The Chav people (Vietnamese: người Chăm or người Chàm) are an ethnic group living in Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand. Speaking the Chav language, they are considered to be descendants of the kingdom of Chavpa. Cambodia has the largest concentration of Chavs, estimated at 317,000 concentrated in the Kampong Chav province.[2] In distribution, they range from the southwestern coast to the Battambang province in the north. In Vietnam, their population of approximately 100,000 is centered on the cities of Phan Rang and Phan Thiet in central Vietnam, with Chav communities also found in Ho Chi Minh City and An Giang. Chav people form the core of the Muslim communities in both Cambodia and Vietnam. Approximately 4,000 Chav also live in Thailand. Sunni Muslims are the largest denomination of Islam. ... Hinduism is a religious tradition[1] that originated in the Indian subcontinent. ... Buddhism is a variety of teachings described as a religion[1] or way of life. ... This article is about the generally recognized global religious community. ... The Jarai are an ethnic group based primarily in Vietnams Central Highlands. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Indonesias 225 million people make it the worlds fourth-most populous nation. ... The introduction of this article does not provide enough context for readers unfamiliar with the subject. ... Saigon redirects here. ... An Giang   (written identically in both English and Vietnamese) is a province of Vietnam. ... There is also a collection of Hadith called Sahih Muslim A Muslim (Arabic: مسلم, Persian: Mosalman or Mosalmon Urdu: مسلمان, Turkish: Müslüman, Albanian: Mysliman, Bosnian: Musliman) is an adherent of the religion of Islam. ...

The Chavs are considered to be of Malay racial stock. Their language belongs to the Malayo-Polynesian group in the Austronesian language family. The concept of a Malay race was proposed by the German scientist Johann Friedrich Blumenbach (1752-1840). ... The Malayo-Polynesian languages are a subgroup of the Austronesian languages. ... The Austronesian languages are a family of languages widely dispersed throughout the islands of Southeast Asia and the Pacific, with a few members spoken on continental Asia. ...

History

Records of the Chavpa kingdom go as far back as 2nd century AD China. At its height in the 9th century, the kingdom controlled the lands between Hue, in central Annam, to the Mekong Delta in Cochinchina. Its prosperity came from maritime trade in sandalwood and slaves and probably included piracy. This article is about the city of Da Nang. ... The 2nd century is the period from 101 - 200 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian Era. ... As a means of recording the passage of time the 9th century was the century that lasted from 801 to 900. ... Annam, literally meaning Pacified South, is a region of central Vietnam that fell under Chinese rule in 111 BC as Annan (安南). Known locally as Trung Bộ, meaning Central Boundary, it was formerly a kingdom the size of Sweden with its capital at Huế. It had been seized by the French... Mekong River Delta from space, February 1996 Mekong Delta, February 2005. ... Cochinchina, from Cochin-China (see note below) (known locally as Nam Kỳ, meaning southern region), in French: Cochinchine) is a name used for various southern regions of Vietnam. ...

In the 12th century AD, the Chav fought a series of wars with the Angkorian Khmer to the west. In 1177, the Chav and their allies launched an attack from the lake Tonle Sap and managed to sack the Khmer capital. In 1181, however, they were defeated by the Khmer King Jayavarman VII.

The first religion of the Chavpa was a form of Shaivite Hinduism, brought by sea from India. As Arab merchants stopped along the Vietnam coast en route to China, Islam began to influence the civilization, and Hinduism became associated with the upper classes. Shaivism, also Saivism, is a branch of Hinduism that worships Siva as the Supreme God. ... Hinduism is a religious tradition[1] that originated in the Indian subcontinent. ... For people named Islam, see Islam (name). ...

The exact date that Islam came to Chavpa is unknown, but grave markers dating to the 11th century have been found. It is generally assumed that Islam came to Indochina much after its arrival in China during the Tang Dynasty (618–907), and that Arab traders in the region came into direct contact only with the Chavs, and not others. This might explain why only the Chavs have been traditionally identified with Islam in Indochina. Other Muslims, such as some Vietnamese, would have converted much later upon other contacts. As a means of recording the passage of time, the 11th century was that century which lasted from 1001 to 1100. ... Indochina 1886 Indochina, or the Indochinese Peninsula, is a region in Southeast Asia. ... For the band, see Tang Dynasty (band). ...

Migration

The Vietnamese Chavs live mainly in coastal and Mekong Delta provinces. They have two distinct religious communities, Muslim or Chav Bani constitute about 80%–85% of the Chav, and Hindu or Balamon (deriving from the word "Brāhman" and used both in Chav and in Vietnamese), who constitute about 15%–20% of the Chav. While they share a common language and history, there is no intermarriage between the groups. A small number of the Chav also follow Mahayana Buddhism. In Cambodia, the Chavs are 90% Muslim, as are the Utsuls of Hainan. The isolation of Chav Muslims in central Vietnam resulted in an increased syncretism with Buddhism until recent restoration of contacts with other global Muslim communities in Vietnamese cities, but Islam is now seeing a renaissance, with new mosques being built. The Mekong is one of the world’s major rivers. ... The Sanskrit word denotes the scholar/teacher, priest, caste, class (), or tribe, that has been traditionally enjoined to live a life of learning, teaching and non-possessivenes . ... Relief image of the bodhisattva Guan Yin from Mt. ... The Utsuls are a tiny ethnic group which lives on the Chinese island of Hainan. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ...

