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Angkor's Rice Revolution That Backfired
Description
In the centuries before Angkor's collapse, the Khmer Empire engineered an agricultural transformation unlike any in Southeast Asia. Rice paddies expanded across the Tonle Sap floodplain, fed by an intricate network of canals and barays. But this green revolution came with hidden costs. In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore how the shift from dry rice to deepwater floating rice created a brittle food system that made Angkor vulnerable to climate shocks and disease. They examine the role of iron-tipped plows and the little-known 'rice crisis' of the 14th century that strained the devaraja's authority. Drawing on pollen cores and archaeological surveys from the Greater Angkor Project, they uncover how the very success of Angkor's rice economy sowed the seeds of its downfall. Plus, the story of the mysterious 'Khmer rice terraces' that still puzzle historians today.