Cham
Total population
500,000
Regions with significant populations
Cambodia 317,000 [1]  Vietnam 100,000 [2]  Malaysia 10,000  Thailand 4,000  United States 3,000  France 1,000  Saudi Arabia 100  Australia undetermined  Bangladesh
Languages
Cham, Malay, Khmer, Vietnamese
Religions
Sunni Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Bahá'í Faith
Related ethnic groups
Jarai, Malaysian, Indonesian, Filipino

The Cham people (Vietnamese: người Chăm or người Chàm) are an ethnic group in Southeast Asia. The Kingdom of Cambodia ( formerly known as Kampuchea (, transliterated: Preăh Réachéanachâkr Kâmpŭchea) is a country in South East Vietnam (ˌviːɛtˈnɑːm Việt Nam) officially For the biogeographical region see Malesia Malaysia (məˈleɪʒə or /məˈleɪziə/ is a country that consists of thirteen states and The Kingdom of Thailand (ˈtaɪlænd ราชอาณาจักรไทย, râːtɕʰa-ʔaːnaːtɕɑ̀k-tʰɑj The United States of America —commonly referred to as the This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, KSA ( المملكة العربية السعودية, al-Mamlaka al-ʻArabiyya as-Suʻūdiyya) or Suudi For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics. ( Bengali: বাংলাদেশ inc-Latn Bangladesh) officially Cham is the language of the Cham people of Southeast Asia, and formerly the language of the kingdom of Champa in central Vietnam The Malay language ( ISO 639-1 code MS is an Austronesian language spoken by the Malay people and people of other ethnic groups who reside in the Khmer (ភាសាខ្មែរ or Cambodian, is the language of the Khmer people and the official language of Cambodia. Vietnamese ( tiếng Việt, or less commonly Việt ngữ) formerly known under French colonization as Annamese ( see Annam) Sunni Islam is the largest denomination of Islam. Sunni Islam is also referred to as Ahl as-Sunnah wa’l-Jamā‘h (Arabic Hinduism is a religious tradition that originated in the Indian subcontinent. Buddhism is a family of beliefs and practices The Bahá'í Faith is a Religion founded by Bahá'u'lláh in nineteenth-century Persia, emphasizing the spiritual unity of all humankind The Jarai (also Người Gia Rai, Gia Rai, or Gia-rai) is an ethnic group based primarily in Vietnam 's Central Highlands. Malays (Melayu are an Ethnic group of Austronesian peoples predominantly inhabiting the Malay Peninsula, the east coast of Sumatra, the coast Indonesia 's 238 million people make it the world's fourth-most populous nation Filipinos or the Filipino people are the citizens of the Philippines. Vietnamese ( tiếng Việt, or less commonly Việt ngữ) formerly known under French colonization as Annamese ( see Annam) They are concentrated between the Cambodian Kampong Cham Province and central Vietnam's Phan Rang-Thap Cham, Phan Thiet, Ho Chi Minh City and An Giang areas. The Kingdom of Cambodia ( formerly known as Kampuchea (, transliterated: Preăh Réachéanachâkr Kâmpŭchea) is a country in South East Kampong Cham is a province in the east of Cambodia. Its capital is Kampong Cham. Vietnam (ˌviːɛtˈnɑːm Việt Nam) officially Phan Rang-Thap Cham (in Vietnamese Phan Rang-Tháp Chàm Panduranga) is a new city in Vietnam and the capital of Ninh Thuan province An Giang ( Hán Tự: 安[[wikt 江|江]] written identically in both English and Vietnamese) is a province of Vietnam Approximately 4,000 Chams also live in Thailand; many of whom have moved south to Pattani, Narathiwat, Yala, and Songkhla Provinces for work. The Kingdom of Thailand (ˈtaɪlænd ราชอาณาจักรไทย, râːtɕʰa-ʔaːnaːtɕɑ̀k-tʰɑj Pattani ( Thai ปัตตานี is one of the southern provinces ( changwat) of Thailand. Narathiwat is a town in southern Thailand, capital of the Narathiwat Province. Songkhla (สงขลา is a city ( Thesaban nakhon) in the Songkhla Province of southern Thailand, near the border with Malaysia Cham form the core of the Muslim communities in both Cambodia and Vietnam. A Muslim (مسلم pronounced Muslim, not Muzlim) is an adherent of the Religion The Kingdom of Cambodia ( formerly known as Kampuchea (, transliterated: Preăh Réachéanachâkr Kâmpŭchea) is a country in South East Vietnam (ˌviːɛtˈnɑːm Việt Nam) officially

