Champa – Southeast Asia’s child that didnt make it and everyone forgot about them

Champa was a nation in what is modern-day central and southern Vietnam. At Champa's territorial zenith, it occupied 2/3 of modern day Vietnam.

The Cham people are part of the Austronesian migration. They and their language are distantly related to peopels such as Malaysians, Polynesians, and Taiwanese aborigines. In archeology, their ancient material culture lines up with the Sa Huỳnh culture as opposed to the HoaHoabinhian and Dongsonian culture that correlates with the ancestors of the Kinh (Vietnamese).

While the Viet culture to the north was heavily influenced by the Chinese occupation, the Chams developed a heavily Indianized culture, especially after contact with the Khmers and constant trade and contact from merchants from the west via Indian Ocean trade. With its strategic position on the southeast corner of the mainland, Champa developed a strong maritime tradition and a network of trade throughout southeast Asia. Champa would trade, intermingle, compete, and war with many others such as the Khmer, Srivajaya, early Vietnam, and Javanese pirates.

When the Viets gained independence from China during the 10th century, conflict broke out between Dai Viet and Champa. Dai Viet won the war and sacked the Cham capital city. This marked the beginning of a long series of wars between Champa and Dai Viet. Both states invaded each other multiple times across many centuries but a general trend saw Champa retreat further south away from Dai Viet attacks. Wars also broke out between the Chams and the Khmers to the West but very little territory changed in these conflicts.

A big hit came to both Champa and Dai Viet when the Mongols invaded. Champa's strategic maritime position made it a valuable target in the eyes of the Yuan Dynasty. During the second Mongol Invasion of Vietnam, Yuan forces drove Cham forces out of the capital of Vijaya. The Cham leadership did not surrender and instead fled west and waged guerrilla warfare against the Yuan. Dai Viet and Champa formed a temporary alliance defeated the Yuan Dynasty. Although the Cham leadership survived, many Cham cities along the coast were razed by the Yuan. Champa struggle to maintain its maritime prowess and unity then on.

Multiple wars broke between Dai Viet and Champa that saw multiple sacks of Champa's capitals, some kings captured or killed, and at one point the entirety of the nation annexed by Vietnam but later independent again after rebellion.

The beginning of the never-ending downward spiral for Champa was in 1471 when Dai Viet invaded and conquered Champa, attack from north, west, and the sea. The capital was sacked, the king and much of the leadership were killed, along with thousands of Cham people. Dai Viet annexed the territory it had taken and Champa was reduced to a principality at modern-day Phan Rang. The sheer annihilation of Champa cleared the way for increased colonization by Viet and Han settlers coming from the north. The war caused a massive diaspora of Chams to flee to other parts of Southeast Asia.

The next few centuries saw continuous Vietnamese expansion south into the moderm-day southern Vietnam and the Mekong Delta. Champa and the declining Khmer state were sued as proxies in tug-of-war conflicts betwene Vietnam and Thailand. The last Cham principality was annexed in 1834. The Vietnamese Emperor, Minh Mạng, was notoriously Confucian and intolerant of non-Han-Viet culture. He launched repressive assimilation campaign against the Chams and indigenous peoples in the highlands as well as against the Khmers after a Khmer rebellion.

During the American war in Vietnam, Cham independence movements combined with other ethnic minority independence movements to become FULRO. FULRO fought against both North and South Vietnam but ultimately they got nowhere. Some of their leaders tried taking refuge among the Khmer Rouge but were executed. Cham people, along with Chinese and Viets in Cambodia, were explicity targeted for extermination by the Khmer Rouge.

There are still Cham people and their relatives today in southern Vietnam and disapora communities throughout southeast Asia.