Chams
The Chams (Cham: ꨌꩌ, Čaṃ), or Champa people (Cham: ꨂꨣꩃ ꨌꩌꨛꨩ, Urang Campa; Vietnamese: Người Chăm or Người Chàm; Khmer: ជនជាតិចាម, Chônchéatĕ Cham), are an Austronesian ethnic group in Southeast Asia as well as an indigenous people of central Vietnam. They are the original inhabitants of coastal areas in Vietnam and Cambodia, along the South China Sea, since before the arrival of the Cambodians and Vietnamese, during the expansion of the Khmer Empire (802–1431 CE) and the Vietnamese conquest of Champa (11th–19th century CE).
ꨂꨣꩃ ꨌꩌꨛꨩ Urang Campa | |
|---|---|
Cham women performing a traditional dance in Nha Trang, Vietnam | |
| Total population | |
| c. 822,648 | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Cambodia | 600,000 |
| Vietnam | 178,948 |
| Malaysia | 25,000 |
| China | 10,000 |
| Thailand | 4,000 |
| United States | 3,000 |
| France | 1,000 |
| Laos | 700 |
| Languages | |
| Cham, Tsat, Haroi, Vietnamese, Khmer | |
| Religion | |
| Predominantly Sunni Islam (Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, southern Vietnam, and Hainan, China) Minorities of Shi'a Bani Islam and Hinduism (central Vietnam) | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Utsuls, and other Austronesian peoples (especially Jarai, Rade, Acehnese) | |
From the 2nd century CE, the Cham founded Champa, a collection of independent Hindu-Buddhist principalities in what is now central and southern Vietnam. By the 17th century CE, Champa became an Islamic sultanate. Today, the Cham people are largely Muslim, with a minority following Hinduism, both formed the indigenous Muslim and Hindu population in both Cambodia and Vietnam. Despite their adherence to Islam, the Cham people still retain their ancestral practice of matriarchy in family and inheritance.
The Cham people speak Cham and Tsat (the latter is spoken by the Utsul, a Cham subgroup on China's Hainan Island), the two Chamic languages from the Malayo-Polynesian branch of the Austronesian family. The Cham people were one among several ethnic groups that were primarily targeted by the Khmer Rouge's ethnic cleansing campaign during the Cambodian Genocide (1975–1979).