History’s Deserted Cities and Places

History’s Deserted Cities and Places book cover — HISTORY'S DESERTED CITIES AND PLACES by Tammy Gagne STORY LIBRARY

History’s Deserted Cities and Places — page 1 — 1 A Medieval City in the Cambodian Jungle Wat King Suryavarman II ordered it built in the early 1100s Ankgor Wat is four times larger than Vatican City in Rome By the 1400s the Khmer empire had been weakened by wars Changing religious beliefs caused instability After enemies from the west invaded Angkor the city was abandoned For centuries it was forgotten Today Angkor is a UNESCO World Heritage site It is one of the most important archaeological sites in Southeast Asia Two million tourists a year visit Angkor Wat The medieval city of Angkor was once hidden deep in the jungle of Cambodia So was its great temple Angkor Wat Few people outside of Cambodia knew they existed Long ago Angkor was the capital of the Khmer empire From 800 to 1400 CE the empire stretched across much of Southeast Asia Angkor covered about 248 square miles 400 sq km As many as a million people lived there Angkor contained many elaborate temples They were built to honor kings and gods The most famous temple is Ankgor An aerial view of the Angkor Wat temple 4

History’s Deserted Cities and Places — page 2 — WHAT’S A UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITE UNESCO is an agency of the United Nations The letters stand for United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization UNESCO is based in Paris It works to build peace and security in the world A World Heritage Site is a landmark or place UNESCO has picked as important to humanity It is protected by international treaties Yellowstone National Park is a World Heritage Site So is the city of Venice in Italy So is the Great Barrier Reef in Australia 5 10 million Number of sandstone blocks used to build Angkor Wat The Khmer empire stretched across much of Southeast Asia between 800 and 1400 CE Angkor was a large city of up to 1 million people It had many elaborate temples The city was abandoned after enemies invaded

1

PAGE 1 OF 29

The only kids' eBook subscription service that offers thousands of high-quality books from well known publishers like HarperCollins, National Geographic and others.

JavaScript Required

Whoops! We're sorry but Epic doesn't work properly without JavaScript enabled. Check your web browser's settings to make sure it's enabled.