Cambodia's process of internal decay and foreign…

Cambodia's process of internal decay and foreign encroachment is gradual rather than precipitous and is hardly evident in the fifteenth century when the Khmer are still powerful.

Following the fall of Angkor Thorn, the Cambodian court abandons the region north of the Tonle Sap, never to return except for a brief interlude in the late sixteenth century.

By this time however, the Khmer penchant for monument building has ceased.

Older faiths such as Mahayana Buddhism and the Hindu cult of the god-king have been supplanted by Theravada Buddhism, and the Cambodians have become part of the same religious and cultural cosmos as the Thai.

This similarity does not prevent intermittent warfare between the two kingdoms, however.

During the sixteenth century Cambodian armies, taking advantage of Thai troubles with the Burmese, invade the Thai kingdom several times.