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c. 1431-1434 CEReputable source · 2 sourcesWell documented

The Khmer Court Abandons Angkor and Moves South Toward Phnom Penh

A capital that had lasted five centuries is left to the jungle

On the timeline · around c. 1431-1434 CE · Decline, the Fall of Angkor, and the Long TwilightCrisis and the Reign of Jayavarman VIIDecline, the Fall of Angkor, and the Long TwilightThe Khmer Court Abandons Angkor and Moves South Toward Phnom Penh12501300135014001450150015501600

Quick facts

New center of power
Area of present-day Phnom Penh
Angkor's status
Abandoned as capital; Angkor Wat remained an active religious site

What happened

In the years immediately after the 1431 siege, what remained of the Khmer royal court relocated south, away from Angkor and toward the area of present-day Phnom Penh, according to the National Library of Australia's account of the empire's final collapse. The move marked the end of Angkor's five-and-a-half-century run as the Khmer capital, stretching back to Yasovarman I's founding of Yasodharapura around 889. Angkor itself was not entirely emptied. Angkor Wat in particular continued to function as an active Buddhist religious site, visited and maintained by monks and pilgrims, even as the surrounding city's administrative and political role ended.

Why it matters

The move to the Phnom Penh area set the stage for the much smaller, coastal-facing Cambodian kingdom that would follow the Angkorian empire, while Angkor itself passed out of active political use and gradually receded behind jungle growth, setting up its eventual rediscovery by European visitors centuries later.

How we know

The relocation is documented through later Khmer and Thai chronicle traditions and confirmed by the archaeological record showing a sharp drop in royal building activity at Angkor after this point, while Angkor Wat's continuous religious use is evidenced by inscriptions and repairs dated across the following centuries.

Sources

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Part of a timelineThe Khmer Empire28 events · How a trading kingdom on the Mekong became a temple-building empire that vanished into the jungleView all →
The Khmer Court Abandons Angkor and Moves South Toward Phnom Penh · The Khmer Empire · SourcedStory