The Kingdom of Champa

The Kingdom of Champa

(Source Wikipedia)

The towers of Po Sa Nu (Pho Hai) near Phan Thiết may be the oldest extant Cham buildings. In style, they exhibit the influence of pre-Angkorian Cambodia. (Wekipeida)

The kingdom of Champa (Chăm Pa in Vietnamese or Chiêm Thành in Hán Việt records) was an Indianized kingdom of Malayo-Polynesian origins and controlled what is now southern and central Vietnam from approximately the 7th century through to 1832. It has the oldest known written Malay language from the 4th century AD, predating Sumatran texts by 300 years. [Coedes, 1939] Champa was preceded in the region by a kingdom called Lin-yi or Lâm Ấp (in existence since 192 A.D.), but the historical relationship between Lin-yi and Champa is not clear. Champa reached its apogee in the 9th and 10th centuries A.D. Thereafter began a gradual decline under pressure from the Đại Việt which was then Northern Vietnam. In 1471, Viet troops sacked the northern Cham capital of Vijaya, and in 1697 the southern principality of Panduranga became a vassal of the Vietnamese emperor. In 1832, the Vietnamese emperor Minh Mang annexed the remaining Cham territories.

Geography of historical Champa

Between the 7th and the 15th century A.D., Champa at times included the modern Vietnamese provinces of Quảng Nam, Quảng Ngãi, Bình Định, Phú Yên, Khánh Hòa, Ninh Thuận, and Bình Thuận. Though Cham territory included the mountainous zones west of the coastal plain and (at times) extended into present-day Laos, for the most part the Cham remained a seafaring people dedicated to trade, and maintained few settlements of any size away from the coast.

Historical Champa was a confederation of up to five principalities, each named after a historic region in India:

Indrapura - The city of Indrapura is now called Dong Duong, not many miles from present-day Da Nang and Huế. Da Nang used to be the city of Singhapura and is close to the valley of My Son, site of many ruined temples and towers. The area once controlled by this principality included present-day Quảng Bình, Quảng Trị, and Thừa Thiên–Huế provinces.

Amaravati (present-day Quảng Nam province).
Vijaya (Champa) - The city of Vijaya is now called Cha Ban but it lies just a few miles north of present-day Qui Nhon in Bình Định province. For a time, Vijaya principality controlled much of present-day Quang-Nam, Quang-Ngai, Binh Dinh, and Phu Yen provinces.

Kauthara - The city of Kauthara is now called Nha Trang in present-day Khánh Hòa province.
Panduranga (Champa) - The city of Panduranga is now called Phan Rang in present-day Ninh Thuận province). Panduranga was the last of the Cham territories to be annexed by the Vietnamese.

Within the four principalities there were two main groups: the Dua and the Cau. The Dua lived in Amarvati and Vijaya while the Cau lived in Kauthara and Pandaranga. The two clans differed in their customs and habits and conflicting interests led to many clashes and even war. But they usually managed to settle disagreements through intermarriage.[1]