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Vietnam: Stele found at Tháp Mười in Dong Thap Province. The text is in Sanskrit, has been dated to the mid-5th century A.D., and records a donation by Prince Gunavarman in honor of Vishnu

Vietnam: Stele found at Tháp Mười in Dong Thap Province. The text is in Sanskrit, has been dated to the mid-5th century A.D., and records a donation by Prince Gunavarman in honor of Vishnu

Funan, Phù Nam in Vietnamese, Fúnán in pinyin, was the Chinese name for an ancient kingdom located around the Mekong Delta of southern Vietnam.

The name is found in Chinese historical texts describing the kingdom, and its most extensive descriptions are largely based on the report of two Chinese diplomats representing the Wu Kingdom of Nanjing who sojourned in Funan in the mid-3rd century A.D.; however, the name 'Funan' is not found in any texts of local origin, and it is not known what name the people of Funan gave to their country.

What is known about Funan is from Chinese and Cham sources dating from the 3rd to 6th centuries and from archaeological excavations. From the side of archeology, we know that Funan must have been a powerful trading state, as evidenced by the discovery of Roman, Chinese, and Indian goods during excavations at the ancient trading depot of Oc Eo (Vietnamese: Óc Eo) in southern Vietnam.

Excavations at Angkor Borei in southern Cambodia have likewise delivered evidence of an important settlement. Since Oc Eo was linked to a port on the coast and to Angkor Borei by a system of canals, it is possible that all of these locations together constituted the heartland of Funan.

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