Ian Hunter, English singer (Mott the Hoople)
- June 6 - Louis Andriessen, Dutch composer
- June 9 - Ileana Cotrubas, Romanian soprano
- June 9 - Dick Vitale, American basketball broadcaster
- June 11 - Jackie Stewart, Scottish race car driver
- July 5 - Booker Edgerson, American football player
- July 14 - George E. Slusser, American scholar and writer
- July 21 - John Negroponte, U.S. Director of National Intelligence
- July 26 - John Howard, twenty-fifth Prime Minister of Australia
- July 26 - Bob Lilly, American football player
- August 5 - Princess Irene of the Netherlands
- August 17 - Luther Allison, American musician (d. 1997)
- August 22 - Carl Yastrzemski, baseball player
- August 29 - Joel Schumacher, American film producer and director
- August 30 - John Peel, English disk jockey (d. 2004)

September-December


- September 6 - Brigid Berlin, American actor and artist
- September 8 - Carsten Keller, German field hockey player
- September 8 - Susumu Tonegawa, Japanese moleular biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- September 9 - Ron McDole, American football player
- September 16 - Breyten Breytenbach, South African writer and painter
- September 23 - Janusz Gajos, Polish actor
- September 30 - Len Cariou, Canadian actor and singer
- September 30 - Jean-Marie Lehn, French chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- October 1 - George Archer, American golfer (d. 2005)
- October 7 - John Hopcroft, American computer scientist
- October 7 - Harold Kroto, English chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- October 7 - Bill Snyder, American football coach
- October 14 - Ralph Lauren, American fashion designer
- October 24 - F. Murray Abraham, American actor
- October 27 - John Cleese, British actor
- October 30 - Leland H. Hartwell, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- October 31 - Ron Rifkin, American actor
- November 1 - Barbara Bosson, American actress
- November 21 - Mulayam Singh Yadav, Indian politician
- November 23 - Bill Bissett, Canadian poet
- November 27 - Laurent-Désiré Kabila, President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (d. 2001)
- December 2 - Yael Dayan, Israeli writer and politician
- December 8 - James Galway, Irish flutist
- December 18 - Robert T. Bennett, American politican
- December 18 - Michael Moorcock, English writer
- December 18 - Harold E. Varmus, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

Deaths


- January 2 - Roman Dmowski, Polish politician (b. 1864)
- January 23 - Matthias Sindelar, Austrian footballer (b. 1903)
- January 24 - Maximilian Bircher-Benner, Swiss physician and nutritionist (b. 1867)
- January 28 - William Butler Yeats, Irish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1865)
- February 10 - Pope Pius XI (b. 1857)
- February 11 - Franz Schmidt, Austrian composer (b. 1874)
- February 12 - S. P. L. Sørensen, Danish chemist (b. 1868)
- February 22 - Antonio Machado, Spanish poet (b. 1875)
- March 2 - Howard Carter, British archaeologist (b. 1874)
- March 19 - Lloyd L. Gaines, American civil rights activist
- April 7 - Joseph Lyons, tenth Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1879)
- June 4 - Tommy Ladnier, American jazz trumpeter (b. 1900)
- June 19 - Grace Abbott, American social worker and activist (b. 1878)
- June 26 - Ford Maddox Ford, English writer (b. 1873)
- July 14 - Alfons Mucha, Czech painter and decorative artist (b. 1860)
- August 2 - Harvey Spencer Lewis, American mystic (b. 1883)
- August 11 - Jean Bugatti, German automobile designer (b. 1909)
- September 18 - Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz, Polish writer and painter (b. 1885)
- September 23 - Sigmund Freud, Austrian psychiatrist (b. 1856)
- October 7 - Harvey Cushing, American neurosurgeon (b. 1869)
- November 12 - Norman Bethune, Canadian humanitarian (b. 1890)
- November 28 - James Naismith, Canadian inventor of basketball (b. 1861)
- December 22 - Ma Rainey, American singer (b. 1886)
- December 23 - Anthony Fokker, Dutch aircraft manufacturer (b. 1890)

Nobel Prizes


- Physics - Ernest Orlando Lawrence
- Chemistry - Adolf Friedrich Johann Butenandt, Leopold Ruzicka
- Physiology or Medicine - Gerhard Domagk
- Literature - Frans Eemil Sillanpää
- Peace - not awarded Category:1939 ko:1939년 ms:1939 ja:1939年 simple:1939 th:พ.ศ. 2482

Journalism

Journalism is a discipline of collecting, verifying, analyzing and presenting information gathered regarding current events, including trends, issues and people. Those who practice journalism are known as journalists. News-oriented journalism often is described as the "first draft of history." Even though journalists often write news articles to a deadline, news media usually edit and proofread the results prior to publication.

