Funan, Kingdom of

The Kingdom of Funan is the Chinese name of an ancient kingdom located around the Mekong Delta of southern Vietnam and in southern Indochina.

The name is found in Chinese historical texts describing the kingdom, and the most extensive descriptions are largely based on the report of two Chinese diplomats representing the Wu Kingdom of Nanking who sojourned in Funan in the mid-3rd century CE; however, the name "Funan" is not found in any texts of local origin, and it is not known what name the people of Funan gave to their country.Like the very name of the country, the ethno-linguistic nature of the people is the subject of much discussion among specialists.

The leading hypotheses are that the Funanese were mostly Mon–Khmer, or that they were mostly Austronesian, or that they constituted a multi-ethnic society.

The available evidence is inconclusive on this issue.Based on the testimony of the Chinese historians, the polity Funan is believed to have been established in the 1st century CE.

in the Mekong delta, but archeological research has shown that extensive human settlement in the region may have gone back as far as the 4th century BCE.

Though regarded by Chinese authors as a single unified polity, some modern scholars suspect that Funan may have been a collection of city-states that sometimes warred with one another and at other times constituted a political unity.

From archeological evidence, which includes Roman, Chinese, and Indian goods excavated at the ancient mercantile center of Oc Eo [Vietnamese: "glass canal"] in southern Vietnam, we know that Funan must have been a powerful trading state.

Excavations at Angkor Borei in southern Cambodia have likewise delivered evidence of an important settlement.

Since Oc Eo was linked to a port on the coast and to Angkor Borei by a system of canals, it is possible that all of these locations together constituted the heartland of Funan.

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