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The Indian Ocean Trade Collapse That Starved Angkor
Description
When the Khmer Empire collapsed in the 15th century, historians long blamed the Thai siege of 1431. But a growing body of evidence points to a more insidious culprit: the collapse of Angkor's long-distance trade networks across the Indian Ocean. This episode traces the rise of Khmer maritime commerce under Suryavarman II, the flourishing of the port of Phnom Penh, and the devastating impact of the Ming Dynasty's maritime ban (haijin) under the Hongwu Emperor. We explore how the shift of the global silk route from overland to sea bypassed Angkor entirely, starving the kingdom of the silver and prestige goods that sustained its devaraja cult. New archaeological data from shipwrecks off the coast of Vietnam and Thailand—especially the Pandanan wreck and the Rang Kwien wreck—reveal a drastic drop in Khmer ceramics exports after 1350. We also examine the role of Chinese admiral Zheng He's treasure fleets, which redirected trade to Melaka and away from the Mekong delta. The episode closes with a reflection on how empires die not with a bang, but with a slow drain of connections.