Kampuchea Krom

Kampuchea Krom consists of 21 provinces, 2 major islands.[1][2][3] It was originally divided into only four provinces Daun Nay, Lung Haor, Moat Chrouk, and Peam.[2]

The Khmer names of the local divisions have been continually renamed by Vietnamese authorities.[2][4] We can see some of the Vietnamese names imitate the sound of the original Khmer names such as Sa Đéc (Khmer: Psar Dek), Sóc Trăng (Khmer: Srok Kleang), Trà Vinh (Khmer: Preah Tropeang), Bạc Liêu (Khmer: Pol Leav), Cà Mau (Khmer: Toek Khmao), Mỹ Tho (Khmer: Me Sar);[4] Đồng Nai (Khmer: Daun Nay)[1] etc. Some Vietnamese names were translated from the meaning of the original Khmer names such as Bến Tre (Khmer: Kampong Russei), Bến Nghé (Khmer: Kampong Krobei).[4]

Evidence of archeological excavations suggests that Khmer people have lived in this region of Kampuchea Krom since as early as 1st century BCE.[9] Throughout history, Kampuchea Krom can be referred to be part of different states of Cambodia from Nokor Phnom (Funan), to Chenla, to Khmer Empire.[9]

According to Vietnam History book,[10] the territory of Kampuchea Krom around the lower plains of the Mekong River is rich in waterways and has many farmlands. Vietnamese first known to have encroached into Kampuchea Krom territory in the early 1600s at Baria and Daun Nay due to famine caused by nonfertile land in Annam and the war between Trinh and Nguyen.[10] By the 1620s, Vietnamese’s “march to the south” (nam tien) began expanding south, by first conquered the Champa before continuing south bringing Vietnamese colonization into Kampuchea Krom.[11][12][13] In 1623, when the Khmer Empire began to decline, at the request of Vietnamese missionary, King Chey Chettha (1618–1628) of Cambodia allowed Annamese to settle in the south part of Cambodia, the area around Prey Nokor.[5][14] In this regard, some foreign historians see this as ‘a conquer of Cambodian trading center (by Vietnamese) with concealed motives’.[15] In 1628, waves of Vietnamese immigrants flooded into the regions from Prey Nokor, Baria, and Daun Nay (Kampong Sroka Trei) to the former Champa Kingdom.[5]

The institutionalization process of intrusion and takeover by Vietnamese of Prey Nokor and Kampuchea Krom territory, stressed by Chandler, took more than 2 hundred years, and to a large extent cut Cambodia off from gaining maritime access to the outside world, removed tens of thousands of Khmer ethnics from Cambodian jurisdiction.[11] In 1953, Cambodians in Kampuchea Krom stood at some four hundred thousand, less than 10% of Vietnamese.[11]

• Khmer Krom
• Cambodia
• History of Cambodia
• Funan
• Chenla
• Khmer Empire