15 Facts About Ang Duong

Ang Duong was the King of Cambodia from 1848 to his death in 1860.

Ang Duong's politics focused on sustained national unity and identity and the minimization of foreign interference.

Ang Duong issued the first substantial revision of the legal codex in centuries, and he encouraged and supervised religious and cultural reforms.

Ang Duong ascended the throne with the title Preah Karuna Preah Bat Samdech Preah Harireak Reamea Issathipadei Ang Duong.

Ang Duong was the progenitor of the two main royal houses of Cambodia, the Houses of Norodom and Sisowath.

Ang Duong was the son of King Ang Eng, who ruled Cambodia from 1779 to 1797 and resided at the then capital Oudong.

Ang Duong's mother was Ros, a royal consort since 1793 and later Queen Vara.

Ang Duong was the father of his successor King Norodom, King Sisowath and was the great-great-grandfather of King Norodom Sihanouk.

King Ang Duong is acclaimed as a promoter of national unity after centuries of regress and venerated among modern Cambodians for his efforts to revitalize the nation and protect the kingdom from foreign invasion.

Ang Duong spent 27 years in Bangkok from the age of 16 until aged 43.

Ang Duong was appointed governor of the then Thai Mongkol Borey District in 1834.

Later Ang Duong was crowned King of Cambodia in Bangkok and returned to Oudong.

King Ang Duong died in 1860, three years before negotiations had concluded.

Contrary to the assertions of some 19th century French authors, Ang Duong did not seek the imposition of a French protectorate over his country, he rather pondered the feasibility of some ill-defined, unequal relationship with France.

Ang Duong certainly was aware, that the French main objective for a protectorate was the containment of the British and the creation of a secure flank for Cochinchina.