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Minangkabau people

Minangkabau people (Urang Minang or Urang Awak; Indonesian or Malay: Orang Minangkabau; Jawi: ), also known as Minang, are an Austronesian ethnic group native to the Minangkabau Highlands of West Sumatra, Indonesia. The Minangkabau's West Sumatera homelands was the seat of the Pagaruyung Kingdom, believed by early historians to have been the cradle of the Malay race, and the location of the Padri War (1821 to 1837).

Minangkabau are the ethnic majority in West Sumatra and Negeri Sembilan. Minangkabau are also a recognised minority in other parts of Indonesia as well as Malaysia, Singapore, and the Netherlands.

Etymology
There are several possible etymologies for the term Minangkabau (Minangkabau: Minang Jawi script: منڠ). While the word "kabau" undisputedly translates to "buffalo", the word "minang" is traditionally known as the pinang fruit (areca nut) chewed with sirih (betel) leaves. But there is also a folklore that mention that term Minangkabau came from a popular legend that was derived from a territorial dispute between a people and a prince from a neighbouring region. To avoid the battle, the local people proposed a fight to the death between two water buffaloes (kabau) to settle the dispute. The prince agreed and produced the largest, meanest, most aggressive buffalo. The villagers on other hand produced a hungry baby calf with its small horns ground to be as sharp as knives. Seeing the adult buffalo across the field, the calf ran forward, hoping for milk. The big buffalo saw no threat in the baby buffalo and paid no attention to it, looking around for a worthy opponent. But when the baby thrust his head under the big bull's belly, looking for an udder, the sharpened horns punctured and killed the bull giving the villagers their victory (menang, hence minang kabau: "victors of the buffalo" which eventually became Minangkabau). That legend, however, is known to be a mere tale and that the word "minang" is too far from the word "menang" which means 'win'.

The legend however has its rebuttals as the word 'minang' refers to the consumption of areca nut (pinang), yet there has not been any popular explanation on the word 'minang' that relates the aforementioned action to the word for "water buffalo".

The first mention of the name Minangkabau as Minanga Tamwan, is in the late 7th century Kedukan Bukit inscription, describing Sri Jayanasa's sacred journey from Minanga Tamwan accompanied with 20,000 soldiers heading to Matajap and conquering several areas in the southern of Sumatra.

History
The Minangkabau language is a member of the Austronesian language family, and is closest to the Malay language, though when the two languages split from a common ancestor and the precise historical relationship between Malay and Minangkabau culture is not known. Until the 20th century the majority of the Sumatran population lived in the highlands. The highlands are well suited for human habitation, with plentiful fresh water, fertile soil, a cool climate, and valuable commodities. It is probable that wet rice cultivation evolved in the Minangkabau Highlands long before it appeared in other parts of Sumatra, and predates significant foreign contact.

Adityawarman, a follower of Tantric Buddhism with ties to the Singhasari and Majapahit kingdoms of Java, is believed to have founded a kingdom in the Minangkabau highlands at Pagaruyung and ruled between 1347 and 1375. The establishment of a royal system seems to have involved conflict and violence, eventually leading to a division of villages into one of two systems of tradition, Bodi-Caniago system based on Adat Perpatih and Koto-Piliang system based on Adat Temenggung, the latter having overt allegiances to royalty. By the 16th century, the time of the next report after the reign of Adityawarman, royal power had been split into three recognised reigning kings. They were the King of the World (Raja Alam), the King of Adat (Raja Adat), and the King of Religion (Raja Ibadat), and collectively they were known as the Kings of the Three Seats (Rajo Tigo Selo). The Minangkabau kings were charismatic or magical figures, but did not have much authority over the conduct of village affairs.

Around the 16th century, the Minangkabau started to convert to Islam. The first contact between the Minangkabau and western nations occurred with the 1529 voyage of Jean Parmentier to Sumatra. The Dutch East India Company first acquired gold at Pariaman in 1651, but later moved south to Padang to avoid interference from the Acehnese occupiers. In 1663 the Dutch agreed to protect and liberate local villages from the Acehnese in return for a trading monopoly, and as a result setup trading posts at Painan and Padang. Until early in the 19th century the Dutch remained content with their coastal trade of gold and produce, and made no attempt to visit the Minangkabau highlands. As a result of conflict in Europe, the British occupied Padang from 1781 to 1784 during the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War, and again from 1795 to 1819 during the Napoleonic Wars.

