Battambang

Battambang spreads beside the Sangkae River in northwestern Cambodia. The river winds through the fertile lowland and has long directed the movement of people and produce. A fishing village established in the eleventh century grew into a substantial commercial centre under the Khmer Empire. After the fall of Angkor it remained a central trading hub for rice and other goods, and its situation in the northwest made it a meeting place between Cambodia and the Siamese realm.

Cambodia was disputed between Siam and Vietnam, and Battambang became a place of negotiation. In 1795 Siam annexed much of the northwest as Inner Cambodia, renamed the town Phra Tabong, and governed it through the Abhaiwongse family. The provincial capital acquired a fort where the governor resided, a market and several pagodas, while houses gathered along its single main road. The Sangkae remained the main artery for trade with Phnom Penh and the Mekong.