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Dak Dam

Coordinates: 12°24′N 107°34′E / 12.400°N 107.567°E / 12.400; 107.567
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Dak Dam
ឃុំដាក់ដាំ
Commune
Dak Dam is located in Cambodia
Dak Dam
Dak Dam
Location within Cambodia
Coordinates: 12°24′N 107°34′E / 12.400°N 107.567°E / 12.400; 107.567
Country Cambodia
ProvinceMondulkiri
DistrictOu Reang District
Villages3
Time zoneUTC+07
Geocode110301

Dak Dam is a khum (commune) of Ou Reang District in Mondulkiri Province in north-eastern Cambodia.

History

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Dak Dam was first established in February 1933 as a French outpost built as fortified posts intended to protect the road on the Piste Richomme and strengthen the French presence in Indochina. It was known as the Camp Le Rolland, in honour of a French lieutenant who died of malaria while protecting the site.[1] A group of Bunong led a rebellion against the French presence in February 1934 but was quickly controlled,[2] while the Roth Chan, an Khmer civil servant, of another Bunong who had helped the French soldiers were executed by the rebellion.[3]

In the following years, Dak Dam became a popular spot for hunting, with hunters coming all the way from Saigon.[4]

In 1938, the French protectorate opened a dispensary in Dak Dam to shelter the sick and provide basic health assistance to locals.[5] A school and boarding home was also built at the same time.[6]

In 1968, Dak Dam was chosen by the indigenous FULRO insurgency against Vietnam to become its headquarters in replacement of the old French Camp Le Rolland across the border in Cambodia.[7]

On the 16 and 17 November 1969, a border incident erupted in Dak Dam between the Royal Cambodian Army, the North Vietnamese Army, and the United States Army,[8] involving the use of napalm by the US Army[9] leaving from Bu Prang Camp after the mistaken identification of a Cambodian convoy.[10] The Bu Prang Camp had been under fire from Vietnamese communists hiding in the surroundings of Dak Dam since the closure of Landing Zone Kate on November 1 of that same year. At least 25 Cambodians perished. It was the "most serious such incident"[11] though the US government in an interview with Sisowath Sirik Matak on 23 November 1969 denied using the B-52 to bomb Dak Dam.[12] Many in American were shocked by this incursion, as Noam Chomsky who criticized this "casual and callous disregard of Cambodian neutrality".[13] and the US government finally paid $11,400 in reparations.

Between 10 and 11 January 1979, the Khmer revolutionary army of Pol Pot was attacked by Vietnamese troops helped by local Bunong rebels. Fierce battles took place. More than 100 Vietnamese troops were decimated, one piece of artillery was destroyed and large quantities of ammunition and war materials were captured.[14]

Administration

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As of 2021, the commune includes 3 phums (villages) as follows.[15]

  • Pu Traeng
  • Pu Leh
  • Pu Chhab

Nature

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Climate

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Dak Dam has a relatively cool South-East Asian tropical climate. Dak Dam is the village in Cambodia with the lowest temperature mean at 67 °F as well as the lowest extreme low temperature of 64 °F.[16]

Dak Dam holds a Cambodian record of 170 days of rain in a year, which is more than on Mount Bokor (166) or Kampot (124).[17]

Fauna

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Elephant ear gourami caught in the Dak Dam River

Dak Dam has a rich fauna. It is an essential asset for the Phnong population as the majority of households have hunted and trapped wildlife and gathered food and other products from the forest for generations.[18]

The Dak Dam river site is important for its populations of green peafowl Pavo muticus and white-winged duck Cairina scutulata. Long-tailed macaque Macaca fascicularis has also been recorded at Dak Dam Stream as of 1998 as well as the Asian elephant Elephas maximus, gaur Bos gaurus and banteng Bos javanicus. However, Brickle could not rule out the possibility that the tracks used to record Asian Elephant came from domestic animals alone.[19]

Flora

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Dak Dam is the set of a beautiful flora, considered "a relatively undisturbed riverine forest, one of the most threatened habitat types in South-East Asia".[20] In recent years, its forest has been threatened by tree logging[21] as well as forest clearing, especially in the nearby Phnom Nam Lyr Wildlife Sanctuary as late as of May 2020.[22]

Tourism

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In recent, Dak Dam has seen growing interest for eco- and ethnotourism.

