Did Surin Province (Thailand) in the past belong to Cambodia?

Question

I went to Thailand I saw Cambodia Pagoda, people speak Khmer languge, school for Khmer languge and most people are Khmer.

Please tell me the fact history of this things...

Answer 1

After the Khmer empire collapsed, the Thais and the Vietnamese got strong. Thailand expanded eastward, Vietnam westward. Cambodia was more or less divided between the two. The border fluctuated.

Then the French came, colonized Vietnam, took over the Vietnamese part of Cambodia, took over Laos and slowly took over much of the rest of Cambodia.

After the French left, Thailand tried to reclaim incorrect drawn borders (the French engineers mysteriously drew the border much further east than was agreed upon), but lost the case in the World Court in La Haye en Les Pays Bas, compris. :-)

(The Hague in The Netherlands)

Currently that issue is hot. Thailand and Cambodia are litterally at arms over it. (Not yet fighting.)

Surin province was and is, to my knowledge, always part of the Thai kingdom.

Answer 2

I think parts of southern Thailand and southern Vietnam used to belong to past Khmer dynasties in ancient and medieval times. The other parts of Southern Vietnam belonged to the Champa dynasties.

Map of the Khmer Empire and Champa Kingdom in Medieval times

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Premo...