Kampot () is a city in southern Cambodia and the capital of Kampot Province. It is on the Praek Tuek Chhu River southeast of the Elephant Mountains and around from the Gulf of Thailand. Kampot was the capital of the Circonscription Résidentielle de Kampot under French rule and Cambodia's most important seaport after the loss of the Mekong Delta and before the establishment of Sihanoukville. Its center is, unlike most Cambodian provincial capitals, composed of 19th century French colonial architecture. The region and town are known for high quality pepper, which is exported worldwide. It is also known for its Kampot fish sauce, and durian. The government and the Ministry of Culture and Fine Art have been preparing documents to nominate The Old Town of Kampot for admission to the UNESCO World Heritage Site list (along with The Old Town of Battambang and The Old Town of Kratie) since 2017.
History
A Khmer breach between Siam and Ha-Tien since 1771
The first description of Kampot in the Cambodian Royal Chronicles refers to an event that took place from 1771 to 1775. In 1771, King Taksin of Siam attacked Ha-Tien and destroyed it completely before marching on the Cambodian capital Oudong.
In an effort to overthrow the Khmer King Outey II who was allied with Vietnamese Mac Thien Tu based in Ha-Tien, the young Khmer prince and future king Ang Non II gathered with Siamese soldiers in Kampot which he used as a base for his hostilities until obtaining the throne 1775.
The uprising of Oknha Mau in 1841
In 1841, Oknha-Mau, who was a Cambodian governor, refused the Vietnamese yoke which had gradually been imposed once more on Kampot. Supported by Siam, he gathered a military contingent of about 3,000 Cambodians. The Vietnamese ran away to Ha-Tien again.
The first international seaport of Cambodia (1841–1860) Upon his arrival on the throne in 1840, Khmer King Ang Duong constructed a road from his capital of Oudong, to Kampot, and opened Kampot as the only international seaport of Cambodia. Import and exports grew quickly in the hands of the Anglo-Chinese merchants of Singapore turning a neighborhood of the city into the Chinese Kampot. French missionary Father Hestret founded the first Catholic Church in Kampot at that time, and received the visit of French explorer Henri Mouhot.
From the French protectorate to the insurrection (1863–1886) Cambodia became a protectorate of France in 1863. King Norodom appointed a Vietnamese as chief of the canton and let him control the village and all Vietnamese in this province. After this period, Kampot began to decline. The main reason for this decline was because Saigon Port was opened and navigation along the Mekong River began to be exploited in the interests of French colonialism.
Resentment grew among the population. The insurrection began on 17 March 1885 at noon, when a band of 50 men sacked the opium entrepôt held by the French colonialists. Another band of 50 men attacked the telegraph office. The customhouse at the entrance of the river became a fort of insurgents. At the beginning of April, a French aviso à vapeur Le Sagittaire and two junks appeared at the anchorage of Kampot. Tensions escalated as violence broke out throughout the province with a complex play of alliances and betrayals as well as interference from Chinese pirates. On 8 May 1886, a column of 100 soldiers under Lieutenant de Vaubert departed Kampot. Résident Santenoy also marched with 30 militiamen. After an hour's battle, a Cambodian militiaman of the Résident succeeded in penetrating into the fort of the insurgents, and French troops broke the fort in five minutes officially ending the insurrection of Kampot.
At the end of 1886, an interview between the King Sisowath and the insurgents was held at Thnol Bek Kus, half-way between Phnom Penh and Kampot and peace was accomplished.
Kampot of the Belle Epoque (1889–1940) Under 19th century French colonial administration Kampot became a regional administrative centre with the status of a state border district as a result of the delimitation of the Kingdom of Cambodia. The Circonscription Résidentielle de Kampot contained the arrondissements of Kampot, Kompong-Som, Trang, and Kong-Pisey.
In 1889 French colonial census reports a multi-ethnic community: Kampot town consisted of "Cambodian Kampot" on the Prek-Kampot River and "Chinese Kampot" on the right riverbank of the west branch of the Prek-Thom River. Nearby was also a Vietnamese village, called Tien-Thanh and another Vietnamese village on Traeuy Koh Island. A Malay enclave also existed on Traeuy Koh Island. Additional villages of mixed ethnicity are listed.