Late in the 18th century the gold supply which provided the economic base for Minangkabau royalty began to be exhausted. Around the same time other parts of the Minangkabau economy had a period of unparalleled expansion as new opportunities for the export of agricultural commodities arose, particularly with coffee which was in very high demand. A civil war started in 1803 with the Padri fundamentalist Islamic group in conflict with the traditional syncretic groups, elite families and Pagaruyung royals. As a result of a treaty with a number of penghulu and representatives of the Minangkabau royal family, Dutch forces made their first attack on a Padri village in April 1821. The first phase of the war ended in 1825 when the Dutch signed an agreement with the Padri leader Tuanku Imam Bonjol to halt hostilities, allowing them to redeploy their forces to fight the Java War. When fighting resumed in 1832, the reinforced Dutch troops were able to more effectively attack the Padri. The main centre of resistance was captured in 1837, Tuanku Imam Bonjol was captured and exiled soon after, and by the end of the next year the war was effectively over.

With the Minangkabau territories now under the control of the Dutch, transportation systems were improved and economic exploitation was intensified. New forms of education were introduced, allowing some Minangkabau to take advantage of a modern education system. The 20th century marked a rise and cultural and political nationalism, culminating in the demand for Indonesian independence. Later rebellions against the Dutch occupation occurred such as the 1908 Anti-Tax Rebellion and the 1927 Communist uprising. During World War II the Minangkabau territories were occupied by the Japanese, and when the Japanese surrendered in August 1945 Indonesia proclaimed independence. The Dutch attempts to regain control of the area were ultimately unsuccessful and in 1949 the Minangkabau territories became part of Indonesia as the province of Central Sumatra.

In February 1958, dissatisfaction with the centralist and communist-leaning policies of the Sukarno administration triggered a revolt which was centred in the Minangkabau region of Sumatra, with rebels proclaiming the Revolutionary Government of the Republic of Indonesia (PRRI) in Bukittinggi. The Indonesian military invaded West Sumatra in April 1958 and had recaptured major towns within the next month. A period of guerrilla warfare ensued, but most rebels had surrendered by August 1961. In the years following, West Sumatra was like an occupied territory with Javanese officials occupying most senior civilian, military and police positions. The policies of centralisation continued under the Suharto regime. The national government legislated to apply the Javanese desa village system throughout Indonesia, and in 1983 the traditional Minangkabau nagari village units were split into smaller jorong units, thereby destroying the traditional village social and cultural institutions. In the years following the downfall of the Suharto regime decentralisation policies were implemented, giving more autonomy to provinces, thereby allowing West Sumatra to reinstitute the nagari system.

Historiography
The traditional historiography of the Minangkabau tells of the development of the Minangkabau World (alam Minangkabau) and its adat. These stories are derived from an oral history which was transmitted between generations before the Minangkabau had a written language. The first Minangkabau are said to have arrived by ship and landed on Mount Marapi when it was no bigger than the size of an egg, which protruded from a surrounding body of water. After the waters receded the Minangkabau proliferated and dispersed to the slopes and valleys surrounding the volcano, a region called the darek. The darek is composed of three luhak – Tanah Datar, Agam and Limapuluh Koto. The tambo claims the ship was sailed by a descendant of Alexander the Great (Iskandar Zulkarnain).

A division in Minangkabau adat into two systems is said to be the result of conflict between two half-brothers Datuak Katumangguangan and Datuak Parpatiah nan Sabatang, who were the leaders who formulated the foundations of Minangkabau adat. The former accepted Adityawarman, a prince from Majapahit, as a king while the latter considered him a minister, and a civil war ensued. The Bodi Caniago/Adat perpatih system formulated by Datuak Parpatiah nan Sabatang is based upon egalitarian principles with all panghulu (clan chiefs) being equal while the Koto Piliang /Adat Katumangguangan system is more autocratic with there being a hierarchy of panghulu. Each village (nagari) in the darek was an autonomous "republic", and governed independently of the Minangkabau kings using one of the two adat systems. After the darek was settled, new outside settlements were created and ruled using the Koto Piliang system by rajo who were representatives of the king.

Culture
The Minangkabau have large corporate descent groups, but they traditionally reckon descent matrilineally. A young boy, for instance, has his primary responsibility to his mother's and sisters' clans. It is considered "customary" and ideal for married sisters to remain in their parental home, with their husbands having a sort of visiting status. Not everyone lives up to this ideal, however. In the 1990s, anthropologist Evelyn Blackwood studied a relatively conservative village in Sumatra Barat where only about 22 percent of the households were "matrihouses", consisting of a mother and a married daughter or daughters. Nonetheless, there is a shared ideal among Minangkabau in which sisters and unmarried lineage members try to live close to one another or even in the same house.

