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After its rediscovery by Europeans
in the late 19th century, Angkor Wat
suffered decades of looting and
unregulated tourism; it was made a
UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1992.See also: Kublai Khan conquers the Song 102–03 ■ Marco Polo reaches Shangdu 104–05 ■
Hongwu founds the Ming dynasty 120–127 ■ The Gulf of Tonkin Incident 312–313THE MEDIEVAL WORLD
affected by contact with India and
China, made via the major trade
route that ran through the Bay of
Bengal, then overland across the
Malay Peninsula before resuming
through the Gulf of Thailand and
on to the south of China. As well as
enabling the exchange of Southeast
Asian commodities such as rare
woods, ivory, and gold, this network
introduced Indian and Chinese
ideas, concepts, and practices—
including Hinduism and Buddhism—
to the region’s civilizations, which
adapted them to create original,
indigenous varations, particularly in
architecture and the arts.Maritime empires
While the Khmer Empire held sway
in mainland Southeast Asia, in
the Indonesian archipelago, the
empire of Srivijaya, with its base at
Palembang in Sumatra, dominated
commerce by controlling the two
passages between India and
China—the straits of Malacca and
Sunda. Over time, it had grown rich
from its trade in the spices, especially
nutmeg, that Europe, India, andChina craved, but by the end of the
12th century it had been reduced to a
small kingdom, and was later
eclipsed by the Majapahit in Java.
In the late 13th century, Mongol
forces under the Chinese emperor
Kublai Khan invaded Vietnam, Java,
and Myanmar, and although these
campaigns failed, in their wake,
the Khmer lost control of eastern
Thailand. In the early 1400s, the
empire contracted further as armies
from Champa (now in Vietnam)and Ayutthaya (now in Thailand)—
seized more of its land. In 1431,
the latter took Angkor, and the
capital was later relocated to the
coast, leaving Suryavarman’s
spiritual masterpiece to be
reclaimed by the jungle. ■Suryavarman II One of the Khmer Empire’s
greatest kings, Suryavarman II
ascended to the throne in 1113,
after killing his rival, and reunited
Cambodia after decades of unrest.
He quickly resumed diplomatic
relations with China, and in 1128
his kingdom was recognized as
a Chinese vassal, which helped
deter neighboring states from
attacking it. Suryavarman was a
warlike leader, waging campaigns
in what is now Vietnam against
the Dai-Viet between 1123 and
1136, and against the Khmer’s
traditional enemy to the east,
Champa, in 1145. He also pushedthe empire’s boundaries deep
into Thailand and made
advances against the Pagan
kingdom of Myanmar.
As well as the awe-inspiring
Angkor Wat, which remains the
largest religious structure in
the world, the king also built
other temples in the same style
at the capital. His political and
military achievements were
less enduring, however—when
he died in 1150, in the middle
of a campaign against Champa,
the empire was convulsed by
civil war and pushed to the
brink of destruction.US_108-109_Angkor_Wat.indd 109 15/02/2016 16:41