Reporting and editorializing

Journalism has as its main activity the reporting of events — stating who, what, when, where, why and how, and explaining the significance and effect of events or trends. Journalism exists in a number of media: newspapers, television, radio, magazines and, since the end of 20th century, the Internet. Generally, publishers and consumers of journalism draw a distinction between reporting — "just the facts" — and opinions (such as editorials, the official opinions of the paper, and op-ed columns, "opposite the editorial page" commentary). However, this distinction sometimes can break down. Journalists may unintentionally fall prey to propaganda or disinformation. (See News management.) Journalists may give a biased account of facts by reporting selectively, for instance, focusing on anecdote or giving a partial explanation of actions. Foreign reporting may become more susceptible to bias, because the writers or editors of a newspaper in a given geographical area may find it more difficult to check the facts in reports about distant places. (See Media bias.)

Feature-writing

Newspapers and periodicals often contain features (see under heading feature style at article news style) written by journalists, many of whom specialize in this form of "in-depth" journalism.

Sources

Journalists' interaction with sources sometimes involves confidentiality. Many Western governments guarantee the freedom of the press. By extension, these freedoms sometimes also add legal protection for journalists, allowing them to keep the identity of a source private even when demanded by police or prosecutors.

Blogging

Recently there has been some controversy as to whether blogging constitutes a form of journalism. There have been arguments on both sides of the debate further fueled by a March 2005 court ruling in a case involving Apple Computer and several Apple rumor blogs. In that ruling the judge declared that the blogs were not entitled to journalist protections with regards to preserving the anonymity of sources because they don't qualify as a form of journalism. This set a legal precedent.

See also


- Freedom of the press
- Journalist
- Journalistic standards
- List of journalism books
- List of journalism topics
- McLurg's Law
- Magazine
- Newspaper
- Objectivity (journalism)
- Planted news
- Witness
- Mass media
- Trial by media
- Media circus
- Media hype

Types of journalism


- Advocacy journalism
- Alternative journalism
- Broadcast journalism
- Business journalism
- Chequebook/Checkbook journalism
- Citizen journalism
- Computer-assisted reporting
- Gonzo journalism
- Electronic journalism
- Environmental journalism
- Investigative journalism
- Literary journalism related to creative nonfiction
- Muckraking
- New journalism
- Online journalism
- Photo journalism
- Science journalism
- Sports journalism
- Tabloid journalism
- Trade journalism
- Watchdog journalism
- Yellow journalism

External links


- [http://www.journalism.org Journalism.org] - Homepage for the Project for Excellence in Journalism
- [http://poynter.org/ Poynter Institute]
- [http://www.spj.org Society of Professional Journalists]
- [http://journalism.wikicities.com/wiki/Main_Page Journawiki], a wiki about journalism
- [http://www.mp3newswire.net/stories/5002/journalist.html What Makes a Journalist?] - March 5, 2005 article in support of blogging as a form of journalism.
- [http://www.fnpj.org.br National Forum of Journalism Professors]
- [http://www.sbpjor.org.br Brazilian Association of Researchers in Journalism]

Journalism education


- Knight Center for Journalism [http://knightcenter.utexas.edu/index.php]
- Columbia School of Journalism [http://www.jrn.columbia.edu] Category:Mass media Category:News media Category:Applied sciences ko:언론 ja:報道 fiu-vro:Aokirändüs

Sydney

Sydney is the state capital and most populous city of the Australian state of New South Wales, as well as Australia's largest and oldest city (founded in 1788). With a metropolitan area population of 4.3 million and a population of approximately 146,297 people in the city proper (known as the "City of Sydney"), the Sydney metropolis is the largest financial, transport, trade and cultural centre in Australia. Sydney is a significant global and domestic tourist destination and is regularly declared to be one of the most beautiful and liveable cities in the world, admired for its harbour, beautiful coastline, warm and pleasant climate and cosmopolitan culture. Sydney significantly raised its global profile in recent years as the host city of the 2000 Olympics. It is also the host of the World Youth Day 2008. The city's name is pronounced . A resident of Sydney is popularly known as a "Sydneysider". Sydney is home to the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge which are both recognized worldwide.

