Posted on 05/08/2021 3:56:08 AM PDT by C19fan
The ancient Cambodian capital of Angkor Wat, had a staggering 900,000 inhabitants before it was abandoned in 1431, according to a new study.
An international team, led by the University of British Columbia, examined three decades of data to create a demographic model of the Medieval city.
Their model revealed that the capital of the long-gone Khmer Empire housed between 700,000 and 900,000 people during its zenith in the 13th century.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
This estimate would mean Angor could have been the biggest cities in the world rivaling cities in China.
Yep, amazing. Such a high level of organization. Yet abandoned. Disease? Drought? Depletion of soil?
The documentary I saw said it was a shift in climate to cycles of droughts followed by very rainy periods. This cycle reeked havoc on the water transportation infrastructure.
Mooselimbs
Thanks C19fan. This is a good one for the week's Digest ping.
Here are the week's other topics.
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Besides climate, there was an issue of the Thai’s encroaching further and further into the Khmer Empire. Angkor had become indefensible as a capital city.
However, most of it isn't there. The Khmer built the city out of wood. Only the temples were built of stone. Even the royal palace was built of wood. There is an enormous stone porch used for ceremonial occasions where the entrance to the royal palace was, which gives the visitor an idea of how vast the palace itself was.
The bottom line is the conclusion that Angkor at its height was one of the largest cities in the world is quite plausible.
900,000 people dispersing into the countryside is quite a devastation.
This has happened many times before, such as the abandonment of Rome (there is an amazing account of life on an abandoned Roman villa amidst the general collapse), the fall of the Indus Valley urban enclaves, the Maya collapse, and many others. Not pretty.
But people disperse and fend for themselves.
The Nazca Lines Plotted Over The Whole Earth converge at Angkor Wat.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HOlxbiEurw&ab_channel=cf-apps7865
Nice story, I'm a little jealous as well. :^) The rest of the Angkor Wat keyword:
"...someone asked, Wat is that, an Angkor in your pocket, or..."
#13 Detroit.... : )
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