December 2007
the Cham
The Champa Kingdom occupied most of central and southern Vietnam. They were an international powerhouse at their peak and controlled most of the trade between China and India and the West for centuries. With the Viets to their north, the Khmers to their West, and the Javanese to the south, they relentlessly fought wars of attrition until they were finally absorbed into modern day Vietnam. They left behind temples and sculptures scattered all over modern Vietnam which are maintained as archeological sites and labeled as "the Mysterious Cham People".
The Cham existed from before the 4th century until the mid 19th century with their peak from the 7th to 10th centuries. They literally controlled the "silk road by sea" between China, India, Java, and the Abbasid Empire. They were not "mysterious" - they were well-documented. It's just that the Vietnamese legitimately conquered Champa and then proceeded to erase its people from their national narrative. The Cham are recognized as an ethnic group in Vietnam (and other countries), but have been discriminated against. The Vietnamese have been particularly harsh in their program of "cultural assimilation".
The area around Da Nang is filled with Cham Temples and artifacts. It made sense then that the French during their decades of occupation established a museum of sculpture there. As the French had lots of museum experience, needless to say, the museum is lovely. It was probably the best of its type that we saw in the whole country. Tourist information on the internet instructed visitors "not to miss it" - that was correct. The Cham were an advanced culture in Asia that dominated world trade for a few centuries. They left behind huge temple complexes and influenced world events yet - the Cham? Champa? Who ever heard of these people and their land?
How many internationally influential nations or cultures have existed that are barely footnote worthy in history? Champa at its peak was around much longer than the USA... sobering thought.
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