Battambang
Battambang (pronounced: /bɐtdəmbɒ:ŋ/) (the Siamese name was Phratabong) founded during the height of the Khmer empire in the 11th century (long before the Thai were a political power), is Cambodia's second-largest city and the capital of Battambang Province. It is the urbanized part of the Battambang District. After the invasion of Thai forces, it was the main commercial hub of Siam's Eastern Provinces, though it was always populated by ethnic Cambodians. The Thai finally returned the provinces in 1909 because of pressure from the French, who administered Cambodia as a 'Protectorate', though the Thai attempted to regain the territory as part of a deal they made with the Japanese during World War II. After the defeat of their Japanese ally, Thailand returned the area to the French, from whom it was formally given to Cambodia in 1953. It is the former capital of Monton Kmer. The city lies in the heart of the Northwest and until the war years was the leading rice-producing province of the country.
Battambang is the main hub of the Northwest connecting the entire region with Phnom Penh and Thailand, and as such it’s a vital link for Cambodia. The main parts of the city are situated closed to the Sangker River, a tranquil, small body of water that winds its way through Battambang Province. It is a nice, picturesque setting. As with much of Cambodia, the French architecture is an attractive bonus of the city. The French has left most of its influence on the Cambodian land.
The history of Battambang
Legend has it that the name 'Battambang' received its name referring to an episode in Khmer history when the King Kranhoung (Kron Nhong) threw his wooden staff from Angkor and it landed in present day Battambang, a fact commemorated by the huge golden statue in honour of the staff-throwing king, erected in the town. The stone inscriptions discovered from the pre-Angkor and Angkor eras have as yet mentioned no villages or districts at that time that were called ‘Battambang’. But it is not certain if the name was in use a lot of info including much evidence. However, the only evidence is a legendary story ‘Ta Dombang Kranhuong’ Grandfather Kranhuong Stick, which, according to most Cambodians, dates back to the Angkor days. The story explains why the name ‘Battambang’ or ‘O Dambang’ was used. There is another name: ‘Preas Dambang’ (Phratabong in Thai) that was given by the King Rama I of Thailand to a village, which goes by the name ‘Sangke’.
During the pre-Angkor and Angkor eras, the areas to the north and to the north west of the Tonle Sap Lake were known as the territories of Amogha Boreak and Bhima Boreak. During the Angkor period, the territory of Amogha Boreak was significantly prosperous because the land was so fertile that rice crops, fruit and vegetables grew well and yielded satisfactorily. Many Khmer people settled there as indicated by the existence of so many ancient temples in the area. With the exception of the temples of Banan, Ek Phnom, Ba Seth, Stung, Banteay Tey, Banteay Chmar, etc,other monuments, which were built by dignitaries and subjects at the time as places of worship to God and other deities of Buddhism and Hinduism, almost completely disappeared.
The following centuries, from the 15th to the 18th, saw the Battambang being invaded by the Siamese army, causing people to be forced into a miserable life, to experience painful family separation, and to lose their properties.
From late in the 18th century until early in the 20th century, the Siamese overran Battambang and placed it under the rule of the Lord Chaofa Ben family, which was later known as the Akpheyavong Family, for 6 generations ending in 1907.
The ‘Lord Governor’ who built the Governor’s Residence in a Southern European style was not a French colonial administrator but Apheuyvong Chhum, the last Thai governor of Battambang who in the early 1900’s imported a team of Italian architects and designers to erect a new residence on the banks of the Sangker and close to the fort. Thailand had previously in 1893 agreed to maintain no armed forces in Battambang other than police and this treaty was then ratified in 1904 when the Thais agreed in principal to the province moving into the French sphere of influence. Finally, in March 1907, Battambang was ceded to the French and Apheuyvong Chhum was forced to leave town without having lived in the palatial splendour he had envisioned for himself.
Battambang returned to the French in 1907 was not the compact and well designed city of today but rather, in the words of the architect Helen Grant Ross, an agglomeration "stretching along the Sangker River, from the area that now is Battambang to the Tonle Sap, with a population of about 100,000 people."
