Champa People

The Cham (Cham: ꨌꩌ, Čaṃ) or Champa people (Cham: ꨂꨣꩃ ꨌꩌꨛꨩ, Urang Campa;[5] Vietnamese: Người Chăm or Người Chàm; Khmer: ជនជាតិចាម, Chónchèat Cham) are an Austronesian ethnic group. From the 2nd century to 1832 the Cham populated Champa, a contiguous territory of independent principalities in central and southern Vietnam. They spoke the Cham language and the Tsat language (the former is still spoken by the Cham, and the latter is spoken by their Utsul descendants, on China’s Hainan Island),[6] two Chamic languages from the Malayo-Polynesian group of the Austronesian family. Chams and Malays are the only sizable Austronesian peoples that settled in Iron Age mainland Southeast Asia among the more ancient Austroasiatic inhabitants.