The rolling basalt country between the Sê San and the Ba: the heart of Jarai settlement and the pivot of every road across the chain (board).
The Jarai speak a language close to Cham; the Cham courted them with gifts and marriage and never taxed them (board). Where the Ayun joins the Ba at Chơ Reo, on the one road from the sea to the plateau without a serious climb, is the greatest single collecting point of eaglewood, ivory and horn on the whole coast (board). The later institution of the Fire and Water masters (Pötao Apui and Pötao Ia) is recorded only from the fifteenth century onward, so nothing is claimed about who spoke for the Jarai in 1200.
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
Champa courts them; the Khmer claim, if any, is on the western edge.
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, elephants.
Military
Village fighters; no numbers.
Places of note
- Pleiku: Plateau
- Cheo Reo: Ayun and Ba junction
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
- Jarai 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.