Pierre-Médard Diard (19 March 1794, Saint-Laurent-en-Gâtines - 16 Feb 1863, Sumatra or Jakarta, Indonesia) was a French naturalist and explorer who studied zoology and anatomy under Georges Cuvier (1769-1832), and traveled to the East Indies in 1817, age 23, spending most of his natural life in… Read more

Phuoeng Sophean ភឿង សុភ័ណ្ឌ (23 April 1958, Siem Reap - 6 Oct. 2020, Phnom Penh) was a Cambodian architect and statesman who initiated the restoration of the Iron Palace at the Phnom Penh Royal Palace in 1991. A son of a renowned Siem Reap architect, he developed a special interest in architectural… Read more

Steve McCurry (b. 1950, Philadelphia, USA) is a professional photographer whose work in rebel-controlled areas of Afghanistan prior to and after the 1979 Russian invasion -- including the iconic "Sharbat Gula, Afghan Girl"(1984), which was a National Geographic cover photo --, and again after the… Read more

Lucretia Stewart (1952, Singapore) is a journalist and travel writer who visited Cambodia in 1990.After spending much of her early life in Singapore and China as the daughter of a diplomat, she started writing for the New Review, Brides magazine, the Evening Standard, Harpers & Queen, and… Read more

Luciano Perez-Rivera Santiago (21 June 1942 – 1 Feb 2019) was a Filipino writer, historian, and psychiatrist known for his books and articles on Philippine history and the arts.An alumnus of the University of the Philippines College of Medicine in Manila, he trained at the Sheppard and Enoch Pratt… Read more

L. Charles was a "capitaine au long cours" [master mariner] of the French Merchant Navy and a corresponding member of Société de Géographie commerciale de Bordeaux, created in 1874, who visited Cambodia and the court of King Norodom I as early as 1870. In addition of his account of Cambodia, we… Read more

Dr. Philippe Hahn, known as 'Docteur Hahn' (19 Aug 1850, Strasbourg-Neuhof - 23 March 1913, Paris, France) was a French physician and administrator, the personal physician of Kings Norodom and Sisowath, and a keen observer of the Cambodian scene from 1878 to 1907.Arriving in Cambodia on 1 January… Read more

Philip J. Coggan is an Australian independent researcher and journalist based in Cambodia who published two books about the Kingdom:  Spirit Worlds: Cambodia, the Buddha & the Naga (2016), and An Illustrated History of Cambodia (2019). A contributor to the Mekong Review and other Southeast… Read more

Joseph Athanase Doumer, known as Paul Doumer (22 March 1857, Aurillac, France – 7 May 1932, Hotel Salomon de Rotschild, Paris), was Governor-General of French Indochina from 13 Feb 1897 to 14 April 1902, and President of France from June 1931 until his assassination in May 1932 at a book fair where… Read more

HH Prince Sisowath Ravivaddhana Monipong (15 Feb. 1970, Phnom Penh) is a researcher in history and culture of Southeast Asia, an author of books and articles on the social and traditional structure of the Cambodian society and the genealogy of the Khmer Royal Family, an artistic consultant for… Read more

Paul Fuchs (1936-19 Dec 2023, Pezenas, France) was a French agricultural engineer and a journalist who served as HM King Norodom Sihanouk's press attaché in the 1960s, and contributed to Agence Khmere de Presse (AKP).He researchedd and covered numerous royal ceremonies and popular festivals in… Read more

Magdeleine de Chasseloup-Laubat, Princesse Achille Murat (2 July 1901, Paris - 8 May 1945, Paris, France) was a French travel writer and socialite who visited Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam in the 1920s, and wrote the chapter 'Tourisme' in the monumental Un empire colonial francais: l'Indochine (ed.… Read more

John Frederick Norman Lewis (28 June 1908, Forty Hill, UK – 22 July 2003, Saffron Walden, UK ) was a British novelist and travel writer who had served in the Intelligence Corps in Algeria, Tunisia and Italy during World War II, and whose travelogue in Indochina, A Dragon Apparent (1951) gives his… Read more

Gustave Jean-Auguste Janneau (1843, Parthenay, France - 21 June 1872, Phnom Penh, Cambodia) was a French anthropologist, philologist and interpreter who left several unpublished manuscripts on Cambodian and Vietnamese languages and cultures, in addition to the first comprehensive study on the Khmer… Read more

Lia Genovese is an independent researcher specializing in the archaeology of French Indochina, the Plain of Jars and other megalithic expressions in Laos and the region. Her current projects include a critical biography of the French archaeologist Madeleine Colani.With a PhD from SOAS University of… Read more

Prof. Ramachandran Nagaswamy (10 Aug 1930, Madras, India -23 Jan 2022, Chennai, India) was an eminent archaeologist, epigraphist and historian, the first director of Tamil Nadu Archaeology Department, the founder of the Tamil epigraphic journal Kalveṭṭu, and a specialist in bronze statues and… Read more

Jules Ferdinand Marec (4 May 1881, Lorient, France - 13 March 1957, Saint-Sauveur-Sur-Ecole, Seine et Marne, France) was a French military cartographer and explorer who was the first to survey the site of Banteay Srei in January 1914, and sent two statues and stone elements from the temple to Phnom… Read more

Chhany Sak-Humphry is a Cambodian Associate Professor with the College of Arts, Languages & Letters, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, USA, where she coordinates the Khmer linguistics studies program: Modern Khmer Language (Syntax; Curriculum Development; Literature; Culture; Dictionary) and Old… Read more

Dr. Haraprasad Ray (1931, Dhubri, Assam, India - 21 July 2019, Kolkata, India) was an Indian scholar in Sino-Tibetan research who explored Chinese sources on South Asia history covering centuries till late 19th century.A professor at Calcutta University, India, from 1953 to 1956, he joined India's… Read more

Gerald Cannon Hickey (17 Dec. 1925- 10 Nov. 2010, Chicago, IL, USA) was an anthropologist who worked in Southeast Asia, primarily Vietnam. From 1956 through 1973, he conducted ethnographic research in Vietnam; during the 1960s his research was sponsored by the RAND Corporation. He built ties with… Read more