Landholding is one of the crucial functions of the suku (female lineage unit). Because Minangkabau men, like Acehnese men, often migrate to seek experience, wealth, and commercial success, the women's kin group is responsible for maintaining the continuity of the family and the distribution and cultivation of the land. These family groups, however, are typically led by a penghulu (headman), elected by groups of lineage leaders. With the agrarian base of the Minangkabau economy in decline, the suku—as a landholding unit—has also been declining somewhat in importance, especially in urban areas. Indeed, the position of penghulu is not always filled after the death of the incumbent, particularly if lineage members are not willing to bear the expense of the ceremony required to install a new penghulu.

The Minangkabau (in short Minang) are also known for their devotion to Islam. A dominant majority of both males and females pray five times a day, fast during the month of Ramadan, and express the desire to make the holy pilgrimage (Hajj) to Mecca at least once in their lifetime. Each Minangkabau neighbourhood has a Musalla, which means "a temporary place of prayer" in Arabic. In the neighbourhood Musalla, men and women pray together, although separated into their respective gender-designated sections. A high percentage of women and girls wear the headscarf.

As early as the age of 7, boys traditionally leave their homes and live in a surau (traditionally: the house of men of a village where the boys learn from older men reading, reciting qur'an, simple math, and other survival skills) to learn religious and cultural (adat) teachings. At the surau during night time (after the Isyak prayers), these youngsters are taught the traditional Minangkabau art of self-defence, called as Silek, or Silat in Malay. When they are teenagers, they are encouraged to leave their hometown to learn in schools or through experiences outside of their hometown so that, as adults, they can return home wise and 'useful' to society and are able to contribute their thinking and experience to run the family or nagari (hometown) when they sit as members of the 'council of maternal uncles and maternal granduncles' (ninik-mamak). This tradition has created Minang communities in many Indonesian cities and towns, which nevertheless are still tied closely to their homeland; a state in Malaysia named Negeri Sembilan especially is heavily influenced by Minang culture because Negeri Sembilan was originally Minangkabau's colony. By acquiring property and education through merantau experience, a young man can attempt to influence his own destiny in positive ways.

Increasingly, married couples go off on merantau; in such situations, the woman's role tends to change. When married couples reside in urban areas or outside the Minangkabau region and a Minang woman marries a non-Minang man, the woman will rely on the protection provided by the husband more than that of her council of uncles. Because in Minang culture marriage is merely a 'commitment of two people' and not at all a 'union', there is no stigma attached to divorce. The Minangkabau were prominent among the intellectual figures in the Indonesian independence movement. Not only were they strongly embedded themselves surrounding Islamic traditions – which counteracted the influence of the Protestant Dutch – they also had a sense of cultural pride just as like every other Sumatran especially with their traditional belief of egalitarianism of "Standing as tall, sitting as low" (that no body stand or sit on an increased stage). They also speak a language closely related to the Malay variant spoken in newly formed Indonesia, which was considerably freer of hierarchical connotations than Javanese. The tradition of merantau also meant that the Minangkabau developed a cosmopolitan bourgeoisie that readily adopted and promoted the ideas of an emerging nation-state. Due to their culture that stresses the importance of learning, Minang people are over-represented in the educated professions in Indonesia, with many ministers from Minang.

Adat derives in part from the ancient animist and buddhist belief system of the Minangkabau, which existed before the arrival of Islam to Sumatra. When precisely the religion spread across the island and was adopted by the Minangkabau is unclear, though it probably arrived in West Sumatra around the 16th century. It is adat that guides matrilineal inheritance, and though it seems that such a tradition might conflict with the precepts of Islam, the Minangnese insist that it does not. To accommodate both, the Minangkabau make a distinction between high and low inheritance. "High inheritance" is the property, including the home and land, which passes among women. "Low inheritance" is what a father passes to his children out of his professional earnings. This latter inheritance follows Islamic law, a complex system which dictates, in part, that sons get twice as much as daughters.

Ceremonies and festivals
Minangkabau ceremonies and festivals include:
 * Turun mandi – baby blessing ceremony
 * Sunat rasul – circumcision ceremony
 * Baralek – wedding ceremony
 * Batagak pangulu – clan leader inauguration ceremony. Other clan leaders, all relatives in the same clan and all villagers in the region are invited. The ceremony lasts for seven days or more.
 * Turun ka sawah – community work ceremony
 * Manyabik – harvesting ceremony
 * Hari Rayo – the local observance of Eid al-Fitr
 * Adoption ceremony
 * Adat ceremony
 * Funeral ceremony
 * Wild boar hunt ceremony
 * Maanta pabukoan – sending food to mother-in-law for Ramadan
 * Tabuik – local Mourning of Muharram in the coastal village of Pariaman
 * Tanah Ta Sirah, inaugurate a new datuk when the old one died in the few hours (no need to proceed to the batagak pangulu, but the clan must invite all datuk in the region.
 * Mambangkik Batang Tarandam, inaugurate a new datuk when the old one died in the past 10 or 50 years and even more, attendance in the Batagak Pangulu ceremony is mandatory.

