The kingdom of Champa is an Indianized kingdom that controls what is now southern and central Vietnam from approximately the fourth century through to 1832.The Cham people are remnants of this kingdom.

They speak Cham, a Malayo-Polynesian language.Champa was preceded in the region by a kingdom called Lin-yi or Lâm Ấp that was in existence from 192 CE, but the historical relationship between Lin-yi and Champa is not clear.

Champa reaches its apogee in the ninth and tenth centuries and thereafter begins a gradual decline under pressure from Đại Việt, the Vietnamese polity centered in the region of modern Hanoi.

In 1471, Viet troops sack the northern Cham capital of Vijaya, and in 1697 the southern principality of Panduranga becomes a vassal of the Vietnamese emperor.

In 1832, the Vietnamese emperor Minh Mạng annexes the remaining Cham territories.

Mỹ Sơn, a former religious center, and Hội An, one of Champa's main port cities, are now heritage listed.