Longvek

Following the departure of the Khmer from their capital in Angkor and a brief period basing the kingdom out of Phnom Penh, King Ang Chan relocated his capital to the city of Longvek. The empire returned to a period of prosperity after repelling invading Siamese (Thai) armies at the battle of Siem Reap (literally ‘defeat of the Siamese’) in 1525 and the realm flourished for decades at the new capital city 25 miles (40km) north of Phnom Penh.

If the abandonment of Angkor is a much-theorized mystery, the destruction of the post-Angkor capital of Longvek in 1594 is an infrequently discussed historical fact that ranks as one of the low-points in Cambodia’s storied history of tragedy. While invasions from neighboring Siam are often cited as one of the reasons the Khmer left Angkor, the utter destruction of Longvek by a marauding Siamese army left in its wake almost nothing but legend.

The stories say that an impenetrable forest surrounded the capital city and in order to capture it, the Siamese fired cannons full of coins into the woods; impoverished residents living outside the city subsequently hacked away at the forest looking for the money, literally clearing the way for the invasion.

Regardless of the factual accuracy of the legend, the Siamese razed the city, making off with booty including the Emerald Buddha. King Chey Chetta II soon thereafter relocated the city to Oudong in 1618 and looked to Vietnam to help deal with the Siamese threat, commencing off a period of roughly 250 years in which Cambodia ceded territory and influence alternately to one neighbor and then the other.

Because of the utter annihilation of the city and the subsequent abandonment, there is virtually nothing remaining of interest to visitors today.