Cham people

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Cham
Total population
500,000 - 1,000,000
Regions with significant populations
Cambodia, Central and Southern Vietnam (Champa region), Thailand
Language(s)
Cham, Malay Vietnamese as second languages.
Religion(s)
Sunni Islam, Bani Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism
Related ethnic groups
Jarai, Malays, Indonesians, Filipinos

The Cham people are an ethnic group living in Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand. Speaking the Cham language, they are considered to be descendants of the kingdom of Champa. Cambodia has the largest concentration of Chams, estimated between half a million and one million. In Vietnam, their population of approximately 100,000 is centered on the cities of Phan Rang and Phan Thiet in central Vietnam, with Cham communities also found in Ho Chi Minh City and An Giang. Cham people form the core of the Muslim communities in both Cambodia and Vietnam. Approximately 4,000 Cham also live in Thailand.

The Chams are considered to be of Malay racial stock. Their language belongs to the Malayo-Polynesian group in the Austronesian language family.

1 History
2 Migration
3 Notable Chams
4 References
5 See also
6 External links

Cham statue from Cham Museum in Da Nang, Vietnam

Records of the Champa kingdom go as far back as 2nd century CE China. At its height in the 9th century, the kingdom controlled the lands between Hue, in central Annam, to the Mekong Delta in Cochinchina. 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. 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.

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 Indo-China much after its arrival in China during the Tang Dynasty (618–907), and that Arab traders in the region camne into direct contact only with the Chams, and not others. 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.

Cham girl, Mekong river, Vietnam

The Vietnamese Chams live mainly in coastal and Mekong Delta provinces. They have two distinct religious communities, Muslim or Cham Bani constitute about 80%–85% of the Cham, and Hindu or Balamon (from the corruption of "Brahmin"), both in Cham and in Vietnamese), who constitute about 15%–20% of the Cham. 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. In Cambodia, the Chams are 90% Muslim, as are the Utsuls of Hainan. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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). A tiny group fled northward to the Chinese island of Hainan where they are known today as the Utsuls. 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.

Che Bong Nga, the last strong king of Champa
Che Linh, singer

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.