There are five themes of geography that impacted Cambodia’s cultural development: location, place, movement, regions, and human-environment interaction.

The first of the five themes of geography is location. Cambodia is about 69,898 square miles, which is a size similar to Missouri. Cambodia’s absolute location is 11.5500° N, 104.9167° E. It’s located in Southeast Asia, on the Indochinese peninsula. Cambodia shares its border with Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam. It’s west of Vietnam, north of Malaysia, and southeast of Thailand. The distance between Bangkok (capital of Thailand) and Phnom Penh (capital of Cambodia) is about 663 km.

The second of the five themes of geography is place. Cambodia’s physical features include lots of green vegetation and many rivers. The main river is the Mekong River. This river flows through the heart of Cambodia. The river is really important to people as it’s the main source of water, food (fish) and many other things. The Mekong river also ensures the irrigation of all vegetation. The country also has a long plain on most of its territory. There are two major mountains in Cambodia, the Cardamom Mountain and the Elephant Mountain. In Cambodia, there is  one of the world’s largest religious monument called Angkor Wat. People estimate that it took about 47 years to build with human hands. The Angkor Wat is the national symbol of the country and Cambodians are very proud of their heritage. This glorious temple was built to worship the Hindu gods, such as Vishnu, Shiva, and Hanuman. One of Cambodia’s most famous holiday is the Khmer New Year which is celebrated April 13 through the 16. During those few days, people go to their local temples and pray for better health. People usually host a festival and everyone gets together and has fun dancing the romvong or watching the traditional Cambodian dance. Each traditional dance is unique and all of them symbolize a folk tale. As in most Southeast Asian countries, most people in Cambodia practice Buddhism.

The third of the five themes of geography is movement. Cambodia became members of Association of Southeast Asian Nation. This increased the trade with the neighbor countries such as Thailand and Vietnam to trade raw materials and products for a cheap price. Also, because of ASEAN traveling to neighbor countries by car became possible, which increased the movement of people. Because there is too much rain in the monsoon season, some roads are impassable. Because of this reason, infrastructure is not yet conducive to moving goods around country. Most people get to work by bicycle or feet on countryside, and bikes, taxi, and motorcycle on the city.

The fourth of the five themes of geography is regions. The top two regions are the southern region, and the northeast region. The southern region is an area of mangroves and palm studded sandy beaches. Sihanoukville, which is Cambodia’s only port, is located in the southern region. Beautiful islands poke above the waves offshore, accessible by boat. Most people fish or work at the port. Because of it’s beautiful nature, many tourists come and they stay in small hotels along the beach. Tourists visit places such as Ream National Park to see and experience the mangrove and other natural beauty that Cambodia has.The Northeast reason is the remote province. Four main hill tribes, such as Ratanakiri, live in this region. They are not Khmer as most Cambodians are - they are instead a combination of ethnic Indians and Chinese, dating back to very long ago. These hilltribe groups occupy a mountainous and isolated area of rainforest and live there. They are mostly subsistence farmers and rubber plantation workers. Farmers also grow things like coffee and tobacco to increase their income. However, this region is one of the poorest and has one of the highest rates of infant mortality in the region. Most people believe in Animism, whereas in the Southern region, most people believe Buddhism or Hinduism.

The last of the five themes of geography is human-environment interaction. More than 75% people in Cambodia depend upon agricultural farming. Also, most people consume rice so it is a very important job. To catch up to the growing population’s food demands, the rice fields are expanding. People are burning rainforests to clear the land and plant things such as rice and rubber trees. Not only does initially burning rainforests to make ricefields increase pollution and destroy their ability to clean the air; but after the rice is harvested, farmers burn the ricefields over and over, season after season, believing that the fire somehow enriches the land. This causes even more pollution, and during the burning season, many people find it hard to breath and get diseases such as lung cancer. The woods in the rainforest is exported for a very expensive price. So local people are illegally cutting woods and sell, which decreases the amount of rainforest. People get fish from Tonle Sap lake. But people are over-fishing fishes so the population of the fish n the lake are dramatically decreasing. People also illegally cut down trees and burn them to find gems. This place is located between the border of Thailand, the harmful chemicals used to find gems are polluting lakes, destroying biodiversity, and polluting the air.

In conclusion, Cambodia is a beautiful country with dark past. People are trying to recover day by day, with Cambodia’s government.