Henri Mouhot Brings Angkor Wat to Western Attention

French naturalist Henri Mouhot reached the Angkor temple complex in Cambodia during his second expedition through Indochina. He spent weeks documenting the ruins through detailed sketches and journal entries. Although Angkor had never been lost to local Khmer communities and had been visited by Portuguese and Spanish missionaries since the 16th century, Mouhot's posthumously published journals generated sustained Western scholarly and public interest in the site. His accounts prompted subsequent French archaeological expeditions and contributed to France's colonial engagement with Cambodia.