Phnom Penh (2005 est. pop. 1,300,000), capital of Cambodia, at the confluence of the Mekong and Tonle Sap rivers. Phnom Penh was founded in the 14th cent. and was made the  capita of the Khmer empirel after the abandonment (1434) of Angkor . It became the capital of Cambodia in 1867. In the second world war the city was occupied by the Japanes . The cultural and commercial center as well as political capital of Cambodia, it was severely stressed and battered by the civil war in the 1970s. The onset of fighting during 1970 between government forces and the Khmer Rouge drove refugees from the war-torn countryside to Phnom Penh. Due to the fighting in the countryside the population swelled from c.500,000 in 1970 to c.2 million in early 1975. 
When the Khmer Rouge entered the city the population was forced to leave. By the time the Khmer Rouge were overthrown in 1979, the city had become virtually a ghost town, with no more than 50,000 residents and its universities and cultural institutions no longer in operation. It gradually revived through the 1980s.

The pace of change in Phnom Penh is accelerating with increasing investment in new buildings with little regard for style, historical or architectural aesthetics or potential customers to occupy them.

The main points of interest in Phnom Penh for tourism are: The Royal Palace, National Museum and Wat Phnom, The Killing Fields and S-21 (Toul Sleng). There are many other activities to do but they are not aimed at the tourist.