Sack of Angkor and Abandonment of the Khmer Capital
- Date
- 1431 CE
- Category
- Military & conflict
- Region
- Southeast Asia
- Era
- Post-Classical / Medieval
- Significance
In 1431, after a siege that Thai chronicle traditions describe as lasting roughly seven months from 1430, Ayutthayan (Siamese Tai) forces under King Borommarachathirat II captured and looted Angkor, the great capital of the Khmer Empire centred on Angkor Thom and Yasodharapura.
The Khmer king Ponhea Yat found the city indefensible against repeated Tai incursions and withdrew the royal court southward, first to Basan (Srey Santhor) and, after flooding, to Chaktomuk in the area of present-day Phnom Penh. This relocation conventionally marks the end of the Angkorian imperial era and the beginning of the Post-Angkor period, during which Cambodia was reduced to a minor regional power and at times a Tai vassal. While the 1431 sack is the traditional turning point, modern scholarship situates it within a longer decline driven by Ayutthayan military pressure, severe drought and the breakdown of Angkor's vast hydraulic network, the shift toward Theravada Buddhism, and the growing economic pull of Mekong river trade toward Phnom Penh. Archaeological evidence shows that some Angkorian temple sites remained occupied and in religious use after 1431, so the event represents a political and demographic shift of the capital rather than a sudden, total abandonment of the region.
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Empires active in 1431 CE
- Malacca Sultanate1400 CE – 1511 CE
- Majapahit1293 CE – 1527 CE
- Sukhothai Kingdom1238 CE – 1438 CE
- Lan Xang1353 CE – 1707 CE
- Khmer Empire802 CE – 1431 CE
- Kingdom of Ayutthaya1351 CE – 1767 CE
Related military & conflict events
- The Ottoman conquest of Constantinople29 May 1453 CE
- Joan of Arc and the lifting of the siege of Orleans1429 CE
- Timur's invasion and sack of Delhi1398 CE
- Mongol sack of Baghdad ends the Abbasid Caliphate10 February 1258 CE
- Second Battle of Bach Dang: Dai Viet destroys the Yuan-Mongol fleet9 April 1288
- Mongol Invasions Topple the Pagan Empire of Burma1277-1287 CE (Pagan collapse, 1287)
Further reading
The wider story
A History of Malaysia
The standard accessible history, strong on the Malacca sultanate.
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