Performing arts
Traditional Minangkabau music includes saluang jo dendang, which consists of singing to the accompaniment of a saluang bamboo flute and talempong gong-chime music. Dances include the tari piring (plate dance), tari payung (umbrella dance), tari indang (also known as endang or badindin), and tari pasambahan. Demonstrations of the silat martial art are performed. Pidato adat are ceremonial orations performed at formal occasions.

Randai is a folk theatre tradition which incorporates music, singing, dance, drama and the silat martial art. Randai is usually performed for traditional ceremonies and festivals, and complex stories may span a number of nights. It is performed as a theatre-in-the-round to achieve an equality and unity between audience members and the performers. Randai performances are a synthesis of alternating martial arts dances, songs, and acted scenes. Stories are delivered by the acting and singing and are mostly based upon Minangkabau legends and folktales. Randai originated early in the 20th century out of fusion of local martial arts, storytelling and other performance traditions. Men originally played male and female characters in the story but, since the 1960s, women have participated.

Crafts
Particular Minangkabau villages specialise in cottage industries producing handicrafts such as woven sugarcane and reed purses, gold and silver jewellery using filigree and granulation techniques, woven songket textiles, wood carving, embroidery, pottery, and metallurgy.

Cuisine
The staple ingredients of the Minangkabau diet are rice, fish, coconut, green leafy vegetables and chili. Meat is mainly limited to special occasions, and beef and chicken are most commonly used. Pork is not halal and not consumed, while lamb, goat and game are rarely consumed for reasons of taste and availability. Spiciness is a characteristic of Minangkabau food: The most commonly used herbs and spices are chili, turmeric, ginger and galangal. Vegetables are consumed two or three times a day. Fruits are mainly seasonal, although fruits such as banana, papaya and citrus are continually available.

Three meals a day are typical with lunch being the most important, except during the fasting month of Ramadan when lunch is not eaten. Meals commonly consist of steamed rice, a hot fried dish and a coconut milk dish, with a little variation from breakfast to dinner. Meals are generally eaten from a plate using the fingers of the right hand. Snacks are more frequently eaten by people in urban areas than in villages. Western food has had little impact upon Minangkabau consumption and preference.

Rendang is a dish which is considered to be a characteristic of Minangkabau culture; it is cooked 4–5 times a year. This particular dish is one of the world's renowned dish, especially after crowned the Best Food in CNN's World's 50 Best Foods in 2011 and 2017 by a CNN poll. Other characteristic dishes include Asam Padeh, Soto Padang, Sate Padang, Dendeng Balado (beef with chili sauce).

Food has a central role in the Minangkabau ceremonies which honour religious and life-cycle rites.

Minangkabau food is popular among Indonesians and restaurants are present throughout Indonesia. Nasi Padang restaurants, named after the capital of West Sumatra, are known for placing a variety of Minangkabau dishes on a customer's table with rice and billing only for what is taken. Nasi Kapau is another restaurant variant which specialises in dishes using offal and tamarind to add a sourness to the spicy flavour.

Architecture
Rumah gadang (Minangkabau: 'big house') or rumah bagonjong (Minangkabau: 'spired roof house') are the traditional homes of the Minangkabau. The architecture, construction, internal and external decoration, and the functions of the house reflect the culture and values of the Minangkabau. A rumah gadang serves as a residence, a hall for family meetings, and for ceremonial activities. The rumah gadang is owned by the women of the family who live there – ownership is passed from mother to daughter.

The houses have dramatic curved roof structures with multi-tiered, upswept gables. They are also well distinguished by their rooflines which curve upward from the middle and end in points, in imitation of the upward-curving horns of the water buffalo that supposedly eked the people their name (i.e. "victors of the buffalo"). Shuttered windows are built into walls incised with profuse painted floral carvings. The term rumah gadang usually refers to the larger communal homes, however, smaller single residences share many of its architectural elements.

Oral traditions and literature
Minangkabau culture has a long history of oral traditions. One is the pidato adat (ceremonial orations) which are performed by clan chiefs (panghulu) at formal occasions such as weddings, funerals, adoption ceremonies, and panghulu inaugurations. These ceremonial orations consist of many forms including pantun, aphorisms (papatah-patitih), proverbs (pameo), religious advice (petuah, parables (tamsia), two-line aphorisms (gurindam), and similes (ibarat).

Minangkabau traditional folktales (kaba) consist of narratives that present the social and personal consequences of either ignoring or observing the ethical teachings and the norms embedded in the adat. The storyteller (tukang kaba) recites the story in poetic or lyrical prose while accompanying himself on a rebab.

