Place
Kep
កែប
Kep (កែប) is a small coastal province in southwest Cambodia, on the Gulf of Thailand, and the name of its capital town.[1][2] It covers 336 square kilometers (130 square miles), the smallest area of any Cambodian province, and borders Kampot (កំពត) to the west.[2][1] The French founded the town as a seaside resort in 1908, and it is known for its crab market, its pepper and the ruined villas of the 1950s to 1970s.[3][2][4]
Name
The name Kep comes from the French word cap, a headland, in Khmer chrouy (ជ្រោយ).[1][3] In the colonial period the town was called Kep-sur-Mer, "Kep by the sea."[3][5]
A folk legend gives another origin. A Lao king named Sagarach (សាគរាជ) stole a white horse from a Khmer general. Where the horse's dung, kep seh in Khmer, fell, the village took the name Kep Seh, later shortened to Kep. The same legend explains the names of nearby hills and of Koh Tonsay (កោះទន្សាយ), the island off the coast.[1]
History
The town was built as a resort in 1908, during the French protectorate, as a place by the sea for colonial officials and their families.[3][5] Colonial mansions and tennis courts soon spread along the shore.[4]
After independence in 1953, King Norodom Sihanouk made Kep the place to be seen, and he built his own summer villa there in 1964.[4] Villas were built between 1955 and 1975 by architects, among them Vann Molyvann and Lu Ban Hap.[4][6] Sihanouk wrote a song about the town, ទីកែប, and in 1964 Sinn Sisamouth (ស៊ិន ស៊ីសាមុត) wrote the words and music of "Holiday in Kep" (វិស្សមកាលនៅកែប).[3]
The wealthy began to leave Kep after the coup of 1970, and by 1972 most of its people had fled.[5][4] Under the Khmer Rouge, from 1975 to 1979, most of the villas were left abandoned.[2] In the Phnom Penh Post's account, the Khmer Rouge used three of them as a fishery, where fish were gutted and dried for shipment to China. The Hong Kong Free Press writes that villas were looted and burned.[4][7]
After 1979 Kep was only a commune of Kampot province. On August 11, 1992 the National Assembly passed a law that created the town of Kep again.[1] On December 22, 2008 Kep became a province, split from Kampot, with the town of Kep as its capital.[1][8]
Places
Kep National Park (ឧទ្យានជាតិកែប) covers a small mountain range with many walking trails.[2][8] The province's coastline is 26 kilometers (16 miles) long, with mangroves and black rocks.[8] At the Crab Market (ផ្សារក្ដាម), sellers offer crab, snails, prawns and squid.[2][9]
Koh Tonsay, or Rabbit Island, is the nearest island, 4.5 kilometers (2.8 miles) from the town and about 2 square kilometers (0.8 square miles) in area. Visitors go there to camp and dive.[8][2] Phnom Vell (ភ្នំវល្លិ៍), once a large Khmer Rouge center, is visited as a historical site.[8]
Pepper and salt
Kampot pepper may be grown in two districts of Kep, Damnak Chang'aeur and Kep city, as well as in five districts of Kampot. It became Cambodia's first protected geographical indication in 2016.[10] Kampot-Kep salt was recognized as a geographical indication by the Ministry of Commerce in 2023. Kep has 497 hectares (1,230 acres) of salt fields, against 3,489 hectares in Kampot.[11]
Population
The provisional count of the 2019 census was 41,798 people in Kep, up from 35,753 in 2008, the smallest population of any province.[12]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 VAYO FM, Tha Chanthy, The history and legends of Kep, Cambodia's smallest province (October 3, 2021; in Khmer)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 Cambodianess, Nhek Sreyleak and Rin Ousa, Kep: A Small Seaside Province with A Great Deal to Offer (November 23, 2023)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Thmey Thmey 25, Kep, a fine seaside resort since the French protectorate (undated; in Khmer)
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 Phnom Penh Post, Kep villas: ghosts of arts past (December 28, 2012)
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Atlas Obscura, Kep-Sur-Mer in Krong Kaeb (undated)
- ↑ Urban Review, Harvard Graduate School of Design, Malika Leiper, Landscapes of Trauma (April 8, 2018)
- ↑ Hong Kong Free Press, Tom Grundy, HKFP Venture: The ruins of Cambodia's 'Golden Age' modernist French villas (June 4, 2017)
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 Thmey Thmey, Hong Sreyna, Small, but Kep is a seaside tourism area with great potential (September 5, 2021; in Khmer)
- ↑ Cambodia Property Report, A short history of Kep town (undated; in Khmer)
- ↑ Cambodianess, Torn Chanritheara, Sea and Mountain Contribute to Kampot Pepper's Unique Taste and Quality (March 4, 2024)
- ↑ Cambodianess, Chhum Chantha, Salt faces challenges despite increased output (January 7, 2025)
- ↑ National Institute of Statistics, Provisional Population Census 2019 (2019)