S1 Ep4: The Fall of Angkor (Part Three): What Really Happened to the Khmer Empire

What was Angkor actually like to walk through? What really happened to the Khmer Empire, and why is the standard version wrong? Was Angkor ever actually "lost"?Time Period Covered: 1296 – 1600 CEIn 1296, a Chinese diplomat named Zhou Daguan stepped off a boat at Angkor, stayed eleven months, and wrote down what he saw — the palace, the markets, the food, the gossip. His account is the only surviving eyewitness description of the city at its height. A century and a half later the capital moved south, and Europeans would eventually decide the city had been 'lost'. It hadn't, and what actually happened took the better part of a century of new science to work out.Watch the full 5 hour documentary on YouTube SourcesChandler A History of Cambodia Coe and Evans Angkor and the Khmer Civilization Hendrickson, Stark and Evans (eds) The Angkorian WorldTully A Short History of Cambodia Zhou Daguan trans. Peter Harris A Record of Cambodia Penny et al Geoarchaeological evidence from Angkor reveals a gradual decline. Zhao et al Hydroclimate and Paleoenvironmental Variability from the Tonle Sap Lake Basin 2024 Carter Alison in Cambodia (blog) SOSORO Museum of Economy and Money Phnom Penhhttps://www.shadowsofutopia.com/