Khmer Empire Water Management
Eli Veldhoven 7B
Eli Veldhoven 7B
Khmer Empire Water Management
In this presentation, my focus is to find out why water management was so important to the Khmer Empire. The Khmer Empire ruled from AD 802 until it’s fall in AD 1430. The Khmer conquered most of Cambodia, a large majority of Thailand and fraction of Laos and Vietnam. The Khmer Empire was ruled for 628 years by 7 kings. The Khmer were a very violent civilisation and many of their kings were assassinated. What made the Khmer Empire amazing and unique were their complicated water systems and canals, their beautiful architecture and how their ancient society relied on water.
Cambodia is very close to the equator, so it is very hot and humid. Their villages and cities were surrounded by thick swamp and rainforest. This climate has six months of nearly nonstop rain the six months of sunshine and very minimal rain. The Khmer Empire relied on the wet season as part of managing and having enough water for the dry season. These wet and stormy months were known as the monsoon season.
Khmer people’s lifestyle was heavily based around water, from fishing to growing rice and other crops. Water was a part of everything in this ancient civilisation. Therefore, when their water source was affected in any way, it had a significant impact on most aspects of their life’s . The canals and lakes around Angkor Wat are all connected to barays which are connected to the natural lake Tonle Sap which is so big it can be seen from space. Tonle Sap translates to The Great Lake in Khmer Krom which is one of the ancient Cambodian languages spoken by the Khmer people in the south. Water management in the Khmer Empire was so important because of their huge population and how almost everything in their lifestyle revolved around water and having plenty of it. Most of the houses and huts in Khmer villages were over the water on stilts. This proves just how much they lived off the water. The Khmer Empire relied upon water, so they needed lots of it to sustain their huge empire. Their water systems allowed Angkor to flourish for many centuries.
Jayavarman II (a Khmer king) set up an efficient and effective system of managing all the water for when all the rain came in the monsoon season to collect it in a network of over 3000 kilometres of canals, barays, rivers and channels. Due to their smart water management network, the Khmer people were very well fed. The Khmer had a huge supply of water so could grow crops even when it had not rained in months. The Khmer Empire stored their water in massive rectangular man-made lakes called barays. The biggest baray made by the Khmer was the West Baray which was 8km by 2km. These barays were also used to drain some of the water into after the monsoon season. Barays were massive so they took quite some time to build, slaves and peasants built these huge structures under very harsh and dangerous conditions. The main materials which lined the barays were clay and earth.
The most famous Khmer Temple is Angkor Wat as it even is featured on the Cambodian flag. The average rainfall in that area per year is a massive 1423 mm of water which is equivalent to 1.4 metres of rain a year. The average temperature for the hot months is around 30 degrees which is very hot for such a humid place. This climate meant that saving water was very important for the months between. Angkor Wat is truly an amazing temple and a great example of the Khmer Empire’s water management systems.
The fall of this powerful Empire is a mystery. There are many possible theories of how this very successful empire just faded away in history. One theory that I accept is that there was a massive drought followed by months’ worth of monsoon rains raising the river levels and flooding the temples and villages. At its height, Angkor Wat was the biggest city in the world, close to the size of modern-day Los Angeles. It had a huge population of over 1 million people so conserving water was very important. The Khmer Empire relied so much on having an abundant source of water, if their water management system failed or was interrupted, then the Empire would have paid the ultimate price.
Primary source
This temple wall carving of Suryavarman II at Angkor Wat informs us how the Khmer people worshipped their kings. Suryavarman II was the king and ruler of the Khmer Empire for nearly 40 years and his people worshipped him like a God. In his reign, he built the famous Angkor Wat. This primary source shows the main figure Suryavarman II being worshipped and fanned by his people, he is sitting on what looks like a seat with a carpet over the top. This is a very useful source as it educates us how the Khmer kings were worshipped and treated like Gods.
Secondary source
This replica model of Angkor Wat at the Angkor Panorama Museum in Cambodia gives us an idea of what historians think Angkor Wat looked like at its height. In this image you can see the Temple and the man-made river surrounding it, you can also see some tropical trees on the island. This source is very useful as it gives us a sense of the massive scale of Angkor Wat.
Bibliography
October 10
https://www.thoughtco.com/khmer-empire-water-management-system-172956
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khmer_Empire
October 12
https://www.ancient.eu/Khmer_Empire/
October 13
https://youtu.be/OfaoeeSyHfs
https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/04/angkor-wat-civilization-collapsed-floods-drought-climate-change/?user.testname=photogallery:2
October 20
https://www.weather.gov/epz/wxcalc_heatinde
https://www.tripsavvy.com/angkor-wat-facts-1458741
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angkor_Wat
October 30
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khmer_language
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonlé_Sap
https://www.phnompenhpost.com/post-weekend/controversial-new-view-angkor-wat
Khmer Empire Map
This is a map of the area that the Khmer Empire conquered.
Sources:
Google Classroom
Eli Veldhoven
Climate graph
This climate graph from Angkor Wat shows Cambodia’s harsh tropical climate. The monsoon season goes from May to October, you can also see that the temperature drops in those months. The temperature range is 8 degrees, the hottest month is April which reaches 33 degrees and the coldest months are January and December.
Sources:
Eli Veldhoven
http://en.allmetsat.com/climate/thailand-cambodia-laos-vietnam.php