Geography

Sydney Harbour Bridge Sydney Harbour Bridge towards the CBD skyline; the Opera House is visible in the background on the left]] Opera House Sydney is located in a coastal basin between the Pacific Ocean to the east and the Blue Mountains to the west. The city features the largest natural harbour in the world, Port Jackson, and more than 70 harbour and ocean beaches, including the famous Bondi Beach. Sydney's urban area of 1,687 km² is similar to that of Greater London, although it has less than half of that city's population. The metropolitan area (Sydney Statistical Division) is 12,145 km², but much of this is national park and other unsettled land. The geographical coordinates of Sydney are 34 degrees south and 151 degrees east. Sydney occupies two geographical regions: the Cumberland Plain, a relatively flat or rolling region lying to the south and west of the harbour, and the Hornsby Plateau, a plateau north of the harbour, up to 200 m in elevation, dissected by forested valleys. The oldest parts of the city are located in the flat areas; the Hornsby Plateau, known as the North Shore, was slower to develop because of its hilly topography, and was mostly a quiet backwater until the Sydney Harbour Bridge was opened in 1932, linking it to the rest of the city. Much of the North Shore is upper-middle class suburban in character, with high-rise business districts at Chatswood and North Sydney. Sydney's central business district (CBD) extends southwards for about 2 km from Sydney Cove, the point of the first European settlement. Densely concentrated skyscrapers and other buildings including beautiful sandstone buildings such as the Sydney Town Hall and Queen Victoria Building are interspersed by several parks such as Wynyard and Hyde Parks. The CBD is bounded on the east side by a chain of parkland that extends from Hyde Park through the Domain and Royal Botanic Gardens to Farm Cove on the harbour. The west side is bounded by Darling Harbour, a popular tourist precinct. Central Station marks the southern end of the CBD. George St is the Sydney CBD's main north-south thoroughfare. In the southern CBD, the streets run on a slightly angled grid pattern; in the older northern CBD, the routes are less logical, reflecting the ad-hoc development of bullock tracks in the early days of the city. (See the Sydney central business district article for more detail.) Sydney's streets tend to be narrower than those of other major Australian cities, reflecting this ad hoc development. Although the CBD dominated the city's business and cultural life in the early days, other business/cultural districts have developed in a radial pattern since World War II. As a result, the proportion of white-collar jobs located in the CBD declined from more than 60% at the end of World War II to less than 30% in 2004. The five most significant outer business districts are Parramatta in the central-west, Blacktown in the west, Liverpool in the southwest, Chatswood to the north, and Hurstville in the south. Although the city does not suffer from cyclones or significant earthquakes, the El Niño Southern Oscillation plays an important role in determining Sydney's weather patterns: drought and bushfire on the one hand, and storms and flooding on the other, associated with the opposite phases of the oscillation. Many areas of the city bordering bushland have experienced bushfires, notably in 1994 and 2002. The city is subject to infrequent severe hail storms and wind storms. In recent years, the city has faced water shortages. The levels in its main water storages, chief of which Warragamba Dam have fallen to such an extent that the state government has imposed a range of restrictions intended to reduce water consumption and is currently considering the introduction of a desalinated water plant.

History

Warragamba Dam The area surrounding Sydney Harbour (called Warrane by the aborigines) has been inhabited by Aboriginal tribes, notably the Eora and Cadigal, for at least 40,000 years. Although urbanisation has destroyed most evidence of these settlements (such as shell middens), there are still rock carvings in several locations. European interest arose with the sighting of Botany Bay (now a southern suburb of Sydney) in 1770 by Lieutenant James Cook. Under instruction from the British government, a convict settlement was founded by Arthur Phillip in 1788. Phillip founded the colony at Sydney Cove on Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour). He named it after the British Home Secretary, Thomas Townshend, Lord Sydney (Viscount Sydney from 1789), in recognition of Sydney's role in issuing the charter authorising Phillip to establish a colony. Prisoners were quickly set to work to build the settlement and by 1822 the town had banks, markets, well-established thoroughfares and an organised constabulary; by 1847, convicts accounted for only 3.2% of the population. After a slow start, the town grew rapidly, with ships arriving from Ireland and England with immigrants looking to start a new life in a new country. The first of several gold rushes was in 1851, since which time the port of Sydney has seen many waves of people from around the world. With industrialisation Sydney expanded rapidly, and by the early 20th century it had a population well in excess of one million. Throughout the 20th century Sydney continued to expand with various new waves of European and (later) Asian immigration, resulting in its highly cosmopolitan atmosphere of the present day. Indeed, Sydney has the second highest immigrant population of any major world city, with 45% of the population being either migrants or children of migrants.

Historical population

Asian The majority of Sydneysiders are of British and Irish background. More recent arrivals have included Italians, Greeks, Lebanese, South Africans, Indians, Sudanese, Turks, Macedonians, Croatians, Serbs, Chinese and Vietnamese.
- 1800: 2,540 inhabitants
- 1820: 12,000
- 1851: 39,000
- 1871: 205,800
- 1901: 487,900
- 1925: 1,039,000
- 2003: 4 million
- 2050: 6 million (projected)

Timeline of events


- 1788: First European settlement established
- 1852: Sydney incorporated as a city
- 1855: New South Wales's first railway line linking Sydney with Parramatta
- 1870: Intercolonial Exhibition (1870)
- 1879: Sydney International Exhibition (1879)
- 1883: Parramatta - Intercolonial Juvenile Industrial Exhibition (1883)
- 1901: Commonwealth of Australia proclaimed in Sydney on January 1
- c. 1903: Overtook Melbourne as Australia's largest city
- 1932: Sydney Harbour Bridge completed
- 1942: Sydney attacked by Japanese submarines
- 1973: Sydney Opera House completed
- 2000: 2000 Summer Olympics

