Cambodia's ancient capital declined due to drought

Severe droughts are one of the reasons Angkor, the world's largest city during the pre-industrial revolution, declined and disappeared.

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Angkor Citadel, built in the 9th century in Cambodia today, used to be the capital of the Khmer empire. The history records that the Khmer empire was once the largest and most powerful country in Southeast Asia for nearly five centuries. Located on a land area of ​​up to 1,000 km ² , Angkor is the largest city in the world during the pre-industrial era.

The Khmer Empire began to decline from the 14th century and the Thai occupied Angkor's capital in 1431. After being burned, destroyed, and destroyed by Thai people, Angkor quickly decimated.

Angkor was once the world's largest city during the pre-industrial revolution.

Scientists believe that constant wars and depletion of land resources are the cause of Angkor's decline. However, some recent studies show that the new long-term drought is the culprit, Livescience said.

The Khmer dug a lot of canals, ditches and reservoirs to store water for fields during the rainy season. To reconstruct the climate history at Angkor for about 1,000 years, scientists at the University of Cambridge in England analyzed samples of sediments in the largest reservoir at Angkor. West Barray, the name of that lake, can contain 53 million cubic meters of water.

Analysis results show that in the period when Angkor collapsed, sedimentation rate of sediment was only 1/10 of the previous period. This shows that the water level in the lake is very strong.

As both water levels and sediments are reduced, the ecosystem in the lake also changes. The algae are suitable for life at the bottom of the reservoir and the plants that float on the water rapidly multiply. Finally, the Khmer empire's water-holding and navigation systems became useless against the wide-ranging fluctuations of the climate.

'We can consider Angkor as an example of technology that cannot help people prevent the decline of an empire in periods when climate becomes seriously unstable. Angkor possesses very efficient water retention systems, but the technical advantage cannot help the Khmer to prevent the empire's collapse from the impact of harsh environmental conditions , 'said Mary Beth Day, a city. The research team member said.

Day added that the drought is not the only cause for the Khmer empire to perish.

'The collapse of Angkor is the result of a complex process caused by many factors - social, political and environmental - , Day concludes.

Today the ruins of Angkor are close to Cambodia's Siem Reap city. UNESCO recognized them as world heritage.