Duang

(1796 –1860) was king of Cambodia, who reigned from 1841 to 1844 and 1845 to his death in 1860. Formally invested in 1848, his rule proved to be most beneficial for the kingdom, that was suffering from several centuries of royal dissent and decline. His politics focused on sustained national unity and identity and the minimization of foreign interference. He issued the first substantial revision of the legal codex in centuries and he encouraged and supervised religious and cultural reforms. Confronted with increasing Siamese and Vietnamese encroachment he attempted to establish an alliance with colonial France on a sovereign basis. Although this culminated in the ninety-year period of the French Protectorate of Cambodia, King Ang Duong was the decisive force behind the existence of the modern united Cambodian state. He was the agnatic ancestor of all later monarchs of Cambodia.