Cambodia is composed of an area of about 118,000 square kilometers and has a population of approximately 16 million people. The country lies on the southern side of the continental divide between the Indo-Pacific and Southern seas. Cambodia is bordered by Thailand to the south and south-west, Laos to the north-east, and Vietnam to the north. The capital of Cambodia is Phnom Penh and it has a coastline on the Gulf of Siam. The Khmer people are the predominant ethnic group in Cambodia, making up about 60 percent of the population. About 30 percent of Cambodians are Buddhist and about 10 percent are Christian. The official language is Khmer with English as an official second language. The country has a history that goes back more than 3,000 years. It was colonized by France in 1863 and then became part of French Indochina until 1975 when it attained full independence. After years of civil war, Cambodia emerged as a democratic society in 1993. However, there have been recent concerns about human rights abuses perpetrated by the government against its citizens.