(C. RI.) a town of French Indo-China, capital, since 1886, of the protectorate of Cambodia and seat of the resident superior. Pop. about 96.000, consisting of Cambodians, Annamese, Chinese, Malays, Indians and some Europeans. It is situated on the Mekong about 173 m. from its mouth at the point where it divides into two arms and is joined by the Tonle-Sap river. Its position makes it the market for the products of Cambodia, Laos, Upper Burma and part of Siam (dried fish, rice, cotton, indigo, cardamoms, etc.). The administrative opening of the Mekong to maritime navigation in 1908 has contributed a great deal to its development. The palace of the king of Cambodia occupies a large space in the Cambodian quarter. The town gets its name from the Pnom, a hill surmounted by an ancient pagoda.
The lower valley of the Po was at an early period occupied by people of the Palaeolithic and Neolithic stages of civilization, who built houses on piles along the swampy borders of the streams. The river regulation works originated in pre-Roman times. The reclaiming and protecting of the riparian lands went on rapidly under the Romans, and in several places the rectangu lar divisions of the ground are still remarkably distinct. (See Esm.) During the barbarian invasions much of the protective system decayed but the later middle ages saw the works resumed, so that the present arrangement existed in the main by the close of the 15th century.
The Ligurian name of the Po was Bodincus or Bodencus, i.e., the bottomless. The name Padus was taken from the Celts or the Veneti. Thus we find Bodincomagus as a town name (Industria) on the upper course, and Padua, as a name of one of the mouths of the river. The name 'HpcSaven (Eridanus) of Greek poetry was identified with it at a comparatively late period.
See A. Beltramelei, Da Comacchio ad Argenta (Bergamo, 1905) ; A. Cappellini, 11 Polesine (Rovigo, 1925).