Sihanoukville
Sihanoukville, also known as Kampong Saom or Preah Sihanouk, is a coastal port city in Cambodia and the capital of Preah Sihanouk Province, at the tip of an elevated peninsula in the country's south-west on the Gulf of Thailand. The city has a string of beaches along its coastline and coastal marshlands bordering Ream National Park in the east. It has one navigable river, the mangrove-lined Ou Trojak Jet, running from Otres Pagoda to the sea at Otres. Several sparsely inhabited islands under Sihanoukville's administration are near the city.
The city was named in honor of the former king Norodom Sihanouk and as of 2008 had a population of around 89,800 and approximately 66,700 in its urban center. It encompasses the greater part of six communes in Sihanoukville Province. It has evolved parallel to the construction of the Sihanoukville Autonomous Port, which commenced in 1955, as the country's gateway to direct and unrestricted international sea trade. Cambodia's only deep-water port, it includes an oil terminal and a transport logistics facility. The city has grown into Cambodia's main centre for coastal tourism and gambling, but it has also gained notoriety as a base for organized crime, including human trafficking, scams, among other illicit activities.
Etymology
The official name of the city in Khmer is: krong, preah ''Sihanouk, which adds up to: "City of the Holy Sihanouk" or "Honorable Sihanouk City". King Norodom Sihanouk is revered as the father of the nation. The name Sihanouk is derived from Sanskrit through two Pali words: siha, and hanu.The alternative name, Kompong Saom, means 'Port of the Moon' or 'Shiva's Port'. Saom is derived from the Sanskrit word saumya, the original meaning of which was Soma, the 'juice or sacrifice of the moon-god', but evolved into Pali 'moon', 'moonlike' 'name of Shiva'. The word kampong or kompong'' is of Malay origin and means 'village' or 'hamlet'. Its meaning underwent extension towards 'pier' or river 'landing bridge'.
History
Classical period (before 1700)
Before the foundation works of the port and city of 1955, the port of Kompong Som must have been only of regional significance due to the lack of navigable waterways connecting it with the kingdom's settlement centers. During the many centuries of pre-Angkorian and Angkorian history, from Funan to Chenla and during the Khmer Empire, regional trade was centered at O Keo in the Mekong Delta, now the Vietnamese province of Rạch Giá. The township of Prei Nokor was a commercial center of the Khmer Empire.The Chronicle of Samtec Cauva Vamn Juon, one of the 18th- and 19th-century Cambodian Royal Chronicles, briefly mentions the region as the country was split into three parts during a civil war from 1476 to 1485: "In 1479, Dhammaraja took on the throne at Chatomuk and controlled the provinces of Samraong Tong, Thbong, Kompong Saom, Kampot up to the Bassak, Preah Trapeang, Kramuon Sah, Koh Slaket and Peam".
Early modern period (c. 1700–1863)
At the end of the 17th century, Cambodia lost control of the Mekong River route as Vietnamese power expanded into the lower Mekong. During the Nguyen-Siamese War a Siamese fleet burned the port of Kompong Som in 1717 but was defeated by the Vietnamese at Banteay Meas/Ha Tien. A Cambodian king of the late 18th century, Outey-Reachea III, allied with a Chinese pirate, Mac-Thien-Tu, who had established an autonomous polity based in Ha Tien and controlled the maritime network in the eastern part of the Gulf of Thailand. Ha Tien was at a point where a river linking to the Bassac River flows into the Gulf of Thailand. Landlocked Cambodia tried to keep its access to maritime trade through Ha Tien. In 1757, Ha Tien acquired the ports of Kampot and Kompong Som as a reward for Mac's military support to the king of Cambodia. Until its destruction in 1771 the port developed into an independent duty-free entrepôt linked with several Chinese trading networks.Alexander Hamilton, who traveled to the Gulf of Thailand in 1720, wrote, "Kompong Som and Banteay Meas belonged to Cambodia, as Cochin-China was divided from Cambodia by a river of three leagues broad" and "King Ang Duong constructed a road from his capital of Oudong to Kampot". Kampot remained Cambodia's only international seaport. "The traveling time between Udong and Kampot was eight days by oxcart and four days by elephants." French Résident Adhemard Leclère wrote: "Until 1840s, the Vietnamese governed Kampot and Péam , but Kompong Som belonged to Cambodia. The Vietnamese constructed a road from Ha Tien to Svai village, on the border with Kompong-Som, via Kampot."