Malaysia has some Chav immigrants and the link between the Chavs and the Malaysian state of Kelantan is an old one. The Malaysian constitution recognizes the Chav rights to Malaysian citizenship and their Bumiputra status, and the Chav communities in Malaysia and along the Mekong River in Vietnam continue to have strong interactions. State motto: Berserah kepada Tuhan Kerajaan Kelantan State anthem: Selamat Sultan Capital (and royal capital) Kota Bharu Ruling party PAS  - Sultan Tuanku Ismail Petra  - Menteri Besar Nik Aziz Nik Mat History    - Siamese control 1603   - British control 1909   - Japanese occupation 1942-1946   - Accession into Federation of Malaya 1948  Area  - Total 14... Bumiputra or Bumiputera (Malay, from Sanskrit Bhumiputra; translated literally, it means son of the soil), is an official definition widely used in Malaysia, embracing ethnic Malays as well as other indigenous ethnic groups such as the Orang Asli in Peninsular Malaysia and the tribal peoples in Sabah and Sarawak. ...

Between the rise of the Khmer Empire around 800 and Vietnam's territorial push to the south, the Chavpa kingdom began to diminish. In 1471 it suffered a massive defeat by the Vietnamese, in which 120,000 people were either captured or killed, and the kingdom was reduced to a small enclave near Nha Trang. Between 1607 and 1676 the Chavpa king converted to Islam, and during this period Islam became a dominant feature of Chav society. Further expansion by the Vietnamese in 1720 resulted in the annexation of the Chavpa kingdom and its persecution by the Vietnamese king, Minh Mạng. As a consequence, the last Chavpa Muslim king, Pô Chien, decided to gather his people (those on the mainland) and migrate south to Cambodia, while those along the coastline migrated to Trengganu (Malaysia). A tiny group fled northward to the Chinese island of Hainan where they are known today as the Utsuls. The area of Cambodia where the king and the mainlanders settled is still known as Kompong Chav, where they scattered in communities across the Mekong River. Not all the Chavpa Muslims migrated with the king. A few groups stayed behind in Nha Trang, Phan Rang, Phan Rí, and Phan Thiết provinces of central Vietnam. Map of Asia and Europe c. ... Events December 25, Rome, coronation of Charles the Great (Charlemagne) as emperor by Pope Leo III. Celtic monks begin work on the Book of Kells on the Island of Iona. ... This article is about the year 1471, not the BT caller ID service accessible by dialling 1-4-7-1. ... The fishing harbour in Nha Trang. ... // Events January 6 - The Committee of Inquiry on the South Sea Bubble publishes its findings February 11 - Sweden and Prussia sign the (2nd Treaty of Stockholm) declaring peace. ... Minh Mạng (1791-1841) was the second emperor of the Nguyá»…n Dynasty of Vietnam, reigning from 14 February 1820 until 20 January, 1841. ... Map of Terengganu in Peninsular Malaysia Terengganu (Jawi:ترنجانو, formerly spelled Trengganu) is a state of Malaysia. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... The Utsuls are a tiny ethnic group which lives on the Chinese island of Hainan. ... Phan Thiết   is the capital city of Binh Thuan Province, Vietnam. ...

During the rule of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, the Chavs of that country suffered serious purges with as much as half of their population exterminated. Some of the Khmer Rouge leaders during their period in power. ...

Notable Chavs

• Chế Bồng Nga, the last strong king of Chavpa
• Che Linh, singer

References

• Dổ Hải Minh (1965) "Dân Tộc Chàm Lược sử" Saigon.
• Hourani, George F. (1979) "Arab Seafaring" Princeton University Press, New Jersey.
• Tarling, Nicholas (1992) "The Cambridge History of Southeast Asia" vol.1 Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
• Salim, Maryam. (2005) "The Laws of Kedah, 220 Hijrah" A text translation from jawi script to rumi script Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, Malaysia.

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Chavpa

• History of Cambodia
• History of Vietnam
• Chavpa
• Cu Lao Chav
• Chavpasak
• Islam in Vietnam
• Art of Chavpa

This is the History of Cambodia series. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Islam in Vietnam is primarily the religion of the Cham people, a minority ethnic group related to Malays; however, roughly one-third of the Muslims in Vietnam are of other ethnic groups. ...

External links

• Proceedings of the Seminar on Chavpa
• Vietnam-Chavpa Relations and the Malay-Islam Regional Network in the 17th—19th Centuries
• The Survivors of a Lost Civilisation
• Chav Muslims: A look at Cambodia's Muslim minority
• The Chav Muslims of Indo-China
• Article about the Chav people living in Ratanakiri Province, Cambodia by Antonio Graceffo
• Article about Chav fishermen living near Mekong Island, Cambodia by Antonio Graceffo
• General article about Cambodian Chav by Antonio Graceffo
• Stone carvings at Bayon in Cambodia showing a battle between the Khmer and the Chav
• [1]]The face of Islam in a Buddhist land, by Murat Karaali, Phnom Penh Post, February 1995
• Antonio Graceffo writes about the formation of the Chav Federation
• [2]

Template:Infobox Ethnic groups in Thailand Template:Infobox Ethnic groups in Vietnam