Chronology of Cambodian History, 1850-1899

YEAR

1851

An inscription is erected to record King Ang Doung's return to Cambodia and the defeat of the Vietnamese.

Rama IV (1851 - 1868), Siamese king.

1856

King Ang Duong writes a letter to the French emperor, Napoleon III, urging him not to accept the Khmer territories taken by the Vietnamese.

King Ang Duong asks Siamese King to grant his son, Prince Norodom, the title of Obbareach, which ensures the prince, will succeed him.

1858

Chams and Malays living in the southeast of the Khmer Kingdom rebel against King Ang Duong.

Aug. 31, 1858

French expedition forces lands in Tourane.

1859

Feb. 17, 1859

King Ang Duong sends Khmer troops into Cochin china.

1860

Oct. 19, 1860

King Ang Duong dies.  Prince Norodom, the King's eldest son, is unable to take the throne at the time because of the Chams' rebellion. Khmer troops withdraw from Cochin china.

? 1860

Henri Mouhot, a French naturalist who visited Siam, Cambodia, and Laos between 1858 and 1861, visits Angkor, which dazzled him, "At the sight of this temple, one fells one's sprit crushed, one's imagination surpassed. One looks, one admires, and, seized with respect, one is silent.  For where are the words to praise a work of art that may not have its equal anywhere on the globe? …. What genius this Michelangelo of the East had, that he was capable of conceiving such a work". [23]

1861

Prince Norodom abandons the capital at Oudong for the comparative safety of Battambang.

Feb. 7, 1861

The French navy attacks Saigon.

1862

Prince Norodom flees to Bangkok.

June 5, 1862

Saigon treaty, in which France takes control of all three provinces of Cochin china.

1863

Aug. 11, 1863

THE PROTECTORATE TREATY is concluded between the French and Prince Norodom. The treaty requires Khmer sovereign to hand over to France the conduct of his country's foreign relations and prohibits the King from receiving any foreign consuls within his kingdom without French authorization.  In return, France pledges itself to give "Protection" to the kingdom, to recognize the sovereignty of the King, and assist in maintaining internal order as well as protecting the country against external attack.

? 1863

Adm. Pierre de La Grandiere, governor of Cochinchina (1863 - 1868).

1864

June 3, 1864

Prince Norodom is crowned king at Oudong.

1865

Prince Sisowath, who resides in Bangkok, is in Saigon where he enters into negotiation with French Admiral de la Grandiere with the aim of returning to Oudong.

King Norodom moves the Royal Court (Capital) from Oudong to Phnom Penh. (NK)

1866

A naval officer, Doudart de Lagree, begins his mission to study the navigability of the Mekong River 1866-1868. [23]

October

Assoa, who claimed descent from King Ang Eng, rebelled against King Norodom, is arrested and handed over to the French by the Vietnamese.

1867

Poucombo is captured and put to death. "...Poucombo, an adventurer with striking charismatic powers who claims to be a grandson of King Ang Chan. He was, in fact, a member of a small minority group, the Kuoy, now almost completely assimilated into the Khmer population…. Backed by Vietnamese vagabonds, and possibly by mandarins who hoped to embarrass the French, Poucombo rallied a large part of the Khmer population in the east of the kingdom in Ba Phnom Province and about Tay-Ninh in Cochinchina to his cause. During 1865 and 1866 he had considerable success, sacking villages that resisted him and eluding French efforts to capture him. His followers may have numbered as many as ten thousand, and for a period he appeared to threaten the Royal court at Oudong." [6]

Siam abandons its claim of Cambodia. France persuades Siam to abandon its claim to Cambodia but allow the Siam to keep Battambang and Siem Riep provinces.

1868

Jean Moura is appointed as the French representative to the Khmer Kingdom.

Rama V (1868 - 1910), Siamese king.

1870

Prince Sisowath is installed Obbareach with the wish and support of the French.  The installation will ensures the Prince to succeed King Norodom upon his death or abdication.

March 10, 1870

Edouard Pottier, interim French Representative to Cambodia.

Nov. 11, 1870

Jules Marcel Brossard, interim French Representative to Cambodia.

1871

Jan. 1, 1871

Jean Moura is French Representative to Cambodia; his second term.