Government and politics

There is no overall governing body for the Sydney metropolitan area. There is a directly elected Lord Mayor of Sydney and an elected council, but these are responsible only for the City of Sydney, which takes in the central business area and some adjoining inner suburbs. The Lord Mayor, however, is sometimes treated as a representative of the whole city. The rest of the metropolitan area is divided into municipalities (see list of regions below). As is common in major metropolitan areas of most Australian states, these municipalities all have elected councils and are responsible for a range of functions delegated to them by the New South Wales State Government. Most citywide government activities are controlled by the state government. These include public transport, main roads, traffic control, policing, education above preschool level, and planning of major infrastructure projects. Because a large fraction of New South Wales' population lives in Sydney, state governments have traditionally been reluctant to allow the development of citywide governmental bodies, which would tend to rival the state government. For this reason, Sydney has always been a focus for the politics of both State and Federal Parliaments. For example, the electoral boundary of the City of Sydney local council area (mayoralty) have been significantly altered by state governments on at least four occasions since 1945, with advantageous effect to the governing party in the New South Wales Parliament at the time. As of 2005, the councils of the City of Sydney and the City of South Sydney are merged.

Landmarks

City of South Sydney The city's most famous landmarks are Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Opera House, both of which are located on Sydney Harbour. Sydney's principal river is the Parramatta River, which enters Sydney Harbour from the west. While the Harbour is famous for its racing yachts, the Boxing Day start of the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race and 18ft skiffs, the river is used for dinghy sailing and rowing as well as recreational boating, racing small yachts, recreational fishing, and occasional Dragon Boat racing. Another famous landmark is the Sydney Tower (also known as Centrepoint Tower or the AMP Tower) which is the third tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere after Auckland's Sky Tower and the Gold Coast's Q1 Tower. Darling Harbour is also a popular tourist attraction. The Sydney Cricket Ground, which retains several beautiful 1920s-era grandstands, hosts several international cricket matches and the Sydney Swans Australian rules football team. The old adjacent showgrounds, for many years home to the Sydney Royal Easter Show, have been redeveloped as 20th Century Fox's large Sydney studios. Sydney Olympic Park, after holding a large proportion of the major events in the 2000 Olympic Games, now regularly hosts sporting and cultural events, especially at Telstra Stadium. Sydney is also known for the annual Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. Sydney is home to the Australian Stock Exchange and the Reserve Bank of Australia. It also has 6 universities: the University of Sydney (USyd), the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Macquarie University (MaqU), the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), the University of Western Sydney (UWS), and two of the campuses of the Australian Catholic University (ACU).

Major Tourist attractions

Australian Catholic University Sydney is noted for its tourist attractions, including:
- Bondi Beach
- Chinatown, Sydney
- Chinese Garden
- Darling Harbour [http://www.darlingharbour.com/]
- Fox Studios Australia
- Hyde Park Barracks
- King Street Wharf
- New Year's fireworks
- Oceanworld, Manly.[http://www.sydneymate.com/travel_sydney_australia/Placesofinterest/ManlyOceanWorld/Manly_Ocean_World.htm]
- Powerhouse Museum, a museum of science and technology [http://www.phm.gov.au/]
- Sydney Aquarium, Darling Harbour. [http://www.sydneyaquarium.com.au/]
- Sydney Harbour, more correctly known as Port Jackson
- Sydney Harbour Bridge [http://www.bridgeclimb.com/]
- Sydney Mint
- Sydney Opera House
- Sydney Tower (aka Centrepoint Tower), CBD.[http://www.sydneyskytour.com.au/]
- Taronga Zoo, Mosman.[http://www.zoo.nsw.gov.au/]
- The Rocks The Rocks

Culture

The Rocks Sydney boasts a full roster of musical, theatrical and artistic activity through the year, from the formal - including the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the Sydney Theatre Company, the Sydney Dance Company, and the Archibald Prize - to festivals, including the Sydney Festival, a celebration of free performances throughout January. Many internationally known Australian rock bands have had their conception in Sydney, which include most notably The Easybeats, AC/DC, Midnight Oil and INXS. Sydney has also been the inspiration for a very large number of Australian indie rock and mainstream pop songs from The Executives' classic 1968 "Summer Hill Road", to Paul Kelly's many songs about Sydney including "From St.Kilda to Kings Cross" and "Sydney From A 727", to John Kennedy's Love Gone Wrong and songs like "King Street" and "Miracle in Marrickville" to The Mexican Spitfires "Sydney Town" and "Town Hall Steps" among many others. In fact in 2000 to coincide with the Sydney Olympic Games Sony Music released a compilation of 30 songs about Sydney called "Somewhere In Sydney" which featured the above mentioned artists as well as The Whitlams, Skyhooks, Cold Chisel, Roaring Jack and many others. See Songs about Sydney for a listing by suburb of songs about Sydney and environs. Sydney also has been home to many visual artists, from the lush pastoralism of Lloyd Rees's depictions of Sydney Harbour to Jeffrey Smart's portraits of bleak urban alienation. Sydney has four large and many smaller museums. The biggest are the Australian Museum (natural history and anthropology), Powerhouse Museum (science, technology and design), Art Gallery of New South Wales and the Museum of Contemporary Art. Sydney is also home to several large ethnic communities throughout the greater metropolitan area, and a significant gay community who host the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras along Oxford Street. To encourage sharing of cultural, trade and tourist links, the City of Sydney Council maintains sister city relations with the cities San Francisco, Nagoya, Wellington, Portsmouth, Guangzhou, and Florence.

