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- Date:
- c. 50 - c. 550
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Funan
Funan, ancient state of Southeast Asia, 200 ce.
Funan
ancient state, Indochina
Funan, ancient state in Cambodia that arose in the 1st century ce and was incorporated into the state of Chenla in the 6th century. Funan (perhaps a Chinese transcription of pnom, “mountain”) was the first important Hinduized kingdom in southeast Asia. It covered portions of what are now Vietnam, Thailand, and Cambodia. Funan had trade relations with India as well as China, to whose emperor the people of Funan sent tribute between the 3rd and 6th centuries. Archaeological evidence shows that Funan was influenced markedly by Indian cultures.
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica This article was most recently revised and updated by Virginia Gorlinski.
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