Phnum Penh was founded in the 14 century and was made the Khymer capital after
abandonment of Angkor in 1434. In 1867 it became the capital of Cambodia.
During the World War II the city was occupied by the Japanese.
Phnum Penh was a cultural, political and commercial centre of Cambodia, during
the civil war in the 1970s it was hardly stressed and battered. The beginning
of the fighting between government forces and the Khmer Rouge (Cambodian communist
soldiers) brought many refugees from the near countryside to Phnum Penh.
Its population boomed from about 500.000 in 1970 to about 2 million in the
early 1975 when it was evacuated after falling to the Khmer Rouge. In 1979 the
Khmer Rouge were overthrown and there were only about 50.000 residents left
in Phnum Penh.
During this period all its cultural institutions and university were closed
only in the 1980s Phnum Penh revived again slowly, the university was again
operating in 1988.
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