Major Engineering Events in History: Ancient City of Angkor Cambodia 1000 A.D.

About the major engineering events in history, the city of Angkor in Cambodia in 1000 A.D.

Great Engineering Feats from Early Times to the Present

1000 A.D. (The Ancient City of Angkor, Cambodia). The largest city in the world 1,000 years after Christ was Angkor, Cambodia, discovered buried in the jungle by the French naturalist Henri Mouhout in 1858. Built to accommodate a population of over one million people (larger than the Rome of 1000 A.D.), by the Hindu Khmer Empire that reigned until approximately 1100 A.D., the city covered almost 30 sq. mi. An agricultural people, the Khmers lived chiefly on rice, and built 2 huge reservoirs to impound water for irrigating their crops. Each of these reservoirs contained over 2 billion gallons of water. Water played an important role in the lives of the residents of Angkor, as they used it not only for agriculture, sanitation, and sustenance, but also for protection. The ancient city was completely surrounded by a water-filled moat. The Khmer Empire covered all of present-day Combodia, as well as parts of Thailand, Laos, Burma, and Vietnam. No one knows what caused this flourishing city to be abandoned to the jungle.