Angkor and Cambodia in the Sixteenth Century

<p>Groslier’s seminal study of the accounts of early Spanish and Portuguese</p><p>missionaries and adventurers in Cambodia was published in French in</p><p>1958 and is translated here into English for the first time.</p><p>The reports of the Europeans record the earliest surviving first-hand</p><p>accounts of Angkor following the ‘rediscovery’ of the site by the Khmers</p><p>over a hundred years after its abandonment in 1432 CE and four hundred</p><p>years prior to the colonization of Cambodia by the French.</p><p>While the accounts are fascinating in their own right Groslier employs</p><p>some of their key observations on the structure of Angkor in the 16th century</p><p>to embark on further exploration of his own into the nature of Khmer</p><p>civilization. Complementing his studies of the early accounts with the first</p><p>aerial surveys of the site Groslier reconstructs a broad picture of Angkorian</p><p>civilization its economy the genius of its engineers and planners its unique</p><p>religious foundations and the pivotal humanitarian role of its god-kings.</p><p><em>Angkor and Cambodia in the Sixteenth Century </em>represents one of the</p><p>major breakthroughs in our understanding of this rich and complex</p><p>medieval Asian culture and is a pillar on which all subsequent studies have</p><p>been built. Essential for all readers both scholarly and lay who seek to</p><p>further understand the society responsible for the construction of the great</p><p>monuments of ancient Angkor.</p>