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Cambodia

Until the mid-19th century, the outside world knew almost nothing of the interior of Cambodia. From the 16th and 17thcenturies, rumors began to surface in Europe - based on tales from Portuguese and French missionaries- about a magnificent city, hidden somewhere in the middle of the jungle. Then, in 1861, French naturalist Henri Mouhot stumbled across the overgrown ruins of Angkor. The local people thought it inconceivable that their ancestors could have built the incredible temple-mountain complexes and told Mouhot they were the work of a race of giant gods.