Cham are remnants of the Kingdom of Champa (7th to 15th centuries). The kingdom of Champa ( Chăm Pa in Vietnamese or Chiêm Thành in Hán Việt records was an Indianized kingdom and controlled what The 7th century is the period from 601 to 700 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian / Common Era. They are closely related to the Malay race and speak variations of Malayo-Polynesian Cham language from the Austronesian language family. The concept of a Malay race ( Bangsa Melayu) was proposed by the German scientist Johann Friedrich Blumenbach (1752-1840 The Malayo-Polynesian languages are a subgroup of the Austronesian languages, with approximately 351 million speakers Cham is the language of the Cham people of Southeast Asia, and formerly the language of the kingdom of Champa in central Vietnam

History

Cham statue from Cham Museum in Da Nang, Vietnam

Records of the Champa kingdom go as far back as 2nd century AD China. This article is about the city of Đà Nẵng For the Vietnam War era air base see Da Nang Air Base or Đà Nẵng International Airport. The 2nd century is the period from 101 to 200 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian / Common Era. At its height in the 9th century, the kingdom controlled the lands between Hue, in central Annam, to the Mekong Delta in Cochinchina. The 9th century is the period from 801 to 900 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian / Common Era. The Mekong Delta (đồng bằng sông Cửu Long “Nine Dragon river delta” is the region in southwestern Vietnam where the Mekong River approaches and empties Cochin China is also a type of domestic fowl. Cochinchina, from Cochin-China (see note below (known locally as Nam Its prosperity came from maritime trade in sandalwood and slaves and probably included piracy.

In the 12th century AD, the Cham fought a series of wars with the Angkorian Khmer to the west. In 1177, the Cham and their allies launched an attack from the lake Tonle Sap and managed to sack the Khmer capital. In 1181, however, they were defeated by the Khmer King Jayavarman VII.

The first religion of the Champa was a form of Shaivite Hinduism, brought by sea from India. Shaivism, also spelled "Saivism" names the oldest of the four sects of Hinduism. Hinduism is a religious tradition that originated in the Indian subcontinent. As Arab merchants stopped along the Vietnam coast en route to China, Islam began to influence the civilization, and Hinduism became associated with the upper classes. For other meanings including people named 'Islam' see Islam (disambiguation.

The exact date that Islam came to Champa is unknown, but grave markers dating to the 11th century have been found. It is generally assumed that Islam came to Indochina much after its arrival in China during the Tang Dynasty (618–907), and that Arab traders in the region came into direct contact only with the Chams, and not others. Indochina, or the Indochinese Peninsula, is a region in Southeast Asia. China ( Wade-Giles ( Mandarin) Chung¹kuo² is a cultural region, an ancient Civilization, and depending on perspective a National The Tang Dynasty ( Middle Chinese: dhɑng (June 18 618&ndashJune 4 907 was an imperial dynasty of China preceded by the Sui Dynasty and followed by This might explain why only the Chams have been traditionally identified with Islam in Indochina. Other Muslims, such as some Vietnamese, would have converted much later upon other contacts.

Migration

Cham girl, Mekong river, Vietnam

The Vietnamese Chams live mainly in coastal and Mekong Delta provinces. The Mekong is one of the world’s major Rivers It is the 11th-longest river in the world and 7th longest in Asia They have two distinct religious communities, Muslim or Cham Bani constitute about 80%–85% of the Cham, and Hindu or Balamon (deriving from the word "Brāhman" and used both in Cham and in Vietnamese), who constitute about 15%–20% of the Cham. Brahmin ( Brāhmaṇa, sa ब्राह्मणः is the class of educators scholars and preachers in Brahminical Hinduism. While they share a common language and history, there is no intermarriage between the groups. A small number of the Cham also follow Mahayana Buddhism. Mahayana ( Sanskrit: mahāyāna, Devanagari: महायान 'Great Vehicle' is one of the two main existing schools of Buddhism and a term for In Cambodia, the Chams are 90% Muslim, as are the Utsuls of Hainan. The Utsuls are a tiny ethnic group which lives on the Chinese island of Hainan and are considered one of the People's Republic of China's undistinguished ethnic Hainan ( POJ: Hai-lam Pinyin:, Jyutping: hoi2 naam4 literal meaning "South of the Sea" is the smallest province of the People's The isolation of Cham Muslims in central Vietnam resulted in an increased syncretism with Buddhism until recent restoration of contacts with other global Muslim communities in Vietnamese cities, but Islam is now seeing a renaissance, with new mosques being built.

Malaysia has some Cham immigrants and the link between the Chams and the Malaysian state of Kelantan is an old one. Kelantan is a state of Malaysia. The capital and royal seat is Kota Bharu. The Malaysian constitution recognizes the Cham rights to Malaysian citizenship and their Bumiputra status, and the Cham communities in Malaysia and along the Mekong River in Vietnam continue to have strong interactions.

