The plateau above the Con valley, from Kon Tum to An Khê and Kbang: the Bahnar, in village-centred country with their communal houses, selling to whichever side is buying.
The An Khê pass is the step up from the Con valley and the easiest way from the sea to the Jarai country and the Mekong (board). The Bahnar and Sedang sell hill goods at the upper Con at Tây Sơn for salt and iron, and the last twenty miles to the capital go by boat (board). The group names are those of the nineteenth and twentieth century; the Chinese and Cham sources of the time use general labels.
We use the later name only to say which people the ground is for, and we read their society backwards from later ethnography: villages with headmen and elders, shifting fields, no kings and no towns.
Who holds it
- Title
- Village headmen and councils of elders; no overall chief is known for 1200
- Confidence
- low
Later ethnography read backwards; Chinese trade lists and Cham inscriptions that name hill goods (board)
Overlord
Vijaya trades at the pass; the Khmer claim, if any, is on the far side of the Sê San.
How things stand that morning
Governing itself under village headmen; the lowland courts trade with it and claim it in name; not pinned further.
Wealth
Eaglewood, ivory, horn, iron.
Military
Village fighters; no numbers.
Places of note
- Kon Tum: Bahnar and Sedang basin
- An Khe: Pass
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: Chinese trade lists, Cham inscriptions that name hill goods, and ethnography written six centuries later (board); no dated event for 1200.
On the map: A union of modern districts standing for the people's country; there was no border, and the groups overlapped and traded across any line we draw.
Sources and studies
- Bahnar people, English Wikipedia (read)
- OMNIA board notes for the Vietnam and Champa area (a lead, not a source)
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.