Angkor Wat: How Water Destroyed This Powerful Empire?

Angkor Wat is considered the largest religious monument in the world built in the early 12th century by Khmer King Suryavarman II. It is located in Yasodharapira, which is the capital of Khmer Empire, in Cambodia. Experts believed that water built the city of Angkor, yet it was also water that aided in ruining this walled city.

The collapse of the Angkor Wat empire in the early 15th century has long been a mystery. On the other hand, this is now unraveled as the scientists indicated that a long drought followed by severe monsoon rains in the area has caused the impairment of the Angkor Wat empire that led to its collapse, according to National Geographic.

The Angkor period was led by Jayavarman II, who proclaimed himself chakravartin or "god-king" of the Khmer empire in the year 802. After few centuries, Angkor became the biggest city in the pre-industrial world. Water played a significant role in the city, and Angkor was described as a "hydraulic city." There were development channels and reservoirs that collected and stored water from the hills for flood control and water supply for agriculture.

Dan Penny, an expert in environmental history from the geosciences department at the University of Sydney and studied the Angkor civilization for many years, described it as a water management infrastructure that had no equal on Earth. Water also had a religious role in Angkor society, and the empire was also bound by the power of the king.

This had changed when Angkor began suffering from a severe drought in the mid to late 1300s and was followed by unusual powerful monsoon rain. Thus, it caused great flooding within the city's infrastructure that people were not able to cope. The flooding led to serious erosion in the system and canals were choked and the bridge at Angkor Thom then collapsed. Penny said that it was thought the damage to the water management system ended the period of Angkor empire.

Angkor Wat is a temple complex originally built as a Hindu temple of god Vishnu for the Khmer Empire. Later, it was converted into a Buddhist temple at the end of the 12th century. The temple was conceptualized in the classical style of Khmer architecture and has become the symbol of Cambodia.