Chàm Islands – Travel Guide At Wikivoyage

History

Humans have inhabited Cu Lao Cham for at least 2,500 years. These islands were sacred in the eyes of the Cham people.

The Cham are a Malayo-Polynesian people who had settled in Sa Huynh, Central Vietnam, around 200 BCE. The Champa Kingdom was created in Hue region around 200 CE and lasted until 1835.

The commercial capital of the Champa Kingdom was Hoi An from which during 7th-10th centuries the Champas controlled the spice trade between the Spice Islands in Indonesia and China, India, and the Persian Gulf states. The Champas, who owned vessels very similar to those seen in Hoi An waters today, ruled the spice trade routes long before the Chinese junks or Portuguese vessels entered these waters.

Hoi An was a major trading port, on a par with Macau and Malacca, from the 16th-18th century. Early influences were Chinese and Indian and by the 10th century some Champa had converted to Islam through Arab maritime influences.

The leeward (from NE monsoons) anchorage in the capital village of Bai Lang makes the bay ideal for shelter of larger vessels. The depth is approximately 15 m in the channel between Hoi An and the Cham Islands and in Bai Lang Bay averages 10 m. Larger cargo vessels unable to enter the Hoi An River inlet would anchor off Bai Lang and lighters would then carry cargo ashore to warehouses in Hoi An.

Chinese, Japanese, and other northern merchants would sail their vessels down from the north on a "broad reach" during autumn and winter (riding on storms blowing NE monsoons) and wait for the trade winds to turn during spring and summer into a more gentle southerly breeze which would again send them on a "broach reach" back up north (and sometimes into seasonal typhoons!) While they waited for winds to change some foreign merchants lived and did business in Hoi An.

It is recorded on a 700 CE Chinese chart that vessels sailing the "Nanhai Trade Route" used a fresh water source at Bai Lang. Nanhai means "south sea"; these ships were based in ports on the Pearl River, in Guangdong, China.