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The Champa Kingdoms. The Champa Kingdoms were a collection of independent Hindu and Buddhist maritime states located along the rugged central and southern coast of modern Vietnam. Thriving from the 2nd century all the way to the 19th century, they were heavily Indianized societies deeply involved in the South China Sea trade networks. The Cham people are historically significant for their incredible seafaring skills and their highly unique brick temple complexes, most notably the sanctuary of My Son. They essentially acted as a crucial cultural and economic bridge between the Chinese and Indian spheres of influence.
Because they were organized as a loose confederation rather than a rigid central empire, they struggled to defend against unified enemies. They spent centuries fighting brutal, exhausting wars against both the Khmer Empire to the west and the aggressively expanding Vietnamese state of Dai Viet to the north. The Vietnamese slowly but methodically conquered Cham territory over hundreds of years. By the late 15th century, the Vietnamese utterly destroyed the Cham capital, reducing the once proud kingdoms to minor, powerless vassal states.