Wikipedia:Today's featured article/March 20, 2005

Cambodia is a constitutional monarchy in Southeast Asia with a population of over 13 million people, most of whom are Theravada Buddhists of Khmer origin. The country is bordered to the west by Thailand, to the north by Laos, to the east by Vietnam and to the south by the Gulf of Thailand. Its geography is dominated by the Mekong river and the Tonle Sap, a lake whose fish account for 60% of the nation's protein intake. The capital is Phnom Penh. There are three main political parties, of which the Cambodian People's Party is the current ruling party. From the 9th century to the 15th century Cambodia was the centre of the Khmer Empire, which for most of this period was based at Angkor. Angkor Wat, the empire's main temple, remains a symbol of the country and its greatest tourist attraction. Cambodia was a protectorate of France from 1863 until independence in 1953. During the 1970s and 1980s the country suffered from civil war and the Khmer Rouge autogenocide. Many people were killed or tortured, or fled abroad as refugees. In the 1990s, however, Cambodia has gained some stability and has begun rebuilding the infrastructure that was lost during those years. (more...)