Chams

The Cham (Cham: ꨌꩌ, Čaṃ) or Champa people (Cham: ꨂꨣꩃ ꨌꩌꨛꨩ, Urang Campa; Vietnamese: Người Chăm or Người Chàm; Khmer: ជនជាតិចាម, Chónchèat Cham) are an Austronesian ethnic group in Southeast Asia, and indigenous people of Central Vietnam. From the 2nd century to 1832 the Cham populated Champa, a contiguous territory of independent principalities in central and southern Vietnam. The Cham people speak the Cham language and the Tsat language (the latter is spoken by the Utsul, a Cham sub-group on China’s Hainan Island), 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.