The Cham dominated central Vietnam from the beginning of the 1st millennium CE until the 19th century. Nowadays, however, while the ethnic Kinh Vietnamese population in Vietnam alone numbers up to a staggering 82 million, the entire population of ethnic Chams in the world is only 400,000, less than half a million, including diasporic populations like the Utsuls of Hainan, China. There are more Cham in Cambodia than in Vietnam!
So, what happened to the Cham? If the ratio of Cham to Kinh and Khmer was always so disproportionate, it's hard to imagine Champa could ever have survived as a formidable, independent civilization in the part of the world where it existed. It's said that many Cham fled their territories and many who stayed behind were killed, but might there also have been a massive assimilation of Cham into the modern mainstream Kinh populations of Vietnam?
So, what happened to the Cham? If the ratio of Cham to Kinh and Khmer was always so disproportionate, it's hard to imagine Champa could ever have survived as a formidable, independent civilization in the part of the world where it existed. It's said that many Cham fled their territories and many who stayed behind were killed, but might there also have been a massive assimilation of Cham into the modern mainstream Kinh populations of Vietnam?
