Preah Sihanouk

Preah Sihanouk (ព្រះសីហនុ) is a coastal province in southwest Cambodia, on the Gulf of Thailand, and home to the country's deep-sea port. It borders the provinces of Kampong Speu (កំពង់ស្ពឺ) and Kampot (កំពត) to the east and Koh Kong (កោះកុង) to the north. Its capital, Preah Sihanouk city, is also known as Sihanoukville, and many people call the whole province by its older name, Kampong Som (កំពង់សោម).

The Golden Lions roundabout in Preah Sihanouk city, 2023. Photo: Kiensvay, CC BY-SA 3.0

Place details
Khmer name	ព្រះសីហនុ
Place type	Province
Country	Cambodia
Capital	Preah Sihanouk city
Subjects	Land, Place & Environment

Name

The province takes its name from King Norodom Sihanouk, because the city was built in his time. Its older name, Kampong Som, has a longer history. A Scottish sea captain, Alexander Hamilton, wrote down a port called Capangsoap on his voyage to Southeast Asia in 1720, and in 1887 the French declared the name of the port of Kampong Som.

A history of the province published by the provincial administration in 2016 records a local account of the name. San Someun, a former teacher at the Buddhist primary school of Wat Indanhean (វត្តឥន្ទញាណ), learned from elders in Prey Nob that there were once two places called Kampong Som. The upper one was in Chamba village, in today's Kampong Seila district, and the lower one in Sre Ambel (ស្រែអំបិល), now in Koh Kong province.

The elder Achar Mol Sok, also of Prey Nob, told the rest of the story. The coast around Sre Ambel was covered with mangroves and forest, rich in phdau som (ផ្ដៅសោម), a kind of rattan with long, large stems. Tigers and elephants lived there too. Besides fishing, the few people living there cut the rattan, used its leaves to roof their houses and floated the canes down to a landing at Trapeang. Because rattan was brought in there all the time, the landing became known as Kampong Phdau Som, "the landing of the som rattan", later shortened to Kampong Som. People to the east, in Kampong Speu, would say they were going "to Kampong Som" when they traveled west.

History

The area was long part of Kampot province. In 1956 a port was built in the Koh Pos (កោះពស់) area of Ream commune, then in Kampot. As the area grew, King Norodom Suramarit made it a town named Kampong Som in 1957. In 1959 the town was renamed Preah Sihanouk. Kampuchea Thmey and the radio station VAYO FM date this to a royal decision of January 22, 1959; Thmey Thmey writes that the National Assembly made the change on December 4, 1959.

On September 7, 1964, Preah Sihanouk was raised to the rank of the kingdom's second capital. A brewery, a car assembly plant and the Independence Hotel were built in the years that followed. The town was not yet known for tourism, and people looking for a seaside rest went to Kep instead. In 1962 Norodom Sihanouk had a pair of lion statues set up as an emblem of Preah Sihanouk.

After the coup of March 18, 1970, the town was renamed Kampong Som, and the name did not change under the Khmer Rouge. From 1970 to 1975 the war disrupted the port's work. The town took the name Preah Sihanouk again in 1993. On December 22, 2008, it became a province, with Kampong Seila district taken from Koh Kong and added to it. In August 2024 a government decree created a new town named Kampong Som inside the province, from five communes of Prey Nob district, with its seat in Ream.

The port

Before the 1950s Cambodia had no major seaport of its own, and much of its trade passed through Vietnam. In August 1955 a French and Cambodian building crew set up a base camp in the forest near the site of today's Hawaii Beach. France paid for the port, and the United States paid for the road to Phnom Penh by way of Kampong Speu, today's National Road 4. The port was opened in 1960 by Louis Jacquinot, a French minister. A railway to Phnom Penh by way of Kampot was built from 1960 and finished late in 1969.

Beaches and islands

The province has 32 islands, large and small. One of them, Koh Rong Sanloem, is about 9 kilometers (5.6 miles) long and one of the places visitors to the province go most. Its seaside resorts include the beaches of Ochheuteal (អូរឈើទាល) and Sokha and Seven Story Beach (ឆ្នេរប្រាំពីរជាន់). Ream National Park and the bridge to Koh Pos also draw visitors. Otres Beach, south of Ochheuteal, is about 4.6 kilometers (2.9 miles) long and quieter than the beaches near the town.

Population

The 2019 census counted 302,887 people in Preah Sihanouk, up from 221,396 in 2008. That is 2.8 percent a year, as the province's jobs, tourism and schools drew many people, most of them young, from other provinces. It had 156 people per square kilometer.

References