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Matches in DBpedia 2014 for { ?s ?p Kingdom of Funan (Chinese: 扶南; pinyin: Fúnán) was the name given by the Chinese to an ancient kingdom located in southern Southeast Asian centered around the Mekong Delta. The name is found in Chinese historical texts describing the kingdom, and the most extensive descriptions are largely based on the report of two Chinese diplomats representing the Wu Kingdom of Nanking who sojourned in Funan in the mid-3rd century A.D. Known in the modern languages of the region as វ្នំ Vnom (Khmer) or នគរភ្នំ Nokor Phnom (Khmer), ฟูนาน (Thai), and Phù Nam (Vietnamese), the name Funan is not found in any texts of local origin from the period, and it is not known what name the people of Funan gave to their polity.Some scholars have advanced speculative proposals regarding the origin and meaning of the word Funan. It is often said that the name Funan represents a transcription from some local language into Chinese. For example, French scholar Georges Coedès advanced the theory that in using the word Funan ancient Chinese scholars were transcribing a word related to the Khmer word bnaṃ or vnaṃ (modern: phnoṃ, meaning "mountain"). However, the epigraphist Claude Jacques pointed out that this explanation was based on a mis-translation of the Sanskrit word parvatabùpála in the ancient inscriptions as equivalent to the Khmer word bnaṃ and a mis-identification of the King Bhavavarman I mentioned in them as the conqueror of Funan. It has also been observed that in Chinese the character 南 (pinyin: nán, Vietnamese: nam) is frequently used in geographical terms to mean "South"; Chinese scholars used it in this sense in naming other locations or regions of Southeast Asia, such as Annam. Thus, Funan may be an originally Chinese word meaning something like "Pacified South", and may not be a transcription at all. Jacques proposed that use of the name Funan should be abandoned in favour of the names, such as Bhavapura, Aninditapura, Shresthapura and Vyadhapura, which are known from inscriptions to have been used at the time for cities in the region and give a more accurate idea of the geography of the ancient Khmer regions than the names Funan or Zhenla which are unknown in the Old Khmer language.Like the very name of the kingdom, the ethno-linguistic nature of the people is the subject of much discussion among specialists. The leading hypotheses are that the Funanese were mostly Mon–Khmer, or that they were mostly Austronesian, or that they constituted a multi-ethnic society. The available evidence is inconclusive on this issue. Michael Vickery has said that, even though identification of the language of Funan is not possible, the evidence strongly suggests that the population was Khmer. The results of archaeology at Oc Eo have demonstrated "no true discontinuity between Oc Eo and pre-Angkorian levels", indicating Khmer linguistic dominance in the area under Funan control.Based on the testimony of the Chinese historians, the polity Funan is believed to have been established in the 1st century CE in the Mekong Delta, but archaeological research has shown that extensive human settlement in the region may have gone back as far as the 4th century BCE. Though regarded by Chinese authors as a single unified polity, some modern scholars suspect that Funan may have been a collection of city-states that sometimes warred with one another and at other times constituted a political unity. From archeological evidence, which includes Roman, Chinese, and Indian goods excavated at the ancient mercantile centre of Óc Eo (from the Khmer អូរកែវ Ou Kaeo, meaning "glass canal") in southern Vietnam, we know that Funan must have been a powerful trading state. Excavations at Angkor Borei in southern Cambodia have likewise delivered evidence of an important settlement. Since Óc 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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