Mark of Empire Asias Ancient Civilizations

The city of Ayutthaya in modernday Thailand was the capital of a mighty empire that once controlled large parts of Myanmar Laos Cambodia and Vietnam A cosmopolitan center of over a million residents it was one of the wealthiest cities in the eastern hemisphere but is now largely reduced to ruins

Renowned as the City of a Thousand Pagodas Bagan was the capital of a mighty empire that was the first to unify the territory of presentday Myanmar under Burmese language and culture becoming worldrenowned as a center of Buddhist learning It is now in modernday Burma

The Khmer civilization of the 9th to the 15th century conquered parts of Cambodia Vietnam Laos and Thailand to become one of Southeast Asias largest empires headquartered in the city of Angkor Now attracting over 25 million visitors a year it houses Angkor Wat one of Cambodias most popular tourist attractions

A look back at the Majapahit Empire which spanned the 13th and 16th centuries It was the largest such entity in Southeast Asia and the center of the worldfamous spice trade that stretched from China to India the Middle East Africa and Europe