KRAVANH MOUNTAINS

Khmer Chuor Phnum Krvanh, formerly Cardamom Mountains, French Chane Des Cardamomes range of high hills in southwestern Cambodia that is situated on a southeast-northwest axis and continues westward into the highland area around Chanthaburi, Thailand. The Krvanh Mountains extend (some discontinuously) for about 100 miles (160 km) southeast and east to the Dmrei Mountains, reaching their highest point (5,949 feet ) near Pouthisat in Cambodia. Farther west, they reach 5,128 feet (1,563 m) in Tumbol Hill, just east of the Thailand border. Dense tropical rain forest prevails on their western slopes, which annually receive from 150 to 200 inches (3,8005,000 mm) of rainfall; only 40 to 60 inches (1,000 to 1,500 mm) fall on the wooded eastern slopes in the rain shadow facing the interior Cambodian plain. On their slopes cardamoms and pepper have been commercially grown. The mountains were inhabited until 1975 by Dravidian peoples who may have emigrated from the Coromandel Coast of India; they were related to similar tribes in the Dngrk, Dmrei, and Annamitique mountains.