Climate Change In Angkor's Collapse

Angkor, the capital of the Khmer empire was one of the most stable, and largest cities in the world, during 1010 till 1220. However, this city did not last, and faced it’s downfall, mainly because of climate change. This video states an individual and societies fact that Jayavarman VII introduced Buddhism to the people of Angkor, which impacted the people in many ways, politically, socially, and culturally. Before Jayavarman VII took control of the city, Hinduism played a big role in Angkor, and like many other cities, the Angkor society was hierarchical. According to the website Social Structure,on the top of the structure is the monarch and the royal court, and on the bottom are local, village people. Because of this, Jayavarman VII introduced Buddhism to Angkor, with the goal of everyone being equal, and the King being the most equal of them all.

This however, lead to the fall of Angkor. Because the temples are built on an extremely large scale, building these temples are not only use a lot of materials, but are also extremely time consuming. People started to spend too much time and think only about the temples, that they forgot about the infrastructure of the city. Angkor’s water management was the heart of the city as in dry years, the reservoir provided water for the people as well as increase food security, and during wet years, the reservoir controlled the flood in the city, however, people paid too much attention to the temples and completely ignored the water system, and this lead to major problems relating to science, for example environmental