City in Preah Sihanouk province, Cambodia
About 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.
Etymology
The official name of the city in Khmer is: krong ('city'), preah ('holy') Sihanouk (name of the former king), which adds up to: "City of the Holy Sihanouk" or "Honorable Sihanouk City". King Norodom Sihanouk (reigned 1941–1955, 1993–2004) is revered as the father of the (modern) nation. The name Sihanouk is derived from Sanskrit through two Pali words: siha ('lion'), and hanu ('jaws'). The alternative name, Kompong Saom (also romanized as Kompong Som and Kampong Som), (Khmer: កំពង់សោម) means 'Port of the Moon' or 'Shiva's Port'. Saom is derived from the Sanskrit word saumya, the original (Rig Vedic) 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
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 (Vietnamese: Óc Eo) in the Mekong Delta, now the Vietnamese province of Rạch Giá. The township of Prei Nokor (Saigon) was a commercial center of the Khmer Empire. …
Geography
Sihanoukville town is at the tip of the rolling hills of a peninsula on the Gulf of Thailand. To its northwest and at its center it rises up to 15 metres (49 ft) above sea level, whereas the land gently and steadily flattens towards extended coastal plains, marshlands and beaches in the south and southeast. The Gulf of Thailand's shallow depths and the local climate are moderate in contrast to the South China Sea to the east and the Indian Ocean to the west. Established after the period of the French Protectorate, bourgeois colonial style quarters such as ones seen in Kampot, Siem Reap, or Phnom Penh do not exist. Cambodian architect Vann Molyvann designed objects, and public buildings with a distinct function, some still operational. This brief era of New Khmer Architecture ended in 1970. …
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