Norodom of Cambodia
king of Cambodia
1834 CE to 1904 CE
Norodom I (February 1834 – 24 April 1904) rules as king of Cambodia from 1860 to 1904.
He is the eldest son of King Ang Duong, who rules on behalf of Siam, and half-brother of Prince Si Votha as well as the half-brother of King Sisowath.
Norodom is cognate with Narottama in Sanskrit which means Best (Uttama) of men (Nara).
Norodom is considered to be the first modern Khmer king.
He is credited with saving Cambodia from disappearing altogether.
In 1863, to prevent the two powerful neighbous, Vietnam and Siam, from swallowing Cambodia altogether, he invites France to make Cambodia its protectorate.
However, he sends many letters to Siam claiming French Admiral de la Grandière had forced him into signing a false treaty.
Many Cambodians believe that this brilliant act and his shrewdness did actually save Cambodia from disappearing.
When he was born, Cambodia was under Vietnamese (Annamese) and Siamese rule.
The two powers had partitioned the country between them, but the royal family, being related to the Siamese, remained in the Siamese zone, as the Vietnamese were more authoritarian than the Siamese.
Nonetheless, Vietnam and Siam frequently fight wars over Cambodian territory.
The royal capital of Cambodia is in Oudong (named for the first King of Ayutthaya), but the main center of the region is the capital of Siam in Bangkok.
Prince Norodom is sent by his father to study in Bangkok, where he studies Siamese (Thai), politics, military strategy, Buddhist scriptures and the ancient Pali language.
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The Far East
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Although the Thai attempt to thwart the expansion of French influence, their own influence over the monarch steadily dwindles.
In 1867 the French conclude a treaty with the Thai that give the latter control of Batdambang Province and of Siemreab Province in exchange for their renunciation of all claims of suzerainty over other parts of Cambodia.
Loss of the northwestern provinces deeply upsets Norodom, but he is beholden to the French for sending military aid to suppress a rebellion by a royal pretender.
...Siem Reap provinces, which officially become part of Thailand. (These provinces will be ceded back to Cambodia by a border treaty between France and Siam in 1906).
The French governor of Cochinchina goes to Phnom Penh, Norodom's capital, in June 1884, and demands approval of a treaty with Paris that promises far-reaching changes such as the abolition of slavery, the institution of private land ownership, and the establishment of French residents in provincial cities.
Mindful of a French gunboat anchored in the river, the king reluctantly signs the agreement.
Local elites oppose its provisions, however, especially the one dealing with slavery, and they foment rebellions throughout the country during the following year.
Though the rebellions are suppressed, and the treaty is ratified, passive resistance on the part of the Cambodians postpones implementation of the reforms it embodies until after Norodom's death.
The French proclaim the Union Indochinoise, or Indochina Union, comprising Cambodia and the three constituent regions of Vietnam—Tonkin, Annam, and Cochinchina—in October 1887. (Laos will be added to the Indochina Union after being separated from Thai suzerainty in 1893.)
Cambodia's chief colonial official, responsible to the Union's governor general and appointed by the Ministry of Marine and Colonies in Paris, is a resident general (resident superieur).
Residents, or local governors, are posted in all the principal provincial centers.
The first two decades of French rule in Cambodia have included numerous reforms into Cambodian politics, such as the reduction of the monarch's power and abolition of slavery.
The governor of Cochinchina, Charles Anthoine François Thomson, had attempted to overthrow the monarch in 1884, and establish full French control over Cambodia by sending a small force to the royal palace in Phnom Penh.
The movement is only slightly successful as the first governor-general of French Indochina, who will assume office in 1887 on the creation of that polity, will prevent full colonization due to possible conflicts with Cambodians.
The monarch's power is further reduced, however, to that of a figurehead.
In 1885, Si Votha, half brother of Norodom and contender for the throne, had launched a rebellion to dispose of the French-backed Norodom after coming back from exile in Siam.
Gathering support from opposition to Norodom and the French, Si Votha’s rebellion is primarily concentrated in the jungles of Cambodia and the city of Kampot.
French forces eventually aid Norodom to defeat Si Votha under agreements that the Cambodian population be disarmed and acknowledge the resident-general as the highest power in the protectorate.
The incumbent resident general in Cambodia complains to Paris in 1897 that Norodom is no longer capable of ruling and receives permission to assume the king's authority to issue decrees, collect taxes, and appoint royal officials.
Norodom and his successors are left with hollow, figurehead roles as head of state and as patron of the Buddhist religion.
The colonial bureaucracy expands rapidly.
French nationals naturally hold the highest positions, but even on the lower rungs of the bureaucracy Cambodians find few opportunities because the colonial government prefers to hire Vietnamese.
France, even more than Britain, poses a serious danger to Siamese independence.
The French had occupied Cochinchina (southern Vietnam, around the Mekong Delta) in 1863.
From there they extended their influence into Cambodia, over which Vietnam and Siam had long been struggling for control.
Assuming Vietnam's traditional interests, France had obliged the Cambodian king, Norodom, to accept a French protectorate.
Siam formally relinquishes its claim to Cambodia four years later, in return for French recognition of Siamese sovereignty over the Cambodian provinces of Siem Reap and Battambang.