Champa (kingdom)

Champa's location in Southeast Asia is in yellow.

Champa was an ancient kingdom. It was led and mostly lived in by the Cham people of southern Vietnam. It was made in the year 192. It ended in 1832.

History

The Cham people are of Austronesian origin. They are believed to arrive in Indochina from the island of Kalimantan.

According to Cham legend, Champa was founded by Lady Po-Nagar. She had come from the moon. She then arrived in Central Vietnam and then founded the kingdom. However, a typhoon drifted her away. Because of this, she was left stranded on the coast of China. She then married a Chinese prince and returned to Champa.

Champa was known to the Chinese as Linyi (林邑). The main religion of the kingdom was Hinduism and Buddhism. In the 17th century, the main religion of the kingdom was Islam.