Between the rise of the Khmer Empire around 800 and Vietnam's territorial push to the south, the Champa kingdom began to diminish. The Khmer Empire was the largest empire of South East Asia based in what is now Cambodia. Events By Place Europe September 15 - Oldest known mention of Monkey. In 1471 it suffered a massive defeat by the Vietnamese, in which 120,000 people were either captured or killed, and the kingdom was reduced to a small enclave near Nha Trang. Nha Trang is a coastal city and capital of Khánh Hòa province, on Between 1607 and 1676 the Champa king converted to Islam, and during this period Islam became a dominant feature of Cham society. Further expansion by the Vietnamese in 1720 resulted in the annexation of the Champa kingdom and its persecution by the Vietnamese king, Minh Mạng. Year 1720 ( MDCCXX) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Leap year starting Minh Mạng ( Hán tự: 明[[wikt 命|命]] 1791-1841 born Nguyễn Phúc Đảm 阮[[wikt 福|福]] 膽, also known as Nguyễn As a consequence, the last Champa Muslim king, Pô Chien, decided to gather his people (those on the mainland) and migrate south to Cambodia, while those along the coastline migrated to Trengganu (Malaysia). The Kingdom of Cambodia ( formerly known as Kampuchea (, transliterated: Preăh Réachéanachâkr Kâmpŭchea) is a country in South East Terengganu ( Jawi: ترڠڬانو, formerly spelled Trengganu or Tringganu) is a sultanate and constitutive state of federal Malaysia For the biogeographical region see Malesia Malaysia (məˈleɪʒə or /məˈleɪziə/ is a country that consists of thirteen states and A tiny group fled northward to the Chinese island of Hainan where they are known today as the Utsuls. Hainan ( POJ: Hai-lam Pinyin:, Jyutping: hoi2 naam4 literal meaning "South of the Sea" is the smallest province of the People's The Utsuls are a tiny ethnic group which lives on the Chinese island of Hainan and are considered one of the People's Republic of China's undistinguished ethnic The area of Cambodia where the king and the mainlanders settled is still known as Kompong Cham, where they scattered in communities across the Mekong River. Not all the Champa Muslims migrated with the king. A few groups stayed behind in Nha Trang, Phan Rang, Phan Rí, and Phan Thiết provinces of central Vietnam.

During the rule of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, the Chams of that country suffered serious purges with as much as half of their population exterminated. The Khmer Rouge (ខ្មែរក្រហម Kmae Krɑhɑɑm was the Communist ruling political party of Cambodia &mdashwhich it renamed

Notable Chams

• Chế Bồng Nga, the last strong king of Champa
• Che Linh, singer

References

• Taylor, Philip (2007) Cham Muslims of the Mekong Delta: Place and Mobility in the Cosmopolitan Periphery, Singapore: University of Singapore Press. Chế Bồng Nga, Che Bunga, or Binasuor ruled Champa from 1360 - 1390 CE ( Bunga is the Malay word for 'flower' and "Chế" is
• Dổ Hải Minh (1965) "Dân Tộc Chàm Lược sử" Saigon.
• Hourani, George F. (1979) "Arab Seafaring" Princeton University Press, New Jersey.
• Tarling, Nicholas (1992) "The Cambridge History of Southeast Asia" vol. 1 Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
• Salim, Maryam. (2005) "The Laws of Kedah, 220 Hijrah" A text translation from jawi script to rumi script Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, Malaysia.

See also

• Champa
• Islam in Cambodia
• Islam in Vietnam
• Art of Champa
• History of Cambodia
• History of Vietnam

External links

• Cham Muslims of the Mekong Delta Book by Philip Taylor about the settlement history, religion, economic life and political relations of the Cham Muslims in the Mekong delta of Vietnam
• Proceedings of the Seminar on Champa
• Vietnam-Champa Relations and the Malay-Islam Regional Network in the 17th—19th Centuries
• The Survivors of a Lost Civilisation
• Cham Muslims: A look at Cambodia's Muslim minority
• The Cham Muslims of Indo-China
• Article about the Cham people living in Ratanakiri Province, Cambodia by Antonio Graceffo
• Article about Cham fishermen living near Mekong Island, Cambodia by Antonio Graceffo
• General article about Cambodian Cham by Antonio Graceffo
• Stone carvings at Bayon in Cambodia showing a battle between the Khmer and the Cham
• The face of Islam in a Buddhist land, by Murat Karaali, Phnom Penh Post, February 1995
• Antonio Graceffo writes about the formation of the Cham Federation
• Chamstudies, a new site on Chams