A theme in Minangkabau folktales is the central role mothers and motherhood has in Minangkabau society, with the folktales Rancak di Labuah and Malin Kundang being two examples. Rancak di Labuah is about a mother who acts as teacher and adviser to her two growing children. Initially her son is vain and headstrong and only after her perseverance does he become a good son who listens to his mother. Malin Kundang is about the dangers of treating your mother badly. A sailor from a poor family voyages to seek his fortune, becoming rich and marrying. After refusing to recognise his elderly mother on his return home, being ashamed of his humble origins, he is cursed and dies when a storm ensues and turn him along with his ship to stone. The said stone is in Air Manis beach and is known by locals as batu Malin Kundang.

Other popular folktales also relate to the important role of the woman in Minangkabau society. In the Cindua Mato epic the woman is the source of wisdom, while in the Sabai nan Aluih she is a gentle girl who takes action. Cindua Mato (Staring Eye) is about the traditions of Minangkabau royalty. The story involves a mythical Minangkabau queen, Bundo Kanduang, who embodies the behaviours prescribed by adat. Cindua Mato, a servant of the queen, uses magic to defeat hostile outside forces and save the kingdom. Sabai nan Aluih (The genteel Sabai) is about a girl named Sabai who despite being famous for being a gentle girl with perfect wife skills, avenged the murder of her father by a powerful and evil ruler from a neighbouring village. After her father's death, her cowardly elder brother refuses to confront the murderer and so Sabai decided to take matters into her own hands. She seeks out the murderer and shoots him in revenge.

Matrilineage
The Minangkabau are the largest matrilineal society in the world, with property, family name and land passing down from mother to daughter, while religious and political affairs are the responsibility of men, although some women also play important roles in these areas. This custom is called Lareh Bodi-Caniago and is known as adat perpatih in Malaysia. Today 4.2 million Minangs live in the homeland of West Sumatra.

As one of the world's most populous (as well as politically and economically influential) matrilineal ethnicities, Minangkabau gender dynamics have been extensively studied by anthropologists. The adat (Minangkabau: Adaik) traditions have allowed Minangkabau women to hold a relatively advantageous position in their society compared to most patriarchal societies, because though they do not rule, they are at the center of their society.

Language
The Minangkabau language (Baso Minangkabau) is an Austronesian language belonging to the Malayic linguistic subgroup, which in turn belongs to the Malayo-Polynesian branch. The Negri Sembilan dialect of Malay used by people in the aforementioned state is closely related to it due to the fact many of the population are descendants of Minangkabau immigrants.

The language has a number of dialects and sub-dialects, but native Minangkabau speakers generally have no difficulty understanding the variety of dialects. The differences between dialects are mainly at the phonological level, though some lexical differences also exist. Minangkabau dialects are regional, consisting of one or more villages (nagari), and usually correspond to differences in customs and traditions. Each sub-village (jorong) has its own sub-dialect consisting of subtle differences which can be detected by native speakers. The Padang dialect has become the lingua franca for people of different language regions.

The Minangkabau society has a diglossia situation, whereby they use their native language for everyday conversations, while the Malay language is used for most formal occasions, in education, and in writing, even to relatives and friends. The Minangkabau language was originally written using the Jawi script, an adapted Arabic alphabet. Romanization of the language dates from the 19th century, and a standardised official orthography of the language was published in 1976.

Despite widespread use of Malay in both Malaysia and Indonesia, they do have their own mother tongue; the Minangkabau language shares many similar words with Malay, yet it has a distinctive pronunciation and some grammatical differences rendering it unintelligible to Malay speakers.

Customs and religion
Prior to conversion to Islam, Buddhism, especially Tantric Buddhism was popular in the region. Buddhism in central Sumatra is attested by the Padang Roco Inscription, which states that an Avalokiteśvara was brought from Java to Dharmasraya, and this act brought great happiness to the people. Influential Buddhist kingdoms thrived in the area, including the Pagaruyung Kingdom and Melayu Kingdom.

Animism had also been an important component of Minangkabau culture. Even after the penetration of Islam into Minangkabau society in the 16th century, animistic beliefs were not extinguished. In this belief system, people were said to have two souls, a real soul and a soul which can disappear called the semangat. Semangat represents the vitality of life and it is said to be possessed by all living creatures including animals and plants. An illness may be explained as the capture of the semangat by an evil spirit, and a shaman (pawang) may be consulted to conjure invisible forces and bring comfort to the family. Sacrificial offerings can be made to placate the spirits, and certain objects such as amulets are used as protection.

