SocietySoutheast Asia
Funan
Southeast Asia's first known state, where India met China
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The port of Oc Eo has yielded finds from India, Persia and the Mediterranean, showing Southeast Asia was a hub in the sea trade between China and the West long before Malacca. The region's "Indianisation" was not conquest but a choice local rulers made: Indian kingship ideology and Sanskrit conferred legitimacy. Everything we know of the name Funan comes from Chinese sources.
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At the Mekong delta lay Funan, with canals, harbours and trade reaching as far as Rome — a Roman coin has been found there. The kingdom adopted Indian script and religion and passed them on to the rest of Southeast Asia.
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Part of Terra Saga — the story of Earth on a timeline. terrasaga.org