Kampuchea was a hydraulic civilization. A centralized bureaucracy administered a vast irrigation network. The Kings control over water resources and the agrarian surplus resulted in immense wealth. Successive rulers invested their resources in a huge and expensive campaign of construction, one that was legitimized by Brahmanic ritual. .....Change and Cataclysm: The unceasing military campaigns and the expensive program of temple building and public works led to a fiscal deficit. The increased taxation drained the peasant population. Deforestation linked to increased rice cultivation and construction undermined the irrigated agriculture economy. It silted the man-made water ways and disrupted the complex irrigation system.
Posted on: Thu, 03 Apr 2014 14:25:54 +0000
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