| Abstract: |
The Angkorian world included a variety of connectors that linked the capital to its provinces and more distant regions where Angkorian influence, if not direct control, shaped daily lives. Archaeological and documentary sources identify formally constructed overland roads that complemented extant riverine and coastal transportation and communication routes to move commodities and people across much of what is now mainland Southeast Asia’s upstream/downstream and coastal/inland systems. The circulation of goods through these networks not only sustained the Angkorian elite; they bolstered their relations with neighbouring polities, among them successive Chinese rulers. At its height, the Angkorian world was intensively networked. This chapter draws on extant sources to describe dynamics that shaped different routes through time, paying attention both to the Angkorian capital and major polities whose interactions with Angkor’s court are described in the epigraphy.
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