Media

Sydney has two daily newspapers. The Sydney Morning Herald is a centrist-to-left-leaning broadsheet, and is generally regarded as a "serious" paper, with extensive coverage of domestic and international news, culture and business. It is also the oldest newspaper in Australia, having been published regularly since 1831. The Herald's competitor, The Daily Telegraph, is a Murdoch-owned tabloid. It leans to the right and is generally sensationalist in its coverage. Both papers have tabloid counterparts published on Sunday, The Sun-Herald and the Sunday Telegraph respectively. Recently, an afternoon/evening tabloid owned by Murdoch known as the MX was added to Sydney's list of free newspapers, released at 15:00 and distributed every weekday at CBD railway stations and newsagents. The three commercial television networks (Seven, Nine & Ten), as well as the government networks (ABC & SBS) each have a presence in Sydney. The ABC has a large headquarters and production facility in Ultimo. SBS have their studios at Artarmon. Foxtel and Optus both supply pay-TV over their cable services to most parts of the metropolitan area. Limited digital TV transmissions serve Sydney, including a program guide (Channel 4), ABC news, sport, and weather items (Channel 41), ChannelNSW: Government and Public Information (Channel 45), Australian Christian Channel (Channel 46), MacquarieBank TV (Channel 47), SportsTAB (Channel 48), Expo Home Shopping (Channel 49), and Federal parliamentary broadcasts (audio only). Many AM and FM government, commercial and community radio services broadcast in the Sydney area. The local ABC radio station is 702 ABC Sydney (formerly 2BL). The talkback radio genre is dominated by the perennial rivals 2GB and 2UE. Vega (radio network) is a new talk radio station on the FM band. Popular music stations include Triple M, 2Day FM and Nova 96.9. Triple J, 2SER and FBi Radio provide a more independent, local and alternative sound. There are also a number of community stations broadcasting to a particular language group or local area.

Sport

FBi Radio
- 9 teams in the National Rugby League
- Sydney Swans - Australian Rules Football ( AFL)
- Sydney FC - A-League Football
- 2 teams in the National Basketball League
- New South Wales Blues - First-class cricket
- Home of the New South Wales Waratahs - Super 14 Rugby union Team
- Sydney Blues - Australian Major League Baseball Sydney is arguably the major rugby league centre of the world. It is the headquarters of Australian Rugby League and home to 9 of the 15 National Rugby League teams. Sydney's most famous sports ground is the Sydney Cricket Ground, home to numerous sports being played for over a century, especially Cricket and Rugby. The Sydney Swans play their home game on the Sydney Cricket ground. Despite Rugby being the most dominant sport in Sydney, the Swam draw impressively large crows to their games. They had recent sucess in winning the 2005 AFL Grand Final. Sydney hosted the 2000 Summer Olympics.

Transport

2000 Summer Olympics Sydney has a good mix of public and private transport, although in line with the "new world" (US, NZ, Canada, Australia), the car is predominent due to the city's sprawl, particularly in the west. Proper freeways were not built until the early 1980s, but since then the state government has embarked on an ambitious freeway building plan, most as tolled roads (motorways -- see below). Sydney is served by extensive train, bus and ferry networks. Sydney trains are run by CityRail, a corporation of the New South Wales State Government. Trains run as suburban commuter rail services in the outer suburbs, then converge in a frequent metro-like service in tunnels under the central business district (CBD). CityRail has been under fire because of sometimes unreliable train services. Buses serve the whole metropolitan area. In the city and inner suburbs the state-owned Sydney Buses has a monopoly. Services are frequent, even outside peak hours. In the outer suburbs, service is divided up between many private bus companies. These bus services are often criticised for their relative scarcity of service and sometimes complete lack of off-peak service. Sydney Ferries, another state government-owned organisation, runs extensive commuter and tourist ferry services on Sydney Harbour and the Parramatta River. Sydney has one light rail line, the Metro Light Rail, running from Central Station to Lilyfield. There is also a monorail which runs in a loop around the main shopping district and Darling Harbour. Sydney was formerly served by an extensive tram network, which was closed progressively in the 1950's and 1960's. Sydney is serviced by an extensive network of freeways and tollways (known as motorways) and roads. The most important trunk routes in the metropolitan area form the Metroad system. The newly built Cross City Tunnel is a tunnel that runs underneath the Sydney CBD to the Eastern Suburbs. The tunnel has caused disputes because of the fees to use the tunnel. Kingsford Smith International Airport, located in the suburb of Mascot, is Sydney's main airport, and the oldest continuously operating commercial airport in the world. The smaller Bankstown Airport mainly serves private and general aviation. There are light aviation airfields at Hoxton Park and Camden. RAAF Base Richmond lies to the north-west of the city.

