Cham

Cham is the chief language of the Chamic branch of the Malayo-Polynesian family, whose speakers settled coastal Vietnam from the island world and carried the Sa Huynh culture. The Dong Yen Chau inscription of the late fourth century records Old Cham, the oldest attested Austronesian language.

Cham served the trading polities of Champa, whose sea routes ran from India to China, and absorbed Sanskrit and Bahnaric vocabulary. From the tenth century many Chams turned to Islam; after the dynasty adopted the faith in the seventeenth century Western Cham used Arabic Jawi alongside traditional Brahmic Cham letters.

The Vietnamese capture of Vijaya in 1471 broke Champa's power, leaving Kauthara, annexed in 1653, and Panduranga, absorbed by Emperor Minh Mang in 1832. Refugees carried Western Cham into Cambodia; Eastern Cham held on around Phan Rang, the two varieties growing further apart.