Kampong Cham

Kampong Cham (កំពង់ចាម) is a province in central Cambodia, on the lowlands along the Mekong. Its capital, also called Kampong Cham, lies on the west bank of the river, about 123 kilometers or 124 kilometers by road from Phnom Penh. Until the end of 2013 the province also included the eastern districts that became Tbong Khmum province.

Kampong Cham and the Mekong River at sunset, with the Kizuna Bridge, 2019. Photo: Adam Jones from Kelowna, BC, Canada, CC BY-SA 2.0

Place details
Khmer name	កំពង់ចាម
Place type	Province
Country	Cambodia
Subjects	Land, Place & Environment

Geography

The province covers 4,549 square kilometers. Into Cambodia gives its neighbors as Kampong Thom and Kratie to the north, Tbong Khmum to the east, Kandal and Prey Veng to the south and Kampong Chhnang to the west.

Much of the province is lowland plain and fertile floodplain, which the Mekong's floods renew with silt each rainy season; areas of red soil suit rubber, pepper and other plantation crops. The rainy season runs from about May to October and the dry season from November to April. The river is also a main route for travel and trade, and fast boats run between the riverside towns.

Districts

In the 2019 census the province had the municipality of Kampong Cham and nine districts: Batheay, Chamkar Leu, Cheung Prey, Kampong Siem, Kang Meas, Kaoh Soutin, Prey Chhor, Srei Santhor and Stueng Trang. The municipality had 38,365 people. The official list for the 2011 economic census had fifteen districts and two towns, among them Dambae, Krouch Chhmar, Memot, Ou Reang Ov, Ponhea Kraek, Tbong Khmum and the town of Suong, which later went to Tbong Khmum.

People

The final results of the 2019 census counted 899,791 people, against 925,992 in 2008, a fall of 0.3 percent a year. The province had 198 people per square kilometer. In 2019, 97.6 percent of its people were Buddhist and 2.3 percent Muslim.

History

Into Cambodia gives two accounts of the name. One reads it as a port of the Cham people. The other reads it as a "waiting port", told two ways. In the account of the writer Madrolle, travelers waited there for the ferry across the Mekong. In a local document left by Keo Hang, once head of Suong commune, people gathered at the port awaiting the crossing of Sdach Baksei Cham Krong to the east bank.

Phnom Hanchey (ភ្នំហាន់ជ័យ), in Kampong Siem district, is a hill 63 meters high crowned by a group of brick and stone temples, of which only three stand intact. Into Cambodia dates them to the passage between the Funan and Chenla periods. Wat Hanchey is one of several temples along the river near the provincial capital. Banteay Prei Nokor, known as Wat Nokor or Nokor Bachey (ប្រាសាទនគរបាជ័យ, Prasat Nokor Bachey), stands less than 2 kilometers northwest of the provincial capital. Its sandstone and laterite temple has been given three different centuries. Henri Parmentier, one of the early French archaeologists at the site, held that building began in the 10th century, and Philippe Stern later proposed the 12th. Into Cambodia calls it an 11th-century temple, though it also places it late in the reign of Jayavarman VII. Cambodianess calls it a 12th-century temple, probably built under Suryavarman II. A Buddhist pagoda was built inside its ruins in the 1930s.

Into Cambodia writes that King Ponhea Yat set up a royal capital at Srei Santhor, also known as Tuol Basan, in 1432, and left it for Chaktomuk in 1434.

Under French rule, large rubber plantations were laid out on the province's red soil. Into Cambodia writes that five French companies set up large industrial plantations between 1921 and 1927, together more than 50,000 hectares across Kampong Cham, Kratie and Ratanakiri. It also writes that the French planned the town's roads, drainage and quarters between 1920 and 1930. The architect Lu Ban Hap was born in the province in 1931 and later designed the building of the Royal University of Kampong Cham.

A royal decree dated December 31, 2013 divided the province in two. Six districts and the town of Suong, all east of the Mekong, became Tbong Khmum, which was launched at a ceremony in Suong in 2014. The split was disputed. The new province held the five districts where the ruling Cambodian People's Party had won majorities at the July 2013 election. A Ministry of Interior spokesman said the change would bring government services closer to the people, and denied that it was meant to help the ruling party. The head of the Committee for Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia said it was meant to affect future elections.

Economy

Farming is the main living in the province. Rice, rubber and cashew nuts are the chief crops, along with fishing and fruit such as durian, rambutan and lychee. Into Cambodia also names tobacco, pepper, maize, sesame and sugarcane.

Places

Phnom Pros and Phnom Srei (ភ្នំប្រុស ភ្នំស្រី), the "man hill" and "woman hill", are two hills with pagodas and stupas in Kampong Siem district, west of the provincial capital. Koh Pen (កោះប៉ែន) is an island in the Mekong reached by a bamboo bridge in the dry season. The provincial capital keeps a number of buildings from the French colonial period.

References