1873

Doudart de Lagree heads an expedition to make plaster impressions and bring back to France the first set of original works from Angkor and provincial sites such as Beng Mealea and Koh Ker in a campaign to " bring Angkor into the museums". [23]

1875

Dec. 27, 1875

Prince Sisowath Monivong is born.

1879

Jan. 6, 1879

Etienne Francois Aymonier, interim French Representative to Cambodia.

1881

May 10, 1881

Paul Julien Auguste Foures, interim French Representative to Cambodia.

Delaporte, on his final mission to Cambodia, brings back a number of casts and seventy original works of Khmer art to France. [23]

1883

Charles Thomson is appointed governor to Cochinchina.  He is the French official with ultimate authority over Cambodia.

1884

The French administration in Cochin china takes over the collection of taxes on opium and alcohol sold in the Khmer kingdom.

June 17-24, 1884

France imposes a convention forcing King Norodom to accept administrative, judicial, finance and commercial reform, and direct control of the Khmer kingdom from France.  Also, the French Representative in Cambodia will be called Resident General.

Nov. 1, 1884

Resident General Foures commences the imposed June convention.

1885

Jan. 8, 1885

Khmer rebellion against French authority start.  Supporters of Prince Si Votha attacked an isolated French military outpost at Sambor, just above the modern town of Kratie.  In May, the insurgents attack the capital.

Aug. 12, 1885

Jules Victor Renaud, interim Resident General to Cambodia.

Oct. 16, 1885

Pierre Badens, Resident General to Cambodia.

1886

March 6, 1886

Prince Norodom Suramarit is born (b.03/06/1896 d.04/03/1960).

May 17, 1886

Georges Jules Piquet, Resident General to Cambodia.

1887

Cambodia and Vietnam (Cochinchina, Annam, and Tonkin) are administratively united as the Indochina Union.  Laos is added six years later.

Oct. 17, 1887

France issues a decree placing Resident General in Cambodia under the authority of Governor General of Indochina.

Nov. 4, 1887

Louis Eugene Palastre de Champeaux, interim Resident General to Cambodia.

1888

Um is appointed Akhamohasena (Prime Minister). "Um had been born in Pursat Province in 1821. At the age of sixteen he had entered the service of Ang Duong and accompanied the future king to Bangkok. He fought with Ang Duong and the Siamese against the Vietnamese who occupied Cambodia. When Ang Duong regained control of Cambodia, Um was appointed director of the royal pages. From then on he rose steadily in the royal service. In 1861, Norodom named him assistant to the minister of war, and in 1868 he became the actual minister. He was later minister of justice." [6]

1889

March 10, 1889

Orsini, interim Resident General to Cambodia.

May 9, 1889

France issues a decree reorganizing its high-level officials in Indochina; Resident General to Cambodia is renamed the Resident Superior.

May 16, 1889

Albert Louis Huyn de Verneville, Resident Superior.

1891

Dec. 1891

Prince Si Votha died.

1892

French administration assume responsibility for collecting all taxes within the Khmer Kingdom, doing away with an earlier division of duties, which had left some direct taxes in King Norodom's hands.

1893

Prince Duong Chacr, King Norodom's son, is arrested in Paris.  He is interned in Algeria and remains there until his death in 1897.

Oct. 3, 1893

The French and Siamese sign a treaty, in which the Siam abandons all claims to territory east of the Mekong and pays an indemnity of three million francs.

1894

Jan. 24, 1894

Felix Leonce Marquant, interim Resident Superior.

Aug. 4, 1894

Albert Louis Huyn de Verneville, Resident Superior; his second term.

1895

King Norodom's mother dies.

1896

Jan. 15, 1896

The British and French reach an agreement, ending the long friction between the two countries on the Siamese issue. The British recognize the gained made by France in 1893 and abandon the demand for a buffer between Burma and the French colonies. Both countries guarantee the independence of Siam.

1897

Prince Duong Chacr, who is interned by the French in Algeria, dies.

May 14, 1897

Antoine Etienne Alexandre Ducos, Resident Superior.

1898

April 6, 1898

The council of ministers, at the request of the Resident Superior Ducos, approves a measure providing that the council has the right to appoint and dismiss all Khmer officials who earn a salary of less than sixteen Piastres a month, without any reference to the King. The decision present to King Norodom for his approval twice, and on each occasion he refuses, arguing that it will further diminish his power. [6]