Among other destinations, the Dak Dam Waterfall as well the Andong Snae mountain, or Well of Love, are most popular among tourists.[23]

References

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  1. ^ Guérin, Mathieu (2008). Paysans de la forêt à l'époque coloniale: la pacification des aborigènes des hautes terres du Cambodge, 1863-1940 (in French). Association d'histoire des sociétés rurales. p. 106. ISBN 978-2-911369-09-4.
  2. ^ Société des études indochinoises (1955). Bulletin de la Société des études indo-chinoises de Saigon (in French). La Société des Etudes indochinoises de Saïgon. p. 98.
  3. ^ Société des études indochinoises (1974). Bulletin de la Société des études indo-chinoises de Saigon (in French). La Société des Etudes indochinoises de Saïgon. p. 13.
  4. ^ Cahiers O.R.S.T.O.M.: Série entomologie médicale et parasitologie (in French). O.R.S.T.O.M. 1971. p. 235.
  5. ^ Comité de l'Asie française (1939). L'Asie française: bulletin mensuel du Comité de l'Asie française (in French). Comité de l'Asie française. p. 71.
  6. ^ Bernatzik, Hugo Adolf (1955). Les esprits des feuilles jaunes (in French). Librairie Plon. p. 227.
  7. ^ Wolfe, Thomas W. (1971). Soviet Interests in SALT: Political, Economic, Bureaucratic and Strategic Contributions and Impediments to Arms Control. Rand Corporation. p. 6.
  8. ^ United Nations Security Council (1970). Report of the Council. New York: United Nations. pp. 156–157.
  9. ^ Huoth, Sambath (4 December 1969). "Letter dated 3 December 1969 from the representative of Cambodia to the President of the Security Council". Statement of Information of the United States Congress.
  10. ^ United States Department of State (1970). Press releases. Washington DC. p. 53.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  11. ^ Anderson, David L. (2010). The Columbia History of the Vietnam War. New York: Columbia University Press. p. 370. ISBN 9780231509329.
  12. ^ Foreign Broadcast Information Service of the United States (1969). "Daily Report on Asia". Daily Reports of the United States Senate: 10.
  13. ^ Chomsky, Noam (4 June 1970). "Cambodia". The New York Review of Books.
  14. ^ United States Foreign Broadcast Information Service (1979). Daily Report: People's Republic of China. National Technical Information Service. p. 16.
  15. ^ "Cambodia Gazetteer Database Online". Cambodia NCDD Databases. National Committee for Sub-National Democratic Development (NCDD). 2020. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
  16. ^ United States Air Weather Service (1965). January-[December] Climate of Southeast Asia. 30th Weather Squadron, 1st Weather Wing (MATS), U.S. Air Force APO San Francisco. p. 30.
  17. ^ Delvert, Jean (1961). Le paysan cambodgien (in French). Mouton. p. 43.
  18. ^ Perera, Jayantha (1 September 2009). Land and Cultural Survival: The Communal Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Asia. Asian Development Bank. ISBN 978-92-9254-713-4.
  19. ^ "BirdLife Data Zone - Dak Dam Factsheet". datazone.birdlife.org. Retrieved 3 June 2021.
  20. ^ "BirdLife Data Zone - Dak Dam Factsheet". datazone.birdlife.org. Retrieved 3 June 2021.
  21. ^ Koemsoeun, Soth. "Suspects wanted for logging thousands of trees in Mondulkiri". www.phnompenhpost.com. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
  22. ^ Savi, Khorn. "Activists allege forest clearing in Mondulkiri wildlife sanctuary". www.phnompenhpost.com. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
  23. ^ រស្មី, ហុង. "Andong Sneh Dak Dam, representative of Mondulkiri". www.postkhmer.com (in Khmer). Archived from the original on 21 August 2017. Retrieved 3 June 2021.
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