Base of True Story The Angkor Empire, at its height between the 9th and 14th centuries, was one of the greatest civilizations in the world. Khmer kings built Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom, and countless temples, cities, irrigation systems, and art that reflected power, wealth, and culture far beyond anything Siam or its neighbors had at the time. During this golden era of Angkor, the camera did not yet exist. No photographs could capture the greatness, only stone carvings, temples, and foreign records remain as proof of Khmer glory. Centuries later, as Angkor weakened from wars, invasions, and internal struggles, the Siamese — a small group originally migrating from southern China — expanded their power. By this time, cameras had just been invented in the 19th century. Photographs from this later era often showed Cambodia in decline, under Siamese and later French pressure, but these images misled outsiders. They showed only a Cambodia already weakened — not the time when the Khmer were the most powerful civilization in Southeast Asia. Today, some Thais ignorantly share those old photographs as if they prove superiority, forgetting that when Angkor was at its richest and strongest, the technology to take pictures did not exist. The true record of greatness lies in Angkor’s temples, inscriptions, and history. Evidence that the Khmer Empire was once the strongest civilization in the region.