The high valleys of Quảng Nam (Tây Giang, Đông Giang, Nam Giang, Phước Sơn, Nông Sơn): the Katu, who bring eaglewood, wax, honey, horn and captives down the tracks of the Đắk Mi into the Thu Bồn, to be traded for salt, iron blades and cloth (board).
Every stick of eaglewood that leaves Cửa Đại has passed the Hòn Kẽm gorge. No settlement of this date is excavated; the campaign board's Kham Duc is a district rather than a place. 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's lords of Amaravati trade with them and court them; they do not tax them.
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, wax, honey, horn, captives.
Military
Village raiders; no numbers.
Places of note
- Kham Duc: Head of the Katu tracks
- Hon Kem: Gorge where boats stop
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
- 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.