Kampot

Kampot is a province in the southwest of Cambodia. This province is adjacent to Koh Kong province and Kampong Speu province in the north, Takeo province, Kep province, and Vietnam in the east, and Sihanoukville province in the west. It has 45 km of the coastline on the Gulf of Thailand. Kampot province has a population of 627,884 people living in eight districts with a total of 477 villages. The provincial capital is Kampot town, and Touk Meas city is the largest city in the province.

Before the French came to this land, Kampot was just a small town. When the French took control of the entire territory of Cambodia, Kampot became a regional administrative center of the region with the status of a state border district. In 1889, the French reported a multi-ethnic community, Kampot town consisted of “Cambodia Kampot” on the Prek-Kampot river, “China Kampot” on the right river bank of the Prek-Thom river, Vietnamese and Malay villages on Traeuy Koh island.

Under the period of the Khmer Rouge, Kampot had undergone the darkest time with blood and sweat flowing down all over the territory of the province. Destruction and mass murder happened throughout the land. A total of 90,450 people were massacred throughout the province and buried in the mass graves.

Kampot now has many potentials to develop the economy and tourism. Thanks to the peaceful landscapes of the rice paddies and beautiful seascapes with the gorgeous beaches, Kampot is expected to make use of its advantages to be a tourist highlight of Cambodia and help deal with the jobs for local people.