Phnom Penh (rise in the 15th century)

Timeline

1. 1431–1433Basan (Srey Santhor) · around Kampong ChamAfter Ayutthaya captured Angkor, the Khmer court abandoned the god-king capital on the north shore of the Tonlé Sap and first camped at Basan on the middle Mekong. Floods and defensive conditions forced the court to continue searching south for a new center relying on river transport.
2. 1434Chaktomuk (Phnom Penh) · Phnom PenhAround 1434 the court moved to Chaktomuk, building palaces and defenses at the river confluence, using the Mekong–Tonlé Sap waterway to link the inland rice-growing regions with the downstream estuary; Phnom Penh thereby became the political center of the post-Angkor period.
3. 1434–1500Wat Phnom and the Chaktomuk waterfront · Phnom PenhThe new capital relied on Wat Phnom, the royal palace, and wharf settlements, turning toward a Buddhist temple city and river trade, no longer replicating Angkor's massive hydraulic–temple-mountain system. Phnom Penh was thus clearly distinguished from the late Angkor capital in function and landscape.