Regions and suburbs

The extensive area covered by metropolitan Sydney is formally divided into more than 300 suburbs (for addressing and postal purposes), and formally administered by about 38 separate local government areas (in addition to the extensive responsibilities of the New South Wales State government and its agencies). The City of Sydney itself covers a fairly small area comprising downtown Sydney and neighbouring inner-city suburbs. In addition, there are a number of regional descriptions which are used informally to conveniently describe large sections of the metropolitan area. However it should be noted that there are many suburbs which are not conveniently described by any of the following informal regional categories.

Regions of Sydney

Eastern Suburbs, Hills District, Inner West, Northern Beaches, North Shore, Southern Sydney, South-eastern Sydney, South-western Sydney, Western Sydney

Local government areas

the City of Sydney, as well as:
- Ashfield
- Auburn
- Bankstown
- Baulkham Hills
- Blacktown
- Botany Bay
- Burwood
- Camden
- Campbelltown
- Canada Bay
- Canterbury
- Fairfield
- Hawkesbury
- Holroyd
- Hornsby
- Hunter's Hill
- Hurstville
- Kogarah
- Ku-ring-gai
- Lane Cove
- Leichhardt
- Liverpool
- Manly
- Marrickville
- Mosman
- North Sydney
- Parramatta
- Penrith
- Pittwater
- Randwick
- Rockdale
- Ryde
- Strathfield
- Sutherland
- Warringah
- Waverley
- Willoughby
- Woollahra

Selected suburbs and localities

:Main articles: List of Sydney suburbs, :Category:Suburbs of Sydney & :Category:Sydney localities Cabramatta, Castle Hill, Chinatown, Sydney, Darlinghurst, Glebe, Hornsby, Hurstville, Kings Cross, Manly, Newtown, Paddington, Parramatta, Redfern, Surry Hills

Books

"Leviathan: the unauthorised biography of Sydney" by John Birmingham, Vintage Books, 2000.

References

See also


- Sydney Riot of 1879
- 2005 Sydney race riots
- Crime in Sydney
- List of cities in Australia
- List of Australian television channels
- List of Australian radio stations
- Sydney Anglicans
- Westies (people)
- Easties (people)
- Trams in Sydney

External links


- [http://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/ City of Sydney Official Homepage]
- [http://www.sydney.com.au/ Sydney the Harbour City]
- [http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=-33.857160,151.215048&spn=0.020262,0.030088&t=k&hl=en Sydney Opera House on Google Maps]
-
- [http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/trafficreports/cameras/sydneyharbourbridge.html Sydney Harbour Bridge Webcam]
- [http://www.warrenfrost.net/webcam.php Webcam View of Sydney Harbour from the Suburb of Kirribilli]
- [http://www.metrostrategy.nsw.gov.au Sydney Metropolitan Strategy] - A NSW State Government initiative to guide growth and change in the Sydney Metropolitan Area over the next 30 years.
- [http://www.bom.gov.au/cgi-bin/wrap_fwo.pl?IDN10064.txt Sydney Weather Forecast]
- [http://www.todi-media.com Sydney Virtual Tour] Information, Animations, Photos and Videos
- [http://photosydney.blogspot.com Photos and Information on Sydney life - PhotoSydney]
- [http://www.terragalleria.com/pacific/australia/sydney/ Pictures of Sydney - Terra Galleria]
- [http://flickr.com/photos/tags/sydney Flickr: Photos tagged with sydney]
- [http://www.sydneywebcam.com.au/ A different photo of Sydney every day] Category:Australian capital cities Category:Cities in New South Wales Category:Coastal cities Category:Port cities Category:Host cities of the Summer Olympic Games Category:Metropolitan areas
- ko:시드니 ja:シドニー simple:Sydney

