Angkor barays and hydraulic network
Barays e hidráulica de Angkor
- Date
- c. 877-1050 · confidence medium
- Place
- East Baray, Angkor, Siem Reap, Cambodia
- Credited to
- Khmer Empire (Indravarman I, Yasovarman I, Suryavarman I)
- Field
- Tools
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
Large rectangular reservoirs (the West Baray measures 8 x 2 km), canals and dykes that managed monsoon water in the largest pre-industrial city in the world. They regulated floods and supported an urban area of more than 1,000 km².
Whether the barays served mainly for irrigation (Groslier) or for ritual and flood-control purposes is debated; lidar surveys (2012-2015) have confirmed the scale of the network.
What it led to
- extensive low-density urbanism
- large-scale rice cultivation on the Angkor plain
- vulnerability to droughts and extreme monsoons that contributed to the decline (14th-15th centuries)