The British Empire followed a distinct policy by the 1850s, seeking to consolidate its influence. Foreign Secretary Lord Palmerston's agent John Crawfurd reported: "Cambodia was...the Keystone of our policy in these countries, - the King of that ancient Kingdom is ready to throw himself under the protection of any European nation...The Vietnamese were interfering with the trade at Kampot, and this would be the basis of an approach". Palmerston concluded: "The trade at Kampot—one of the few remaining ports, could never be considerable, in consequence of the main entrance to the country, the Mekong, with all its feeders flowing into the Sea through the territory of Cochin China. The country, too, had been devastated by recent Siam–Vietnam wars. Thus, without the aid of Great Britain, Kampot or any other port in Cambodia, can never become a commercial Emporium." Crawfurd later wrote: "The Cambodians...sought to use intervals of peace in the Siam–Vietnam wars to develop intercourse with outside nations. The trade at Kampot which they sought to foster was imperiled by pirates. Here is a point where the wedge might be inserted, that would open the interior of the Indo-Chinese Peninsula to British Commerce, as the great River of the Cambodians traverses its entire length and even affords communication into the heart of Siam".
French rule (1863–1954)
Under French rule, Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia became a single administrative and economic unit. The coastal region Circonscription Résidentielle, with Kampot as its capital, contained the arrondissements of Kampot, Kompong Som, Trang, and Kong-Pisey. The establishment of another international trading center near Saigon was considered unnecessary. Focus remained the Mekong and establishing an alternate route to Chinese and Thai markets along an uninterrupted navigable waterway to the Mekong Delta.Insurrection
An insurrection that took place from 1885 to 1887 further discouraged French ambition. It started in Kampot and quickly spread to Veal Rinh, Kampong Seila, and Kompong Som, where the insurgents were led by a Chinese pirate named Quan-Khiem. He managed to control the northern part of Preah Sihanouk for some time until he—an old man—was arrested by the local governor.One example of this period's infrastructural improvements is the construction of Route Coloniale No. 17, later renamed National Road No. 3, and the national railway system, although work on the "Southern Line", from Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville, only began in 1960.
After independence (since 1954)
The city's and province's alternative name, Kampong som, was adopted from the local indigenous community. After the dissolution of French Indochina in 1954, Vietnam's steadily tightening control of the Mekong Delta required a solution to gain unrestricted access to the seas. Plans were made to construct an entirely new deep-water port. Kompong Saom was selected for its water depth and ease of access. In August 1955, a French/Cambodian construction team cut a base camp into the unoccupied jungle in the area now known as Hawaii Beach. Funds for construction of the port came from France and the road was financed by the United States.During the Vietnam War the port became a military facility for both sides: in the service of National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam, and, after 1970, under the government of Lon Nol, in the service of the United States.
The port was the last place the U.S. Army evacuated, only days before Khmer Rouge guerrillas took control of the government in April 1975. The events surrounding the Khmer Rouge's taking of the U.S. container ship SS Mayaguez and its crew on 12 May and the subsequent rescue operation by U.S. Marines played out on the waters of Koh Tang off the coast of Sihanoukville. During the two days of action, the U.S. commenced air strikes on targets on the mainland of Sihanoukville, including the port, the Ream Naval Base, an airfield, the railroad yard, and the petroleum refinery, in addition to strikes and naval gunfire on several islands. After the fall of the Khmer Rouge regime in 1979 and the subsequent opening of the economy, the port of Sihanoukville resumed its importance in the country's development and recovery. With the further opening of new markets in 1999, the city regained its role in Cambodia's economic growth.
In 1993, Ream National Park was established per royal decree of former King Sihanouk. The Sihanoukville Municipality was elevated to a regular province on 22 December 2008 after King Norodom Sihamoni signed a royal decree converting the municipalities of Kep, Pailin, and Sihanoukville into provinces. In the early 21st century, Sihanoukville became a center of trade, commerce, transport, and process manufacturing. Sihanoukville's many beaches and nearby islands make it Cambodia's premier seaside resort.
In 2006, the Koh Puos Investment Group submitted an application, planning to invest US$276 million in converting the 116-hectare Koh Puos, Snake Island, into a luxury residential and resort complex. After the completion of certain elements of the infrastructure, the investor announced alterations of the original blueprints, as "Reapplying for permission will happen in 2014", according to the Council of the Development of Cambodia.
On 26 May 2011, the Preah Sihanouk area joined the Paris-based club Les Plus Belles Baies Du Monde. The organization accepted the Bay of Cambodia as a member at its 7th General Assembly.
By 2019, Chinese investment had transformed the city, so that more than 90% of businesses were owned by Chinese nationals. Over 100 casinos were planned to be built in Sihanoukville in an effort to transform it into a gambling hub, which coincided with an increase in crime. In the 2020s, Sihanoukville emerged as a major hub for online scam operations associated with Chinese criminal gangs in which victims, who were Southeast Asian, Chinese, and Taiwanese nationals, were held forcefully in call centers, and were forced to conduct the scam operations or risk facing torture. In February 2024, Taiwanese YouTuber Goodnight Chicken, inspired by the scams, claimed he broke into a scam compound and faked his own kidnapping on a live stream. He was later arrested for "incitement to cause chaos to social security", and sentenced to two years in prison.