Siam colonial architecture in Cambodia

A lot of Cambodians don’t realize, their modern culture today has been heavily influenced by Thailand.

Early Thai civilizations (e.g. Sukhothai) borrowed heavily from Cambodia/Angkor Empire, given that Angkor was the most developed civilization at the time.

However, as Sukhothai & Ayutthaya rose, and Angkor declined, the Thai civilizations developed their own culture. There was no need to borrow from Angkor culture at this point because why would you borrow from a perceived weaker culture? This would be from 1500’s 

The same thing was happening in reverse, and now that Ayutthaya civilization was flourishing, Cambodian elites were educated in Thailand and borrowed heavily from Thai culture. Therefore, Cambodia high culture today is no longer rooted in traditional Cambodian/Angkorian culture, but rather, Thai culture that developed afterwards. An example of this is the Royal Ballet of Cambodia, which was extinguished after the Khmer Rogue. Queen Sisowath Kossamak of Cambodia had to go to Thailand to get instructors and these Thai instructors taught the dances to Cambodia. As such, the version you see today is not the Cambodian culture of old, but the Thai culture that developed after. This is the case with most of Cambodia’s culture today.

#siamcolonial