To commemorate Battambang’s return to Cambodia as ruled by the French a monument was built depicting a French soldier on one side, and three goddesses, representing the three returned provinces on the other. The monument can be seen today near the base of Wat Phnom in Phnom Penh, near the present floral clock.
Turning their attention to the town’s architecture, the French administration dismantled the wooden houses then and now typical of Khmer dwellings near to water and instead designed and built a solid and well defined town centre complete with road and rail links to Phnom Penh.
As in other French run towns and cities in Indo-China, a merchant class of ethnic Chinese descent was encouraged to put life into the commercial centre of the town by running shops and small businesses. Psah Nat, the city’s bright yellow main market with its symmetrical lines, was added in 1936. Further French development was put on hold by the Second World War when Japan seized most of Cambodia and in 1941 by the treaty of Tokyo when the Vichy French, at the behest of their Japanese allies, willingly gave to Thailand large areas of Siem Reap and Battambang Provinces including Battambang itself and a large strip of land stretching all the way up the Mekong.
During this time around 1000 Allied POWs of mixed nationalities were moved to Battambang and used (together with many local people) as forced labour on the reconstruction of Highway 5 – the main Phnom Penh to Battambang road – after which they were put onto barges and taken to Saigon.
The Thais quickly launched an aggressive policy of Thaisation, which included forcing ethnic Khmer residents of Battambang to to dress in Thai clothing, and forbidding signs to be posted in the Khmer language. They forbade the speaking of Khmer in pagodas, but the monks resisted, and thereby prevented the success of the Thaisation program. The period from 1941 to 1946 was a harsh one for Battambang residents. Economic and agricultural production – even the rice harvest – fell to almost zero. Beatings, torture and rape were common. A concentration camp was set up at Boueng Chhouk Market, near the present day taxi stand to Sisophan. 3,000 people were interned there, and the women and girls were systematically raped by their captors.
At the end of the Second World War, the new French government pressed the Thais to return the occupied territory from Thailand to what remained of Cambodia. Initially, the Thais were reluctant and the American government considered US strategic interests would be best served by Thailand stretching all the way down to the Mekong, but France threatened to veto Thailand’s entry into the United Nations until the land was returned. The Thais eventually agreed to leave but not before looting everything of value from Battmbang; therefore, in 1946, Battambang was returned to Cambodia and the country’s newly restored French colonial administrators as an economic basket case.
By the mid 1950’s a wind of change was sweeping across the colonies of Europe’s imperial powers: the French finally left for good and Prince Sihanouk’s government turned its attention towards Battambang. There was a will to develop the city not only as the commercial and industrial hub for the region but also as a link between Thailand and Phnom Penh. During this period, the city’s infrastructure was further developed: canals were filled in, schools and universities were built, the railroad was extended to Pailin and the city got its very own airport.
By 1975 however, Sihanouk was gone from power and Lon Nol - Battambang’s provincial governor in the immediate post war period - was now a heading a corrupt and venal government on the brink of collapse and defeat to the Khmer Rouge. It wasn’t until April 19th 1975, two days after the fall of Phnom Penh, that the city’s defenders agreed to surrender. Having been promised that they were being sent away for ‘retraining’, many Lon Nol soldiers were put into trucks, taken a few kilometres out on Highway 5 towards Phnom Penh, unloaded from the trucks and then gunned down by waiting KR soldiers.
It has been said that that the Battambang Khmer Rouge governor did not want pagodas destroyed. This may well be true because the city’s pagodas certainly fared better than those in Phnom Penh where many were destroyed or badly damaged during the KR years.
Following, the defeat of the Khmer Rouge in 1979 Battambang began, once again, and slowly at first, reverting to its role as a regional commercial centre. The Vietnamese sponsored regime of 1980’s Cambodia began to tolerate a certain amount of trade with Thailand and a great deal of illicit cross border smuggling also went on. However, as late as 1986 the town was briefly occupied by Pol Pot forces when as many as 1000 KR soldiers participated in a raid that forced the Vietnamese army to pull a regiment back from the Thai border. KR radio later put out an announcement stating that the raiding party had destroyed five Vietnamese typewriters.
The Khmer Rouge rebels continued fighting and plundering in the province after the civil war in the seventies and eighties until the end of 1998.
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