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How were the lakes and rivers utilised by the Khmer people? BY OLIVIA CRAUS
Oxford Big Ideas ; Geography & History Chp 8 Pg 355
Information gathered from the text: (key) Related to the Mekong River Related to the Tonal Sap Lake
The Mekong River provided ;drinking water ; helped irrigate crops ;and was used for transportation to the Khmer people. The fertile land in Mekong Delta were ideal for growing and harvesting crops.Inland areas to the north of the coast were used for extreme mass production .The river allowed the Khmer people to travel and trade with numerous societies to both the north and south of the Angkor region. The river connect the people with ‘the outside world’ through vast amounts of trade routes.The Mekong River acted as a natural defence for the people because of its many sandbars and constantly changing currents. The Khmer people were the only people who knew how to navigate the Mekong River.
During the days of the Khmer Empire, the Tonal Sap Lake acted as a large water reservoir for the Mekong River and provided the steadily growing population with fish. During the warmer seasons, the Tonal Sap Lake became relatively small, at 2,700 squared km and relatively shallow at 1m deep.
During the wet season, the snow from the Himalayas melts into the Mekong River and monsoonal rainfall into the Mekong River both lead to the over flowing of the Mekong River into the Tonal Sap Lake. In the wet seasons, the Tonal Sap Lake expanded to an area of about 10,000 squared km and its average depth expands to about 9m. The flooded areas around the lake were ideal conditions for rice cultivation and fish breeding. It was important to the Khmer people’s life style so much, that they built floating houses and villages so that they could live as close as they possibly could to the Tonal Sap Lake. During the dry season, houses rested alongside the lake, whilst during the wet seasons, the houses seem to float on top of the lake. Food and water was vital to the people and the Tonal Sap Lake provided a place to manage, store and produce food and clean water all year round. A complex setup of canals and reservoirs was maintained by the people, in order to maintain a steady water supply. The Tonal Sap Lake is still the largest freshwater lake in South-East Asia and remains important to Cambodians.
What the text means:
-The Tonal Sap Lake and the Mekong River both relied on each other
-If during the wet seasons, the Tonal Sap Lake expanded due to rainfall and melting snow, the surrounding land, crops and man-made structure would have to adapt to the change.
-The Khmer people set their lives around the lake and river for; food and water; protection/defence; and to connect them with other societies.
-With out the lakes, the Khmer people would probably have settled in a different area with better geography.
-The houses being so close to the to the Tonal Sap Lake was a smart way for the people to utilise the lake, and make it easier for the people to have access to the water and fish easier but it was also a risk for flooding.
-Rice cultivation conditions were ideal around the Mekong River and were definitely utilised by the people because of their mass production rice fields around the river.
-The Tonal Sap lake provided the people with a steady supply of fish to eat and the Khmer people utilised that with their fishing, and by storing and managing the fish.
Questions developed due to the text:
Did the houses and villages ever flood because they were so close? And if so, how did the people deal with the flooding? Did the Tonal Sap Lake and/or the Mekong River have any religious importance to the Khmer people? When did the lake and river first start being used and utilised?
OPINION PIECE: Overall, the Angkor region was definitely blessed with great geographical water bodies and the Khmers utilised them as best as they could, with their resources. The Khmer Empire utilised the Mekong River by using its many sandbars as natural defences, using the perfect surrounding lands for mass rice production, and by using the Mekong River to develop trade routes. The Tonal Sap Lake was so important to the people that they built their houses and villages on stilts around the lake, so that they could be as close the lake as the possibly could be all the time. The Tonal Sap Lake was utilised by the Khmer people because they used it to produce, store and manage food and water all year round because the conditions were an ideal fish breeding ground and because it was a freshwater lake (drinkable), and by creating a setup of canals and reservoirs. Without the Tonal Sap Lake and/or the Mekong River delta, the Khmer Empire would have probably settled somewhere else or else, they wouldn’t have been nearly as strong and powerful as they were, due to their advanced water management systems.
Description of a map: (Olivia Craus)
The Mekong River:
-The Mekong River spans across, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, Myanmar and China.
-Around the Angkor region, the river is very bendy.
-The Mekong river in connected to the ocean and the Tonal Sap Lake
-The river in not very wide but, it is extremely long and spans over a great distance.
-It is represented by dark blue because it is fresh water
The Tonal Sap Lake:
-It is located in the central part of Cambodia.
-The Tonal Sap Lake is much smaller than the Mekong River.
-It is an odd curvy oval shape.
-The Tonal Sap Lake is connected to the Mekong River but, it is connected to no other sources.
http://www.bing.com/images/searchq=map+of+the+mekong+and
+toonal+sap+lake&view=detailv2&&id=2E05AD81260FD0B3AB3B8
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what does the landscape look like? -ALYSSA MONTALVO
http://www.ancient.eu/Khmer_Empire/
Throughout the empire’s history, Khmer’s court was repeatedly concerned with putting down rebellions initiated by ambitious nobles trying to achieve independence, or fighting conspiracies against the king. This was particularly true each time a king died, as successions were usually contested.
The Khmer were great builders, filling the landscape with monumental temples, huge reservoirs (called baray) and canals, and laying an extensive road network with all sorts of bridges -the main highways are 800 km long. The most stunning temple, Angkor Wat, is a microcosm of the Hindu universe and defies imagination as the world’s largest religious complex - covering 200 hectares; nowadays it is crowded with tourists amazed with ruins that until recently were covered by the jungle. Its construction took some 30 years and was started by one of the greatest kings, Suryavarman II, around 1122 CE.
The empire’s greatest king was Jayavarman VII (r. 1181 CE - 1215 CE). He expelled the Chams who took Angkor, restoring the realm from anarchy, and then invaded Champa . The scale of his construction programme was unprecedented: he built temples, monuments, highways, a hundred hospitals, and the spectacular Angkor Thom complex - a city within a city in Angkor. Jayavarman also expanded the empire’s territorial control to its zenith.
what the text mean
-that the landscape has a lot of stuture
-how big is the landscape
- now you can find out how they lived and what they had at the place.
- and they would have a different king
questions about the text
-why was the land of big
-why do they have so many stutures
- did they have hospitals at the angkor years
- did they have any famous land marks