CAMBODIA
Geography
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Cambodia
has a land area of 181,035 square kilometers in the southwestern part
of the Indochina peninsula, about 20% of which is used for agriculture.
It lies completely within the tropics with its southernmost points slightly
more than 10º above the Equator. The country’s capital city is
Phnom Penh. International borders are shared with Thailand and the Lao
People’s Democratic Republic on the west and on the north, and the
Socialist Republic of Vietnam on the east and the southeast. The country
is bounded on the southwest by the Gulf of Thailand. In comparison with
its neighbors, Cambodia is a geographically compact country
administratively composed of 20 provinces, three of which have
relatively short maritime boundaries,
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3 municipalities, 172 districts, and 1,547 communes. The country has a coastline
of 435 km and extensive mangrove stands, some of which are relatively
undisturbed.
The
dominant features of the Cambodia landscape are the large, almost
centrally located, Tonle Sap (Great Lake) and the Bassac River systems and
the Mekong River, which crosses the country from north to south.
Surrounding the Central Plains which covered three quarters of the country’s
area are the more densely forested and sparsely populated highlands,
comprising: the Elephant Mountains and Cardamom Mountains of the southwest
and western regions; the Dangrek Mountains of the north adjoining the
Korat Planteau of Thailand; and the Ratanakiri Plateau and Chhlong
highlands on the east merging with the Central Highlands of Vietnam.
The
Tonle Sap Basin-Mekong Lowlands region consists mainly of plains with
elevations generally of less than 100 meters. As the elevation increases,
the terrain becomes more rolling and dissected. The Cardamom Mountains in
the southwest rise to more than 1,500 meters and is oriented generally in
a northwest-southeast direction. The highest mountain in Cambodia –
Phnom Aural, at 1,771 meters – is in the eastern part of this range.
The
Elephant Range, an extension of the Cardamom Mountains, runs toward the
south and the southeast and rises to elevations of between 500 and 1,000
meters. These two ranges are bordered on the west by a narrow coastal
plain facing the Gulf of Thailand that contains Kampong Som Bay. The Dangrek
Mountains at the northern rim of the Tonle Sap Basin, consisting of a
steep escarpment on the southern edge of the Korat Plateau in Thailand,
marks the boundary between Thailand and Cambodia. The average elevation
of about 500 meters with the highest points reaches more than 700 meters.
Between the northern part of the Cardamom ranges and the western part
of the Dangrek, lies an extension of the Tonle Sap Basin that merges into
the plains in Thailand, allowing easy access from the border to Bangkok.
The
Mekong River, Cambodia’s largest river, dominates the hydrology of the
country. The river originates in mainland China, flows through Myanmar,
Laos, Thailand before entering Cambodia. At Phnom Penh, with its
alternative arms, the Bassak River form the south, and the Tonle Sap River
linking with the “Great Lake†| |