A lagoon behind a sand spit with a single narrow entrance: the best harbour between Canton and the strait and the reason the capital sits where it does (board).
Every ship on the China run that wanted to wait out a monsoon put in here. The campaign board adds that Vijaya without Thị Nại is an inland town with a tax problem. Chinese and Arab ceramics found round the Thu Bồn mouth show the other Cham roadstead took return cargo too; for Thị Nại the evidence is the campaign board's description and the later history of Mongol and Viet fleets.
Who holds it
- Title
- Port officers of the king
- Confidence
- low
The campaign board entry notes; Chinese Wikipedia
Lord in 1200
The king through port officers.
What the town holds
- Berths, godowns and brokers' houses on the lagoon
- Dues on cargo
- The shrine of the port: the Tháp Đôi towers (board)
How things stand that morning
Working through the war; not pinned. The Khmer fleet is the danger.
Wealth
Port dues and the exchange of eaglewood, ivory and horn for silk, ceramics and metal (board).
Military
Port posts and boats; no numbers.
Threats
- A Khmer fleet
- A king who seizes cargoes in a crisis
Council
The king's port officers; the foreign merchants' own heads are not recorded.
Communities
Cham, Chinese, Muslim, Malay, Javanese and Khmer traders in season.
Fairs and markets
Trade follows the monsoon (general pattern).
Militia
Port boats and posts; no numbers.
Walls and castle
No wall known; the twin towers of Tháp Đôi stand over the entrance.
Trade and crafts
Exports: eaglewood, ivory, horn, cinnamon, gold. Imports: silk, ceramics, metalwork (board's general account).
What the year holds
What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.
- 1283A Mongol fleet comes in through Thị Nại (the campaign board).Depends on: A Mongol empire exists. Stopped by: No Mongol conquest.
Places of note
- Thi Nai: Harbour
- Thap Doi: Twin towers over the lagoon
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: The campaign board entry description; later history.
"The campaign board" is OMNIA's working map. These notes record where its earlier claims were checked against the sources.
Primary sources for Champa
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- The Abridged History of Viet, Anonymous (attributed by some to Su Hy Nhan) (about 1377, probably as an abridgement of Le Van Huu's lost history of 1272). The oldest surviving Vietnamese history, a century older than the Complete Annals and in places fuller for the Ly dynasty, which fills its second and third books.
- The Complete Annals of Dai Viet, Ngo Si Lien, drawing on Le Van Huu's Dai Viet su ky (1272) and Phan Phu Tien; continued by Pham Cong Tru and Le Hi (1479; printed 1697 in the standard Chinh Hoa edition). The main narrative source for Dai Viet in 1200, compiled in 1479 from Le Van Huu's lost history of 1272. Read online
- History of Song, chapters 488 and 489: Jiaozhi, Dali, Champa, Zhenla, Pagan, Srivijaya, Java, Brunei, Chola and Tambralinga, Toqto'a (Tuotuo) and the Yuan history office, from the Song court records (1343 to 1345, from Song veritable records and court diaries). The Chinese court's record of its southern neighbours, compiled from Song archives. Read online
- History of the Song, the chapters on Xia and on foreign states, Toqto'a (脫脫) and the Yuan history office (1343 to 1345). The Song court's accounts of its neighbours, each arranged as an annal of embassies and wars. Read online
- Draft Compilation of the Collected Statutes of the Song, Various; the Song huiyao were compiled by the Song state, the surviving draft reassembled by Xu Song from the Yongle dadian in the nineteenth century (the original Song compilations date from the eleventh to the thirteenth century; the surviving extracts were recovered in 1809 to 1820 and printed in 1936). Dated extracts from the Song government's own statute collections, arranged by office. Read online
- Corpus of the Inscriptions of Campa (EFEO and ISAW), Various (the Cham kings and their officers), edited by Arlo Griffiths, Amandine Lepoutre, William Southworth and Thanh Phan (inscriptions of the 4th to 15th centuries; the online corpus from 2012). The online edition of the Cham inscriptions, with photographs, texts and translations, keyed to the C. numbers. Read online
- The Inscriptions of Cambodia, Various (the Khmer kings and their officers), edited by George Coedes (inscriptions of the 6th to 14th centuries; edited 1937 to 1966). The Khmer empire of 1200 is known almost entirely from the great foundation stelae of Jayavarman VII (reigning from 1181), which Coedes edited: the Ta Prohm stele of 1186 (K. Read online
- The Sanskrit inscriptions of Cambodia and Champa (ISCC), Various (Khmer and Cham kings), edited by Auguste Barth and Abel Bergaigne (inscriptions of the 7th to 12th centuries; edited 1885 to 1893). The founding edition of Khmer and Cham Sanskrit epigraphy, public domain and online, which Coedes's later corpus supersedes but does not replace. Read online
Sources and studies
- 占婆, Chinese Wikipedia (read)
- Vijaya (Champa), English Wikipedia (read)
- Zhao Rugua, Zhufan zhi (1225), Hirth and Rockhill translation, archive.org item (text not opened in this run)
- 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.