Kampong Cham Province

Category:Articles with short descriptionCategory:Short description is different from Wikidata
Kampong Cham
កំពង់ចាមCategory:Articles containing Khmer-language text
Province
From top: Wat Nokor, Wat Dey Doh, Bos Knoar Hill, Phnom Srei
Official seal of Kampong Cham
Seal
Map of Cambodia highlighting Kampong Cham
Map of Cambodia highlighting Kampong Cham
Coordinates: 11°59′N 105°27′E / 11.983°N 105.450°E / 11.983; 105.450Category:Pages using gadget WikiMiniAtlasCategory:Coordinates on Wikidata
Country Cambodia
Provincial status1 January 1885
Tboung Khmum division31 December 2013
CapitalKampong Cham
Subdivisions1 municipality; 9 districts
Government
 • GovernorUn Chanda (CPP)
 • National Assembly
10 / 125
Area
 • Total
4,549 km2 (1,756 sq mi)
 • Rank18th
Population
 (2024)[1]
 • Total
Increase 1,062,914
 • Rank7th
 • Density198/km2 (510/sq mi)
  • Rank5th
Time zoneUTC+07:00 (ICT)
Dialing code+855
ISO 3166 codeKH-3

Kampong Cham (Khmer: កំពង់ចាមCategory:Articles containing Khmer-language text, UNGEGN: Kâmpóng Cham [kɑmpɔŋ caːm]Category:Pages with Khmer IPA; lit. 'Cham Port') is a province of Cambodia located on the central lowlands of the Mekong River. It borders the provinces of Kampong Chhnang to the west, Kampong Thom and Kratié to the north, Tboung Khmum to the east, and Prey Veng and Kandal to the south. Kampong Cham was officially divided into two provinces on 31 December 2013 in what was seen by many as a political move by the ruling party.[2][3] All land west of the Mekong remained Kampong Cham while land east of the river became Tbong Khmum province. Prior to this division, Kampong Cham extended eastward to the international border with Vietnam, was the eleventh largest province in Cambodia, and with a population of 1,680,694, was the most populous province in Cambodia. Its capital and largest city is Kampong Cham.

Etymology

Kampong Cham is the corrupted word of "Kampong Rong Chamm" means 'The Waiting Port' then shorten as "Kampong Chamm", Later, the sound changed to "Kampong Cham" in Khmer. Kampong means 'port' or 'harbor'. Chamm refers to the 'waiting'. A symbol the province is known for is two snakes sinuously wrapped around each other, which is located at the capital city bridge, Kampong Cham. Meanwhile, in Malay, the name Kampong Cham comes from the word Kampong 'village' and Cham refers to the Cham ethnic group.

Geography

Houses on the border of the Mekong river.
Map of Kampong Cham showing tree-cover loss years, with forest remaining since 2000 in green and loss years shaded yellow through purple.
Tree-cover loss year in Kampong Cham, 2001-2024, from the Global Forest Change dataset.

Kampong Cham is primarily lowlands. The main river is the Mekong River, which forms the eastern border of the province, separating it from Tbong Khmum province.

Religion

Religion in Kampong Cham province (2019 census)[4]
  1. Buddhism (97.6%)
  2. Islam (2.30%)
  3. Christianity (0.10%)
  4. Animism and Other religions (0.00%)

The state religion is Theravada Buddhism. More than 97.6% of the people in Kampong Cham province are Buddhists. About 2.3% population of Kampong Cham province follow Islam followed by Chams. Christianity is followed by 0.1% in the province.

Administration

Kampong Cham is subdivided into 9 districts and 1 municipality which in turn are subdivided into communes (khum) which are further divided into villages (phum).[5] The province formerly consisted of 16 districts, however a request by Hun Sen's government to split the province in two was made after his ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) lost the province to the opposition in the July 2013 elections.[3] The CPP won only eight of the available 18 National Assembly seats in Hun Sen's home province. The request, which was ostensibly made in order to improve administrative efficiency in the large province, was approved by King Sihamoni on 31 December 2013. The 10 districts that remain in Kampong Cham province overwhelmingly voted for the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party, led by Sam Rainsy, while five of the six districts cut out from Kampong Cham to form Tboung Khmum province were won solidly by the CPP.[2]

ISO
code		 Name Khmer Population (2019)[6] Subdivisions
— Municipality —
03-05 Kampong Cham កំពង់ចាមCategory:Articles containing Khmer-language text 38,365 4 sangkat
— District —
03-01 Batheay បាធាយCategory:Articles containing Khmer-language text 106,997 12 khum
03-02 Chamkar Loeu ចំការលើCategory:Articles containing Khmer-language text 101,675 8 khum
03-03 Cheung Prey ជើងព្រៃCategory:Articles containing Khmer-language text 92,898 10 khum
03-06 Kampong Siem កំពង់សៀមCategory:Articles containing Khmer-language text 94,729 15 khum
03-07 Kang Meas កងមាសCategory:Articles containing Khmer-language text 85,488 11 khum
03-08 Koh Sotin កោះសូទិនCategory:Articles containing Khmer-language text 48,069 8 khum
03-13 Prey Chhor ព្រៃឈរCategory:Articles containing Khmer-language text 133,712 15 khum
03-14 Srey Santhor ស្រីសន្ធរCategory:Articles containing Khmer-language text 81,687 14 khum
03-15 Steung Trang ស្ទឹងត្រង់Category:Articles containing Khmer-language text 103,501 12 khum

While Kampong Cham Province lies primarily to the north of the Mekong River, Koh Sotin and Steung Trang Districts lie on the south banks.

Politics

Kampong Cham is allocated 10 seats in the National Assembly, down from 18. It had been the largest constituency until 2018.

Notable people

See also

References

  1. ↑ "General Population Census of the Kingdom of Cambodia 2019 – Final Results" (PDF). National Institute of Statistics. Ministry of Planning. 26 January 2021. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 October 2022. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  2. 1 2 Mom, Kunthear; Kevin Ponniah (10 January 2014). "Kampong Cham's great divide". The Phnom Penh Post. Retrieved 29 January 2014.
  3. 1 2 Phorn, Bopha; Alex Willemyns (10 January 2014). "Government Creates New CPP-Majority province". The Cambodia Daily. Archived from the original on 2 February 2014. Retrieved 29 January 2014.
  4. ↑ "General Population census of the Kingdom of Cambodia 2019" (PDF). National Institute of Statistics Ministry of planning. October 2020. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2022-10-26. Retrieved 2021-02-03.
  5. ↑ "Kampong Cham Administration". Royal Government of Cambodia. Archived from the original on 2009-02-10. Retrieved 2009-01-20.
  6. ↑ "NIS EVENT – វិទ្យាស្ថានជាតិស្ថិតិ ( NIS )" (PDF). Archived from the original on October 26, 2022.
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