Until the rise of the Padri movement late in the 18th century, Islamic practices such as prayers, fasting and attendance at mosques had been weakly observed in the Minangkabau highlands. The Padri were inspired by the Wahhabi movement in Mecca, and sought to eliminate societal problems such as tobacco and opium smoking, gambling and general anarchy by ensuring the tenets of the quran were strictly observed. All Minangkabau customs allegedly in conflict with the quran were abolished. Although the Padri were eventually defeated by the Dutch, during this period the relationship between adat and religion was reformulated. Previously adat (customs) were said to be based upon appropriateness and propriety, but this was changed so that adat was more strongly based upon Islamic precepts.

The Minangkabau strongly profess Islam while at the same time also following their ethnic traditions, or adat. The Minangkabau adat was derived from hereditary wisdom before the arrival of Islam. The present relationship between Islam and adat is described in the saying "traditions [adat] are founded upon the [Islamic] law, and the law founded upon the Qur'an" (adat nan kawi', syara' nan lazim).

With the Minangkabau highlands being the heartland of their culture, and with Islam likely entering the region from coast it is said that "custom descended, religion ascended" (adat manurun, syarak mandaki).

Minangkabau Population Breakdown
This table contains Minangkabau population breakdown in Indonesia

Overseas Minangkabau
Over half of the Minangkabau people can be considered overseas Minangkabaus. They make up the majority of the population of Negeri Sembilan, Naning (in Malaysia) as well as Pekanbaru (in Indonesia). They also form a significant minority in the populations of Jakarta, Bandung, Medan, Batam, Surabaya and Palembang in Indonesia as well as Kuala Lumpur, Malacca, Penang, Singapore and Brunei Darussalam in the rest of the Malay world. Minangkabaus have also emigrated as skilled professionals and merchants to the Netherlands, United States, Saudi Arabia and Australia. In the overseas (rantau), they have a reputation for being shrewd merchants. The matrilineal culture and economic conditions in West Sumatra have made the Minangkabau people one of the most mobile ethnic group in Maritime Southeast Asia.

For most of the Minangkabau people, wandering is an ideal way to reach maturity and success; as a consequence, they exercised great influence in the politics of many kingdom and states in Maritime Southeast Asia. Overseas Minangkabau are also great influence developing Indonesian, Malaysian, and Singaporean culture, mainly language, culinary, music, and martial art.

Notable Minangkabau

The Minangkabau are famous for their dedication to knowledge, as well as the widespread diaspora of their men throughout southeast Asia, the result being that Minangs have been disproportionately represented in positions of economic and political power throughout the region. The co-founder of the Republic of Indonesia, Mohammad Hatta, was a Minang, as were the first President of Singapore, Yusof bin Ishak, and the first Supreme Head of State or Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia, Tuanku Abdul Rahman.

The Minangkabau are known as a society that places top priority in high education and thus they are widespread across Indonesia and foreign countries in a variety of professions and expertise such as politicians, writers, scholars, teachers, journalists, and businesspeople. Outside West Sumatra, they are mostly an urban people, forming part of expanding Indonesia's middle-class. Based on a relatively small population, Minangkabau is one of the most successful. According to Tempo magazine (2000 New Year special edition), six of the top ten most influential Indonesians of the 20th century were Minang. Three out of the four Indonesian founding fathers are Minangkabau people.

Many people of Minangkabau descent have held prominent positions in the Indonesian and Malay nationalist movements. In 1920–1960, the political leadership in Indonesian was replete with Minangkabau people, such as Mohammad Hatta a former Indonesian government prime minister and vice-president, Agus Salim a former Indonesian government minister, Tan Malaka international communist leader and founder of PARI and Murba, Sutan Sjahrir a former Indonesian government prime minister and founder of Socialist Party of Indonesia, Muhammad Natsir a former Indonesian government prime minister and founder of Masyumi, Assaat a former Indonesian president, and Abdul Halim a former Indonesian government prime minister. During the liberal democracy era, Minangkabau politician dominated Indonesian parliament and cabinets. They were diversely affiliated to all of the existing factions, such as Islamist, nationalist, socialist and communist.

Minangkabau writers and journalists have made significant contributions to modern Indonesian literature. These include authors Marah Roesli, Abdul Muis, Sutan Takdir Alisjahbana, Idrus, Hamka, and Ali Akbar Navis; poets Muhammad Yamin, Chairil Anwar, and Taufik Ismail; and journalists Djamaluddin Adinegoro, Rosihan Anwar, and Ani Idrus. Many prominent Indonesian novels were written by Minangkabau writers and later influenced the development of modern Indonesian language.

Moreover, there are also significant number of Minangkabau people in the popular entertainment industry, such as movie directors Usmar Ismail and Nasri Cheppy; movie producer Djamaluddin Malik, screenwriter Arizal and Asrul Sani; actor and actress Soekarno M. Noer, Rano Karno, Camelia Malik, Eva Arnaz, Nirina Zubir, Titi Rajo Bintang, and Dude Herlino, as well as singers Fariz RM, Bunga Citra Lestari, Nazril Irham, Dorce Gamalama, Afgansyah Reza, Sherina Munaf, and Tulus.

