Phnom Penh

Phnom Penh is the capital of Cambodia, a city where the Tonlé Sap River meets the Mekong in the south of the country. Its name means Penh's hill, after Lady Penh, who according to legend found Buddha statues in a tree floating on the river and set them on a mound. Wat Phnom, the temple on that mound, is still the place where the city keeps its founding legend.

King Ponhea Yat moved the Khmer court to the site in the 15th century, after Angkor was abandoned. The capital later moved to other towns, until King Norodom brought it back to Phnom Penh in 1866, a few years after Cambodia became a French protectorate. The French built a colonial quarter with boulevards, villas and canals beside the river. Cambodia gained independence in 1953 under King Norodom Sihanouk, and in the 1950s and 1960s the architect Vann Molyvann shaped the city with buildings in the style later called New Khmer Architecture.

The Phnom Penh Autonomous Port loads containers on the Mekong for ships that sail downstream through Vietnam to the sea. Khmer Brewery brews Cambodia Beer in the city. Garment factories on the edges of the city sew clothing and shoes for brands in Europe and North America.

The Royal Palace, built in the 1860s, holds the Silver Pagoda, whose floor is laid with silver tiles and which keeps an emerald Buddha. The National Museum, in a red building in Khmer style, keeps sculpture from Angkor and earlier temples. The Independence Monument, designed by Vann Molyvann, rises in the shape of a lotus stupa at a busy crossroads. The Central Market, with its yellow Art Deco dome, sells jewelry, fabrics and fresh food under four wings.