Chey Chettha II ( km, ជ័យជេដ្ឋាទី២ , 1576–1628) was a

king of Cambodia The monarchy of Cambodia is the head of state of the Kingdom of Cambodia. In the contemporary period, the King's power has been limited to that of a symbolic figurehead. The monarchy had been in existence since at least 68 AD except during ...

who reigned from

Oudong ( km, ឧដុង្គ; also romanized as Udong or Odong) is a former town of the post-Angkorian period (1618–1863) situated in present-day ''Phsar Daek'' Commune, Ponhea Lueu District, Kandal Province, Cambodia. Located at the foothill of t ...

, about 40 km northwest of modern-day Phnom Penh, from 1618 to 1628. He was the son of King Srei Soriyopear (r. 1603–1618). He is noted for moving the royal capital from Srei Sonthor to Oudong, and for his cooperation with the

Nguyễn Lords Nguyễn () is the most common Vietnamese surname. Outside of Vietnam, the surname is commonly rendered without diacritics as Nguyen. Nguyên (元）is a different word and surname. By some estimates 39 percent of Vietnamese people bear this ...

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making it ...

against the Siamese, which led to the Vietnamese annexation of the

Mekong Delta The Mekong Delta ( vi, Đồng bằng Sông Cửu Long, lit=Nine Dragon River Delta or simply vi, Đồng Bằng Sông Mê Kông, lit=Mekong River Delta, label=none), also known as the Western Region ( vi, Miền Tây, links=no) or South-weste ...

, including the city of Prey Nokor—the precursor of modern-day

Ho Chi Minh City , population_density_km2 = 4,292 , population_density_metro_km2 = 697.2 , population_demonym = Saigonese , blank_name = GRP (Nominal) , blank_info = 2019 , blank1_name = – Total , blank1_ ...

. In order to balance the influence of the Siamese forces, which had devastated the previous capital at Longvek during the reign of his father, Chey Chettha approached the Nguyễn lord for help. To cement the resulting alliance, Chey Chettha was married to Princess Nguyễn Phúc Ngọc Vạn, a daughter of Lord

Nguyễn Phúc Nguyên Nguyễn Phúc Nguyên (阮福源; 16 August 1563 – 19 November 1635) was an early Nguyễn lord who ruled the southern Vietnam from the city of Phú Xuân (modern-day Huế) from 1613 to 1635. During his rule, the Nguyễn established a city ...

, in 1618. In return, the king granted the Vietnamese the right to establish settlements in Mô Xoài (now Bà Rịa), in the region of Prey Nokor—which they colloquially referred to as ''Sài Gòn'', and which later became

. In 1621, Chey Chettha initiated a major legal reform from his palace of Sras-Kev in Kompong Luong on the banks of the

Mekong The Mekong or Mekong River is a trans-boundary river in East Asia and Southeast Asia. It is the world's twelfth longest river and the third longest in Asia. Its estimated length is , and it drains an area of , discharging of water annuall ...

. He codified the laws and traditions into twelve volumes which were not reformed until the reign of King Norodom in 1872. In 1623, Chey Chettha allowed the Vietnamese to set up a

custom house A custom house or customs house was traditionally a building housing the offices for a jurisdictional government whose officials oversaw the functions associated with importing and exporting goods into and out of a country, such as collecting ...

at Prey Nokor, in order to collect taxes. This settlement was the start of a major expansion by the Vietnamese beyond the borders established by

Lê Thánh Tông Lê Thánh Tông (黎聖宗; 25 August 1442 – 3 March 1497), personal name Lê Hạo, temple name Thánh Tông, courtesy name Tư Thành, was an emperor of Đại Việt, reigning from 1460 to 1497, the fifth and the longest-reigning empe ...

in 1471. The increasing waves of Vietnamese settlers which followed overwhelmed Chey Chettha II's kingdom—weakened as it was due to war with the Siamese—and slowly Vietnamized the Mekong Delta area, claiming it for their own in the 1690s. The

Dutch East India Company The United East India Company ( nl, Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, the VOC) was a chartered company established on the 20th March 1602 by the States General of the Netherlands amalgamating existing companies into the first joint-stock c ...

established ties with Cambodia in 1620, during Chey Chettha's reign; in 1623, they established an outpost at Kompong Luong, a riverside port near Oudong.

Family

* Father: Srei Soriyopear (Barom Reachea IV or VII) * Mother: Queen Sri Sujati * Consorts and their respective issue: # Ang Chov ( Princess Ngọc Vạn) from Annam, a daughter of Lord

## Princess Ang Na Kshatriyi (married Batom Reachea I) #Suok ## Ponhea To (Thommo Reachea II) #Thong ## Ponhea Nou ( Ang Tong Reachea) ## Princess Ang Vathi (betrothed to Ponhea To but married Outey. Executed together with Ponhea To in 1630) #Anak Mnan Pussa from

Lan Xang existed as a unified kingdom from 1353 to 1707. For three and a half centuries, Lan Xang was one of the largest kingdoms in Southeast Asia. The meaning of the kingdom's name alludes to the power of the kingship and formidable war machine of the ea ...

## Ponhea Chan (Sultan Ibrahim)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chettha, Chey, II 1576 births 1628 deaths 17th-century Cambodian monarchs