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The Geography of the Champa Kingdom of Central Vietnam

Tran Ky Phuong
Independent Scholar

The ancient Champa kingdom came into being in the late of 2nd century AD. Its territories stretched from south of the Ngang Pass in Quang Binh province to the N?Dong Nai basin in Dong Nai province (approximately between the longtitudes 11 N) including the coastal plains and the interior highlands in the?and 18 Central Vietnam today.

For the special geo-location, in her long history, Champa came to hold an increasingly crucial role in the South China Sea trades, which was a part of the significant trading route between the West and the East, known as ‘silk road of the sea’.

According to the scholars, Champa was divided into difference geographical areas by branches of the Truong Son mountain range which generally runs from north to south in Central Vietnam. There were at least five regions divided by themselves which corresponded to the coastal plains. These were called from north to south: (1) Ulik/Indrapura (current Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Thua Thien- Hue Provinces); (2) Amaravati (Danang, Quang Nam, Quang Ngai Provinces); (3) Vijaya (Binh Dinh Province); (4) Kauthara (Phu Yen, Khanh Hoa Provinces); (5) and Panduranga (Ninh Thuan, Binh Thuan Provinces). Each of these five regions of Champa kingdom had their own political, economic and religious centers and that they existed more or less independently. Thus the Champa kingdom is called mandala kingdom among the scholars.

The scholars have also explained the political and economic networks of Champa kingdom by a model called a ‘riverine exchange network’.

This paper deals with a comparative study between the geography of Central VN with the ancient geo-location of the mandala of Champa kingdom.

The ‘riverine exchange network’ model is more or less was very much corresponded with the geography of Central Vietnam where most of the rivers run from west to east, from the high mountain to the sea. Along these riversides there are many villages from the upland (in which includes groups of ethnic minorities) and the midland down to the lowland connecting with a coastal based trade center usually located at a river mouth; such as the context of Thu Bon river with Hoi An port-city trade center in Quang Nam province nowaday which is formerly Amaravati Champa.

The author of this paper is a former curator of Danang Museum of Champa Sculpture, Danang, Vietnam; who have been doing research on the fieldwork in Central VN over 20 years.