AUSTRONESIAN
The Austronesian language group inhabits Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand, but primarily resides on the islands of Indonesia, Timor-Leste, Malaysia (both islands and peninsula), the Philippines, Singapore, Brunei, Madagascar, Micronesia, Polynesia, Melanesia, New Guinea, and Taiwan. In Vietnam, the Austronesian language family includes four ethnic groups: Giarai, Êđê, Raglai, and Churu, with a population of over 1 million (2019). They mainly live in the Central Highlands and mountainous provinces from Phú Yên to Bình Thuận. Their settlement areas connect with those of the Cham people, forming an Austronesian cultural region in Indochina. They have preserved matrilineal traditions and cultural traces associated with maritime heritage.
The ancestors of the Austronesian peoples migrated from southern China to the Pacific. They have been present in the Central Highlands since very early times, certainly after the Mon-Khmer language groups and before the establishment of the Champa Kingdom. Their main livelihood is swidden (slash-and-burn) cultivation, practicing long fallow periods before re-cultivating the land. Wet rice fields were formerly found only in some swampy areas.
Their traditional social organization is the village, which gathers large matrilineal extended families. However, smaller nuclear families have now become common. Village life operates according to customary laws. The community spirit in villages remains very strong, but economic stratification and wealth disparities within the community have become increasingly evident.
(Source: Vietnam Museum of Ethnology)
