Important events in the Khmer empire

The reign of the Khmer empire

Period: 770 to 1500

Jayavarman II combines states that are smaller to form the Khmer empire

Period: 770 to 834

During this time Jayavarman II decided that by combining the surrounding smaller states of the empire he could create a bigger, stronger empire, because apart they can fall apart easily but together they are strong. This is because they can combine their economies among other things and this leads to one big strong empire because they are one instead of multiple little weak ones.

Jayavarman II declares himself king of the world and the first God-king of the empire

802

Jayavarman II declared himself the king of the world and god-king of the time and at that point they decided that would be their religion from now on, this new religion also very much helped the empire, yet did not in some ways more than others as well. His rule was one of the biggest if not the biggest impacts in the empire out of all the kings.

Yasovarman I became king and created the first official capital of Khmer Empire Yasodharapura (Angkor) which was then later abandon in 1431

889

Yasovarman created one of the most influential pieces as this was their first official capital. This helped them be able to sustain their economy among other things within the event.

Yasovarman I became king and created the first official capital of Khmer Empire Yasodharapura (Angkor) which was then later abandon in 1431

889

The first capital of the Khmer empire was created in this time and then abandoned in 1431. This may have been one of the capitals they escaped to since in the future they had to escape to older capitals once invaded by the Ayutthaya's the second time.

Jayavarman V became the king of the empire.

968

Under Jayavarman V’s rule he helped construct the Banteay Srei in order to honour the god srei of their religion at this time. This was important to them to worship among other reasons. They also worshipped this quite a bit and the statue in general was of huge importance to the empire. Jayavarman V was quite an important king as well. At his time of rule they had 20 cities.

Start of the civil war

1002

As the many kings of the empire want to rule more of their land they end up fighting each other and the war just got worse in 1066 when the multiple kings fought to be a king of the entire empire which just got worse and we still don't know when the war finished. This was very influential on the empire in terms of economy among other things which split the empire.

Suryavarman II kills his uncle to become king

1150

During Suryavarmans reign important things did occur, yet he became king due to him committing homicide to the king of the time he killed a his uncle which is how he became king. This may have also been one of the reasons why the empire fell. We also do not know yet we can predict that they tried to keep this a secret from the society. This is because they may have grown more of a conscience because of the current events of the time.

Chams defeated the khmer empire under the rule of King Jaya Harivarman I

1177

Chams defeated the khmer empire under the rule of King Jaya Harivarman I
The Chams defeated the Khmer empires troops and they had to live in hiding for quite a bit of time and came out years later once the Chams left.This was very influential on the empire, including rethinking about their religion, allies, trading among other things as well.

King Jayavarman VII believed the hindu gods have failed him and changed all the hindu statues to buddha

1181

Due to prior events with the chams invasion King Jayavarman VII believed that the Hindu gods failed him and he would have to change the entire empire's religion to theravada buddhism, therefore causing a lot of chaos from people’s beliefs to having to work on the statues to suit Theravada buddhism.He also expanded the empire to the furthest of any of the kings. He married a very influential women of the time who influenced most of his decisions and the empire as a whole. The empire benefited.

King Jayavarman VII

1181

King Jayavarman VII became the king who did quite a bit of important things to the empire. He also expanded the empire to the furthest of any of the kings. He married a very influential woman of the time who influenced most of his decisions and the empire as a whole. The empire has had quite a bit of benefit of this. He was also the king who developed the famous building program

Capital city is created named Angkor Thom (great city) which was built by Jayaraman VII.

1200

Angkor Thom was a really influential piece which was built during the reign of Jayavarman VII. The meaning of Angkor Thom is great city in the Khmer language.

The second raid of the Ayutthaya

1431

In the second raid of Ayutthaya they had to flee their inhabitants of the time and go to some of their older settlements, while the Ayutthaya took their statues among other things. This caused quite a bit of pain for them since that was a symbolization of their gods, they also took other materials as well.

The fall of the Khmer empire

1500

The empire from the change of religion was slowly declining and eventually leaded to the fall of the empire. In the upper kingdoms of what we now know as Thailand was flourishing more at the time and Historians believe they probably moved there more often than not. The empire was very much influenced by the past empires and the king’s. The empire eventually fell towards the end of the 1400’s or early 1500’s. The empire was later discovered by french naturalist Henry Mouhout.