to the western world,Angkor will always be Cambodia's prime archaeological focus,attracting an ever-increasing number of visitors.But Khmer civilisation is by no means confined to just this one location,despite its huge size and grandiose architectural remains.
the territory of the Khmers formerly extended over significant areas of today's Thailand and Vietnam where there are still communities with Khmer as their native language. Part of suthern Laos should also be included, in particular the Wat Phu site.of major political significance,which will be described in chapter 2.Clearly such a vast area could not always have been a single political unit.