Cham (Asia)

Chams
Urang Campa

Cham women performing a traditional dance in Nha Trang, Vietnam
Total population
400,000
Regions with significant populations
Cambodia	217,000
Vietnam	162,000
Malaysia	10,000
China	5,000
Thailand	4,000
United States	3,000
France	1,000
Laos	800
Languages
Cham, Vietnamese, Khmer, Malay
Religion
Predominantly Sunni Islam (Cambodia, Malaysia), Hinduism (Vietnam), Buddhism (Thailand) and Shia Islam (China)
Related ethnic groups
Jarai, Rade, Acehnese, Utsul, Ethnic Malays and other Austronesian peoples of Southeast Asia.

The Chams, or Cham people (Cham: Urang Campa,Vietnamese: người Chăm or người Chàm, Khmer: ជនជាតិចាម), are an ethnic group of Austronesian origin in Southeast Asia. Their contemporary population, a diaspora is concentrated between the Kampong Cham Province in Cambodia and Phan Rang–Tháp Chàm, Phan Thiết, Ho Chi Minh City and An Giang Province in Central Vietnam. An additional 4,000 Chams live in Bangkok, Thailand, who had migrated during Rama I"s reign. Recent immigrants are mainly students and workers, who preferably seek work and education in the southern Islamic Pattani, Narathiwat, Yala, and Songkhla provinces. Cham people represent the core of the Muslim communities in both Cambodia and Vietnam.

From the 2nd to the mid-15th century the Chams populated Champa, a contiguous territory of independent principalities in central and southern Vietnam. They spoke the Cham language, a Malayo-Polynesian language of the Austronesian language family. Chams and Malays are the only sizable Austronesian peoples, that had settled in Iron Age Mainland Southeast Asia among the more ancient Austroasiatic inhabitants.