Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Water
From 1975 to 1978, Cambodia was ruled by the Khmer Rouge regime, which sought among other things to build a vast system of irrigation canals. These images show an area around Cambodia's capital city of Phnom Penh where such waterworks were built. Many areas east of the Mekong River show a gridwork of canals by 1985.
Location
Jan. 3, 1973, Landsat 1 (path/row 135/52) — Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Jan. 7, 1989, Landsat 5 (path/row 126/52) — Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Jan. 8, 1995, Landsat 5 (path/row 126/52) — Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Jan. 14, 2009, Landsat 5 (path/row 126/52) — Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Jan. 13, 2020, Landsat 8 (path/row 126/52) — Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Jan. 13, 2020, Landsat 8 (path/row 126/52) — Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Phnom Penh, Cambodia Additional Imagery & Stories
Further Problems
Many projects were headed by loyal party leaders with no technical skills, which is another reason the canals were not more effective. Teachers, techn...
Population Change
Phnom Penh is the largest city along the Mekong River. Its population fluctuated wildly during the 1970s and 1980s; the population of 1.2 million in 1...
Rivers and Rain
Phnom Penh lies just west of the four-river intersection called the Chattomukh ("Four Faces"). From the northwest and northeast, respectively, flow th...
The Initial Irrigation Idea
From 1975 to 1978, Cambodia was governed by Pol Pot. His regime was known as the Khmer Rouge ("Red Khmer"). In their desire to radically transform Cam...
References
Demographia, 2019, Demographia World Urban Areas--Built-Up Urban Areas or World Agglomerations (15th ed.): Belleville, Ill., Demographia, 123 p., accessed July 23, 2019, at http://demographia.com/db-worldua.pdf.
The Economist, 1992, Cambodia—not a grain of truth: v. 322, no. 7741, p. 34.
Fuller, T., 2008, Cambodia revives Pol Pot's deadly canals: New York Times, December 4, 2008, available at http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/04/world/asia/04iht-canal.4.18410736.htm…. (Accessed September 19, 2012.)
Jackson, K.D., ed., 1989, Cambodia, 1975–1978—rendezvous with death: Princeton, N.J., Princeton University Press, 360 p.
O'Neill, T., 1993, The Mekong River: National Geographic, v. 183, no. 2, p. 10.
Ross, R.R., ed., 1990, Cambodia—a country study: Washington, D.C., Headquarters, Dept. of the Army, 395 p.
Sattaur, O., 1992, Raising rice in Cambodia's ruins: New Scientist, v. 134, no. 1824, p. 36.
Vickery, M., 2000, Cambodia—1975–1982: Chiang Mai, Thailand, Silkworm Books, 432 p.