Nowadays, Minangkabau people have made significant contributions to Indonesia's economic activities. Minangkabau businessmen are also notable in hospitality sector, media industry, healthcare, publisher, automotive, and textile trading. Some of them are industrialists include Hasyim Ning, Fahmi Idris, Abdul Latief, and Basrizal Koto.

Historically, Minangs had also settled outside West Sumatra, migrating as far as the south Philippines by the 14th century. Raja Bagindo was the leader of the forming polity in Sulu, Philippines, which later turned into the Sultanate of Sulu. The Minangkabaus migrated to the Malay peninsula in the 14th century and began to take control of the local politics. In 1773, Raja Melewar was appointed the first Yamtuan Besar of Negeri Sembilan.

Minangkabaus have filled many political positions in Malaysia and Singapore, namely the first President of Singapore, Yusof Ishak; the first Supreme Head of State (Yang di-Pertuan Agong) of the Federation of Malaya, Tuanku Abdul Rahman; and many Malaysian government ministers, such as Aishah Ghani, Amirsham Abdul Aziz, Aziz Ishak, Ghazali Shafie, Rais Yatim and Khairy Jamaluddin. They are also known for their significant contributions to Malaysian and Singaporean culture, such as Zubir Said, who composed Majulah Singapura (the national anthem of Singapore); the Singaporean musician, Wandly Yazid; the Malaysian film director, U-Wei Haji Saari; the linguist, Zainal Abidin Ahmad; as well as business and economic activities, such as Mohamed Taib bin Haji Abdul Samad, Mokhzani Mahathir, Kamarudin Meranun and Tunku Tan Sri Abdullah.

Notable people of Minangkabau descent outside of the Malay world include member of the House of Representatives of the Netherlands, Rustam Effendi; Ahmad Khatib, the imam (head) of the Shafi'i school of law at Masjid al-Haram; and Khatib's grandson Fouad Abdulhameed Alkhateeb as Saudi Arabian ambassador.

title: Minangkabau people


text:
Talk:Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza

Untitled
I think he sold the art collection to Spain but managed to give everyone the impression that he had given it. His name is on it, but he doesn't own it anymore, I think. Ortolan88 04:37, 7 January 2003

A significant amount of the art in the Thyssen-Bornemisza is stolen Jewish art from WWII. Baron Thyssen-Bornemisza was linked to the Nazis. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.69.58.121 (talk • contribs) 04:18, 7 August 2006

Genealogy
While the research is impressive and the effort appreciated, this and related articles are accumulating too much genealogical information in violation of WP:NOT. The information should be cut by at least half, and integrated with other biographical information in a more encyclopedic format. Lethiere (talk) 19:17, 6 December 2007 (UTC)

In the opinion of this simple reader, the article is very difficult to follow due to the inclusion of excessive genealogical references. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.42.156.200 (talk) 20:04, 24 February 2008 (UTC)

Dates of birth and death
Contradicting sources: according to the New York Times, his birthday was 13 April 1921, and he died 27 April 2002. What is right? --FordPrefect42 (talk) 09:42, 3 March 2008 (UTC)

Assets dispute
Who is the she mentioned ? -- Beardo (talk) 21:37, 16 December 2008 (UTC)

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Talk:Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza


text:
Talk:Republic Advisory Committee/Archive 1

republicans will again arrange for Australia to vote on the issue, though it remains unclear whether Australia will vote for a republican regime; it is possible that the question will continue to be put for so long as change is rejected.

 * Above line removed. While I can understand the point you were making, those advocating change always revisit issues as they try to get their their views on top. (Denmark's two votes on the Maastricht Treaty; Ireland's two votes on the Nice Treaty, etc). But the above line doesn't fit in with the NPOV standard required for Wikipedia articles. It's tone and language clearly indicates which side of the argument the author of it comes down on, which an encyclopedia entry should not do.

