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Inner Cambodia[a] was a historical region in present-dayCambodia that was under the direct rule ofSiam (Thailand) between 1794 and 1907. It covered much of north-western Cambodia, and included, most significantly, the cities ofPhra Tabong,Siammarat andSi Sophon[b] (now known by the Khmer namesBattambang,Siem Reap, andSerei Saophoan). The region was ruled by a Bangkok-appointed governor who held the titleAphaiphubet, and was incorporated under themonthon administrative system in 1891, becoming known asMonthon Burapha[c] in 1900. The territory remained under Thai control until 1907, when it wasceded to France and incorporated intoFrench Indochina. The region was again briefly annexed byThailand during the Second World War from 1941 to 1946.
In the late 18th century,post-Angkor Cambodia was much weakened against its neighbours Siam to the west and Vietnam to the east, whofought for influence over the smaller country. Following factional struggles in the 1770s, a pro-Siam nobleman namedBaen[d] brought PrinceAng Eng, the only male survivor of the Cambodian royal family, to take refuge in Bangkok under the Siamese KingRama I. Baen received the title Chaophraya Aphaiphubet from the Thai court, and was established as thede facto ruler in the Cambodian royal capital ofOudong.[1]
When the Prince was allowed to return to Cambodia to assume the throne in 1794, Rama I had the northwestern area of the country, which constituted most of its border with Siam, placed under the control of Baen, who was instituted as governor of the region, based in Battambang (known in Thai as Phra Tabong). Siem Reap (Siam Rap in Thai,[e] later changed to Siammarat), the site of the ancient Khmer capital ofAngkor, was the other major town in the region, the most fertile in Cambodia. This served a twofold purpose, strengthening Siam's control over the frontier while removing Baen from the conflict in Oudong, where his rule was deeply unpopular.[1] The region, whose governor ruled autonomously according to Cambodian customs but reported directly to Bangkok, became known to the Thais as Inner Cambodia, while the remainder, Outer Cambodia, continued to be ruled by theCambodian monarch, who was at various times undertributary status to Siam, Vietnam, or both.[2]
Following Baen's death in 1809 shortly after that of Rama I, the new Thai kingRama II named Baen's son as the new governor at Phra Tabong, inheriting theAphaiphubet title. While Khmer sources would later dispute the act, stating that the arrangement was originally understood to be limited to Baen's lifetime, it established the hereditary succession which placed rule over the region in the hands of theAbhayavongsa family for much of the following century, except for the period between 1834 and 1839, when the Thai court granted the role to the Cambodian princeAng Im.[1]
Phra Tabong served as an outpost from which Siam launched military expeditions into Cambodia, especially during its wars with Vietnam in1833–1834 and1841–1845, during the reign ofRama III. The Thai military commanderChaophraya Bodindecha, who led the campaigns, oversaw the reconstruction of the city and its fortifications from 1837 to 1838, and did so in Siammarat as well.[3][4] He also founded the towns of Mongkhon Buri[f] (nowMongkol Borey) and Si Sophon (Serei Saophoan), the latter of which was mainly populated by Lao forced settlers following Siam's conquest ofVientiane in the1826–1828 war.[5]
WithFrance's colonial expansion into Southeast Asia in the second half of the 19th century, theFrench protectorate of Cambodia was established in 1863. After a few years of diplomatic manoeuvring over Cambodia's tributary status, theFranco-Siamese treaty of 1867 was concluded in Paris, in which Siam recognized the protectorate and relinquished its claims to suzerainty over Cambodia, while France recognized Siam's territorial claims over Battambang and Siem Reap, including the monument ofAngkor Wat[6] (though some officials ofFrench Indochina had opposed Siam's claims).[7][8] Nevertheless, the French expressed continued interest in the ruins of Angkor, which had been popularized in the Western imagination by the writings ofHenri Mouhot following his travels there in 1860.[9][10]
Siam's KingMongkut (Rama IV) also showed interest in the monuments, and also in 1860 he had ordered the dismantling of a small Khmer temple for reconstruction in Bangkok.[g] Some 2,000 labourers were conscripted for the project, which was terminated after a band of local Khmers emerged from the jungle to attack the party and murdered the Siam-employed officials overseeing the work. Later, in 1867, Mongkut would commission a different representation of Angkor in Bangkok, and had a scale model ofAngkor Wat built in the royal temple ofWat Phra Kaew in theGrand Palace instead.[11]
Despite its location in Siam, the French were able to secure permission for exploration and study of Angkor's sites, and developed Angkorian art and architecture into a symbol of Cambodian national identity. These seemingly academic undertakings also served political purposes, helping to strengthen France's colonial agenda and further the argument for the region to be returned to Cambodia.[12][13][14]
As colonial pressure increased towards the end of the century, KingChulalongkorn (Rama V) implemented centralizing reforms and introduced theMonthon Thesaphiban administration system to bring Siam's fringe towns and cities (mueang) and tributaries under Bangkok's direct control, effectively annexing them into Thai territory in line with the Western concept of territorial sovereignty. Inner Cambodia, now comprising themueang of Phra Tabong, Siammarat, Si Sophon and Phanom Sok[h] (Phnom Srok), was established as Monthon Khamen[i] in 1891. Phraya Maha-ammattayathibbodi (Run Siphen) was posted as commissioner to the newmonthon, based in Si Sophon.[15]
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However, the conflict with France soon erupted into theFranco-Siamese crisis of 1893, which resulted in Siam being forced to cede extensive territory to France. Inner Cambodia remained under Siam's control, though theFranco-Siamese treaty of 1893 demanded that Siam demilitarize the area. With the Thai government's wariness over further French designs, little effort was made to support development and fully implement reforms in the region,[16] which was renamed to Monthon Tawan-ok[j] in 1899 and Monthon Burapha (both meaning 'eastmonthon') in 1900.[15]
The situation continued until theFranco-Siamese treaty of 1907 was concluded, with Siam ceding control of the remaining area of Inner Cambodia to France in exchange of the towns ofTrat andDan Sai, which had been under French occupation since 1904, as well as the ending of Frenchextraterritoriality over Asian subjects.[2][17] The last governor of Battambang under Siamese rule,Chum Abhayavongsa [th], relocated toPrachin Buri, where he commissioned the construction of theChao Phraya Aphaiphubet Building, regarded as a sister building of the Governor's Residence in Battambang, which he had also commissioned just prior to the handover. Both buildings now serve as museums.[18][19]
In the prelude to thePacific theater ofWorld War II, the nationalist government of Thai Prime Minister Plaek Phibunsongkhraminvaded French Indochina in 1940 to pursue its irridentistpan-Thai ideology and reclaim what it regarded asThailand's lost territories. The war concluded in 1941 with an armistice negotiated by Japan, in which France ceded the areas around Battambang and Siem Reap (north and west of Angkor), which were incorporated as the Thai territories ofPhra Tabong province andPhibunsongkhram province, respectively, as well as those now part ofPreah Vihear province and Laos'Champasak province (becomingNakhon Champasak province) andSainyabuli province (which becameLan Chang province).[20][21]
Following Japan's defeat, Thailand relinquished these claims and returned the territories in 1946 as a condition for its admission into theUnited Nations.[21]
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