Real-content layout sample: dl.timeline across four era groups on one pinned axis
Pre-Angkor
Funan and Chenla, before the Angkor period
c. 1st century CE
Funan polity emerges in the Mekong Delta. First Hinduized kingdom of Southeast Asia. Maritime entrepots like Oc Eo traded with India, China, and Rome. Chinese annals record it from the 3rd century. Contested: Vickery argues Funan was a group of coastal polities, not a unified empire.5, 9, 10
c. 6th century CE
Chenla emerges and succeeds Funan. Centered on the middle Mekong and Tonle Sap. Sambor Prei Kuk (Isanapura) was its 7th-century capital and the prototype for Angkor. Contested: The transition was likely gradual, not a conquest.2, 9, 10
Angkor period
802 to 1431, capital on the Angkor plain
c. 802
Jayavarman II declares himself universal king on Mount Kulen, founds Mahendraparvata. Traditional founding of the Khmer Empire and start of the Angkor period. Lidar rediscovered Mahendraparvata in 2012. Contested: Coe's lecture conflates the 802 founding with Yasovarman's later Yasodharapura.2, 5, 6, 7
c. 889
Royal capital moves south to Angkor; Yasovarman I founds Yasodharapura. The capital relocates from the Kulen hills to the Angkor plain. Contested: The founding date and founder are contested across sources.5, 7
928-944
Koh Ker interregnum: Jayavarman IV rules from a new capital. A 17-year interval when power left Angkor. Prasat Thom pyramid built in 942. The reservoir embankment failed within a decade, possibly driving the court back.4
c. 1000
Angkor becomes one of the largest cities in the world. Estimates run from ~500,000 (Ancient Code) to ~900,000 (Evans) people in a low-density sprawl of ~1,000 sq km.2, 6, 7
1113-1150
Suryavarman II reigns; Angkor Wat is built. The largest religious structure on Earth, dedicated to Vishnu.1, 6, 7, 11
Chams sack Angkor. The hereditary enemies conquered the city before Jayavarman VII took the throne. The battles appear in Bayon reliefs.5, 12
Jayavarman VII is crowned king. First Khmer king devoted to Mahayana Buddhism. Proclaimed the “Living Buddha.” Ousted the Chams and launched a massive building program.5, 6, 12
c. 1182-1201
Bayon built as the state temple of the new capital Angkor Thom. The Bayon has 54 towers and ~200 smiling faces (Lokesvara or Jayavarman VII). Its reliefs show daily life and the Cham wars.5, 6, 12
Ta Prohm is founded. Mahayana monastery (Rajavihara) dedicated to Jayavarman VII's mother. Its stele records ~12,500 attached people. Now the “Tomb Raider” temple left in its jungle state. Contested: A carved roundel on one lintel is popularly read as a stegosaurus, a claim used to argue dinosaurs and humans coexisted; mainstream analysis identifies it as a rhinoceros or a decorative leaf motif.5, 8, 12
Preah Khan is dedicated. Temple honoring Jayavarman VII's father. BBC reports it held 60 tons of gold, worth about £2bn today.7, 12
c. 1296
Zhou Daguan visits Angkor. The Chinese Yuan-dynasty diplomat writes “Customs of Cambodia,” the main eyewitness account of late-13th-century Angkor.2, 5
c. 1300-1431
Gradual decline begins a century before the fall. Land use in central Angkor declined ~100 years before the traditional 1431 abandonment (Penny's moat cores). Water infrastructure failed; tree rings record extreme dry and wet swings. Contested: The “collapse” narrative against the century-in-the-making view.2, 3, 7
Post-Angkor
The court leaves, the temple does not empty
Ayutthaya (Thai) sack of Angkor; court moves to Phnom Penh. Traditional date of the fall and start of the post-Angkor era. Contested: Carter's excavations show Angkor Wat was never abandoned. The landscape was reoccupied by the late 14th or early 15th century and used into the 17th-18th.1, 2, 3, 5
c. 1600s
Japanese Buddhist inscriptions appear at Angkor Wat. Fourteen 17th-century inscriptions show Japanese Buddhists traveled to and settled alongside the Khmer. The temple remained in continuous use.1
Rediscovery and survey
Events in the study of Angkor, not in its history
Henri Mouhot “discovers” Angkor. His posthumous journal (1863-64) introduced Angkor to the West. Contested: Angkor was never lost, local monks kept it. Mouhot arrived in 1858, and pre-Mouhot accounts already described the site.5, 7, 15
Angkor inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Also placed on the Danger List, removed in 2004. The Angkor Archaeological Park now draws ~2 million visitors a year.6, 7
First lidar survey of Greater Angkor. The KALC airborne laser survey revealed the full urban grid, waterworks, and the lost city of Mahendraparvata. Results published in PNAS 2013.2, 6, 7, 13
Second lidar survey covers ~2,000 sq km. Five times larger than the first. Redefined the Angkor Wat landscape (Antiquity 2015), revealing occupation mounds and a residential population of up to ~4,500 inside the moated enclosure.2, 6, 14