Sisowath of Cambodia

Who was Sisowath of Cambodia?

Sisowath I was king of Cambodia from 1904 to his death in 1927. He was the son of King Ang Duong and half brother of Prince Si Votha and King Norodom.

When he was born, Cambodia was under joint Siamese and Vietnamese rule. The royal family lived in the Siamese zone rather than live under Vietnamese oppression. Like his brother King Norodom, Sisowath was educated in the Siamese capital of Bangkok. He did not return to his native Cambodia until 1860, when his father and the ruling monarch, Ang Duong, died.

He hastily returned to Odong, the royal capital of Cambodia, to prevent his half-brother, Prince Si Votha from seizing the throne. He succeeded, and his other half-brother, Norodom, became king. Although Norodom was more compliant, rebellion broke out in Cambodia, and soon the French, seeking control of Southeast Asia, forced Norodom to comply with a French protectorate over Cambodia. The French thus drove out the Thai and the Vietnamese, and Cambodia became a French protectorate, though it was quite autonomous.

Sisowath was enraged - and he exiled himself to Saigon in Vietnam in 1864, the other former overlord of Cambodia, in a show of defiance.