Cambodia

The Kingdom of Cambodia (for the various names of the country in Khmer, see naming section below) is a constitutional monarchy in Southeast Asia with a population of more than 13 million people. Most Cambodians are Theravada Buddhists of Khmer extraction. A citizen of Cambodia is usually identified as Cambodian. Most Cambodians are ethnically Khmer, but the country also has a substantial number of Cham and small hill tribes. Cambodia is the successor state of the mighty Khmer Empire, which ruled most of the Indochinese Peninsula between the 11th and 14th centuries. The country shares a border with Thailand to its west, with Laos to its north, with Vietnam to its east, and with the Gulf of Thailand to its south. The geography of Cambodia is dominated by the Mekong river (colloquial Khmer: Tonle Thom, i.e. "the great river") and the Tonle Sap (i.e. "the fresh water river"), an important source of fish. The country has three main political parties: the Cambodian People's Party, FUNCINPEC and the Sam Rainsy Party. The Cambodian People's Party, which is led by Prime Minister Hun Sen, is the ruling party. In 2004, after a year of negotiations, a coalition between the Cambodian People's Party and the royalists' FUNCINPEC came to power in the National Assembly.

Naming

In the Khmer language, Cambodia is known by two names. The formal name is Prâteh Kampuchea (Khmer: Mul script 100px; regular script 80px), literally "the Country of Cambodia". Prâteh is a formal word meaning "country"; it comes from Sanskrit and is a cognate of the word pradesh, as in Uttar Pradesh. Cambodia is the traditional transliteration of the Khmer name of the country, while Kampuchea is another transliteration, more faithful to the Khmer pronunciation of the word. Contrary to what some believe, Cambodia and Kampuchea are exactly the same word, being merely two different transliterations of the same Khmer word -- much as Peking and Beijing are two different transliterations of the same Chinese word. Due to its use by the Khmer Rouge, the transliteration Kampuchea is now eschewed, and the traditional Cambodia is preferred for use in Western languages. The name Cambodia is derived from that of the ancient Khmer kingdom of Kambuja (Kambujadesa). Kambuja or Kamboja is the ancient Sanskrit name of an early north Indian tribe, the Kambojas, named after the founder of that tribe, Kambu Svayambhuva, apparently a variant of Cambyses. See Etymology of Kamboja. The French name for Cambodia, Cambodge, is also derived from Kambuja. The informal and colloquial name of Cambodia, the one most used by Khmer people, is Srok Khmae (regular script 55px) -- literally, "the Khmer Land " (the name Khmae is spelled with a final "r" in the Khmer alphabet, but this "r" is not pronounced; final "r" disappeared from Khmer pronunciation in the 19th century). Srok is a more colloquial word than prâteh, but both words roughly mean the same thing. Srok Khmae is used in almost every circumstance of life, whereas Prâteh Kampuchea is used on more formal occasions, such as in news programs or political speeches. The official name of the country is Preahreachanachâk Kampuchea (Mul script 150px; regular script 130px), i.e. "Kingdom of Cambodia". The etymology of Preahreachanachâk is: Preah- ("sacred", cognate of the Indian word Brahmin); -reach- ("king, royal, realm", from Sanskrit, cognate of the Indian words raja and raj as in maharaja and British Raj, also cognate with German Reich); -ana- (from Pali , "authority, command, power", itself from Sanskrit , same meaning) -châk (from Sanskrit cakra, meaning "wheel", a symbol of power and rule). Pali Since independence was achieved in 1953, the official name of Cambodia has changed several times, following the troubled history of the country. In English and French, the following names have been used since 1953.
- Kingdom of Cambodia/Royaume du Cambodge under the rule of the monarchy from 1953 through 1970;
- Khmer Republic/République khmère (a calque of French Republic) under the rule of the fascist military rule of Lon Nol from 1970 to 1975;
- Democratic Kampuchea/Kampuchea démocratique under the rule of the communist Khmer Rouge from 1975 to 1979;
- People's Republic of Kampuchea/République populaire du Kampuchea (a calque of People's Republic of China) under the rule of the Vietnamese-sponsored government from 1979 to 1989;
- State of Cambodia/État du Cambodge (a neutral name, before deciding whether to return to monarchy or not) under the rule of the United Nations transitional authority from 1989 to 1993;
- Kingdom of Cambodia/Royaume du Cambodge (return to the pre-1970's name) used after the restoration of the monarchy in 1993.

