Chenla
| Chenla | ||||||||||
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| Languages | Old Khmer, Sanskrit | |||||||||
| Religion | Hinduism, Buddhism | |||||||||
| Political structure | Empire | |||||||||
| Historical era | Middle Ages | |||||||||
| • | Vassal of Fúnán | 550 | ||||||||
| • | Embassy to China | 616/617 | ||||||||
| • | Separation of "Land Chenla" and "Water Chenla" | 706/717 | ||||||||
| • | proclamation of Khmer Empire | 802 | ||||||||
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| Today part of |
 Cambodia Laos Thailand Vietnam
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Chenla or Zhenla (simplified Chinese: 真腊; traditional Chinese: 真臘; pinyin: Zhēnlà; Wade–Giles: Chen-la; Khmer: ចេនឡា; Vietnamese: Chân Lạp) is the Chinese designation for the successor polity of the Kingdom of Funan preceding the Khmer Empire that existed from around the late sixth to the early ninth century in Indochina. The name was still used in the 13th century by the Chinese envoy Zhou Daguan, author of The Customs of Cambodia. However, modern historiography applies the name exclusively to the period from the late 6th to the early ninth century. It is dubious if "Chenla" ever existed as a unitary kingdom or if this is a misconception by Chinese chronists. Most modern historians assert that "Chenla" was in fact just a series of loose and temporary confederations of principalities.
Although most of the Chinese recordings on Chenla, including that of Chenla conquering Funan ("derived from very weak sources"), have been contested since the 1970s as they are generally based on single remarks in the Chinese annals, the History of the Chinese Sui dynasty contains entries of a state called Chenla, a vassal of the Kingdom of Funan, which had sent an embassy to China in 616 or 617, yet under its ruler, Citrasena Mahendravarman, conquered Funan after Chenla had gained independence.
Like its predecessor Funan, Chenla occupied a strategic position where the maritime trade routes of the Indosphere and the East Asian cultural sphere converged, resulting in prolonged socio-economic and cultural influence and the adoption of the epigraphic system of the south Indian Pallava dynasty and Chalukya dynasty.
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