History

Main article: History of Cambodia From the 9th century to the 15th century, Cambodia was the center of the mighty Khmer Empire, which was during this time based at Angkor. Angkor Wat, the empire's main religious temple, remains a symbol of Cambodia during its time as a world power, and is also the country's top tourist attraction to this day. Cambodia was a protectorate of France from 1863 until the country received independence in 1953. During this period, Cambodia was under Japanese occupation during World War II from 1941 to 1945. During the 1950s and 1960s the country was under the rule of King Norodom Sihanouk, where the country maintained a precarious neutrality in the wake of active aggression against South Vietnam by the North Vietnamese. In 1969 the USA began B-52 bombing operations in Cambodia to destroy Communist bases in Cambodia. The US administration kept the bombing secret until 1970. In 1970 the Nixon administration briefly invaded Cambodia, and the bombing continued until 1973. About 30,000-500,000 civilians were killed during the bombing raids. During the 1970s and 1980s, the country was plagued with a brutal civil war, a hated military monarchist regime, as well as an even worse genocidal, agro-communist regime led by the Khmer Rouge. During the Khmer Rouge period, autogenocide was committed against millions of people who were perceived intellectuals, detractors of Marxism, and some just innocent civilians. Millions fled across to neighbouring Thailand. Vietnam invaded in 1978 and the USA instituted an embargo on the new Vietnamese-sponsored government. The Carter administration helped the Khmer Rouge to retain its seat at the UN, giving the impression that Pol Pot's regime was still the legitimate government of Cambodia. After United Nations intervention, however, Cambodia has gained stability and has begun to rebuild the country's infrastructure that was lost during the brutality that reigned in the 1970s and 1980s.

Ancient states: Funan and Chenla

The first advanced civilizations in present day Cambodia appeared in the 1st millennium AD. During the 300s, 400s, and 500s AD, the Indianized states of Funan and Chenla took hold in what is now present-day Cambodia and southwestern Vietnam. These states had close relations with China and India. After these states collapsed, the Khmer civilization began to flourish in this area from the 9th century to the 13th century.

Angkor and the Khmer Empire

Main article: Early history of Cambodia Early history of Cambodia, from a relief on the Bayon.]] The Angkorian period was in terms of cultural accomplishments and political power, the golden age of Cambodia. The kingdom was founded by Jayavarman II with its capital at Angkor, and the Khmer Empire lasted from the early 9th century to the 15th century. The Khmers had adopted religious and political ideas and institutions from India and began to establish a centralized kingdom which dominated Southeast Asia for much of this period. The rule of Jayavarman VII (r. 1181-ca. 1218) saw the rapid expansion of the Khmer Empire. Unlike his ancestors, who had concentrated upon the cult of the Hindu god-king, Jayavarman VII was a patron of Theravada Buddhism. Jayavarman VII began building activity that included the popular Angkor Thom complex and also the Bayon, a temple whose stone towers bear faces which have been identified as Avalokitesvara, which are either the king himself or the guardians of the cardinal points (Kerlogue, p. 109). He also built over 200 rest houses and hospitals throughout the empire and maintained a system of roads between his capital and provincial towns throughout the empire which would make it simpler for magistrates to collect taxes or for building projects. According to historian George Coedes, "No other Cambodian king can claim to have moved so much stone." Often, quality suffered for the sake of size and rapid construction. An example of this was the beautiful but poorly constructed Bayon.

Foreign occupation

Main article: Colonial Cambodia Colonial Cambodia] After the Siamese seized Angkor in 1431, Cambodia began to endure years of foreign domination by neighboring Siam to the west and by Vietnam to the east. This period is known as the "dark ages of Cambodia". This period ended when Cambodia was made a French protectorate in 1863 and became part of French Indochina. Cambodia's chief colonial official was the Résident Supérieur (Resident General) while lesser résidents, or regional governors, were posted in all of the provincial centers. In 1897, the incumbent Resident General complained to his superiors in Paris that the current king of Cambodia, King Norodom, was no longer capable of ruling, and thus received permission to assume the king's roles of issuing decrees, collecting taxes, and appointing royal officials, including the next king. Norodom and his successors thus assumed the role of figureheads and heads of the Buddhist religion. Even in the colonial bureaucracy, French nationals held the highest positions, while even in the lowest rungs of the bureaucracy the colonial government preferred to hire Vietnamese. During World War II Cambodia was occupied by the Japanese. After it ended in 1945, King Norodom Sihanouk demanded independence from France. With the military situation getting worse throughout Indochina, the French agreed to grant independence to the three states of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia in 1953. King Sihanouk, a revered hero in the eyes of his people, returned to Phnom Penh in triumph, and independence was celebrated on November 9, 1953. The last French officials left Cambodia in 1954 after control of residual matters affecting sovereignty, such as financial and budgetary affairs, passed to the new Cambodian state.

Civil war and genocide

Main article: Democratic Kampuchea Democratic Kampuchea]] During the Second Indochina War (the Vietnam War), the Nixon administration of the United States began to bomb the border of South Vietnam and Cambodia, targeting secret Vietcong camps and supply routes. The Vietcong sought refuge in nearby villages, and the United States began to bomb these villages as well. The neutralist government of Prince Sihanouk could do nothing, and when Sihanouk began to send supplies to North Vietnam, a civil war began. In 1970, while Prince Sihanouk was away in Beijing, General Lon Nol seized power in a military coup d'état with US approval and declared the Khmer Republic. Immediately a civil war began between this military regime and the xenophobic and communist Khmer Rouge, which had gathered much strength because of support by the communist North