 * The reference to the Hapsburg's links to Switzerland is just plain silly and irrelevant. Queen Elizabeth II can trace back her ancestry to Ireland's high king, Brian Boru (as can I!), but it is such a pointless link there is no point putting it into an article on Her Majesty. The same is true here. JTD 03:26 Dec 17, 2002 (UTC)

a monarch with a wider connection than

 * above segment of line removed too. The above line is technically inaccurate. Under the Royal Titles Act, the concept of a unified shared crown throughout the Commonwealth was replaced in the 1920s by a dominion-based individual crown, with all separate crowns worn by a singular monarch. Thus in correct constitutional usage, that the wearer of that crown has a 'wider connection' is of no constitutional relevance (and this article is framed to cover the strict constitutional rules, not the underlying emotions of the link between Britain, which would belong on a political not a constitutional analysis of the RAC and its work). The same was true in the Irish Free State post 1928 where in strict constitutional terms the British monarch had no role; it was the Irish King who, in another job he held, was King of the United Kingdom. As this article is strictly about law, procedure and a committee established, the emotional perspective people may have had on that 'wider connection' is irrelevent, as is the fact that there is one. All that matters in strict constitutional terms is that the Queen of Australia is neither an Australian nor a resident of Australia. JTD 03:37 Dec 17, 2002 (UTC)

but in practice these processes also constrain the Prime Minister and prevent harmful habits developing at that level.

 * I agree with your analysis here, but it doesn't meet the criteria of NPOV against which Wikipedia articles must be judged. It falls on two counts. (1) It is irrelevant in this context, as this article is not concerned with the method by which governors-general are chosen, merely that there is was a thing called the 'Republic Advisory Committee. (2) It appears to be a justification for maintaining the current system. While that might indeed be a fair point (and I have written a lot on this, believe me!) this article by its definition is not concerned with taking sides on the debate but with giving a neutral analysis that doesn't say whether Australia should stick with the constitutional monarchy or move to a republic. This line might be OK in a piece on how governors-general are selected or what checks and balances exist, but this isn't that article. (Why don't you write one!) JTD 04:16 Dec 17, 2002 (UTC)

The line 'would be an automatic consequence of accession to the British throne' was removed as it is factually inaccurate. The Australian Crown (and the New Zealand, Canadian and various other crowns) is a SEPARATE LEGAL ENTITY that LEGALLY has nothing to do with Britain's Crown and has not been so for decades. The Commonwealth operates on the principle of SEPARATE crowns, not one shared crown. So HRH the Prince of Wales will inherit the Australian Crown as heir to the Australian throne, not by virtue of inheriting the `British crown.' Indeed technically he could opt not to take the British crown, but still remain heir to the Australian one. (Now there's an idea!) When, for example, King Edward VIII abdicated his British throne in December 1936, all the other dominions had to co-ordinate his abdication of their thrones simultaneously through legislation. But because of practical difficulties, the Irish Free State could not do so until a day later, meaning that, for that day, Edward remained King of Ireland, and had the Dáil not passed the recognition of the abdication in Section 3 of the External Relations Act, he would have remained on as king indefinitely, leaving Ireland and Britain with different kings. So Prince Charles' inheritance of the Australian throne is irrelevant to his inheritance of the British throne. It is because he is heir to the Australian throne that he will, if it still exists by then, become King of Australia. That has been the constitutional situation since the 1920s. The only link is that, as the Queen of Australia is also the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and her death would trigger the vacancy, he would inherit both separate thrones (and all the others) at the same moment. Technically, Britain could abolish the monarchy tomorrow without having the slightest impact on the Australian throne (as happened when Fiji abolished its throne, without impacting on the other crowns in the commonwealth).

As to the issue of whether monarchists were debarred from participation in the RAC, was there an explicit, formal barring in legislative or executive form, an informal debarring, or the perception that they would not be included? NPOV policy on Wikipedia requires that a statement be factually correct. If there was not a formal debarring, then we can't say they were debarred. If there was a perspective that they were debarred unofficially, then the site can at most state that it was a 'perspective' or an 'allegation', while noting as I did that no monarchists served on it, so perhaps legitimising that perception or allegation as having some reality behind it.

My task in writing the RAC page was to do it clearly, concisely and accurately, from a neutral analytical perspective that was neither monarchist nor republican. As neither a monarchist nor a republican in the Australian context, though I have a personal interest in the debate (because headships of state is my academic area of expertise), I simply want to ensure this site is sufficiently factually accurate to explain what the RAC was, not get into debates over hidden or public agendas from either side. Be careful in changing it not to add either a monarchist or republican slant to the page. Doing that would be against the NPOV policy and would not do justice either to Wikipedia or learning Australian history. JTD 22:40 Dec 20, 2002 (UTC)

JTD i have to agree with you that there is a heavilly pro-conservative/monarchist slant that 203.202.5.75 keeps introducing - you might want to restore some balance. -- Paul Melville Austin

I suspect "there is a heavilly pro-conservative/monarchist slant that 203.202.5.75 keeps introducing" refers to me, since I have been correcting the "alleged"s etc. on what look like a republican slant. I fully appreciate that this may require several rounds of iteration to attain a presentation that avoids both Scylla and Charybdis, but the fact remains that I came upon a site with visible republican bias and material factual omissions that helped the republican case. Such bias may well have been inadvertent, from someone who was sincerely unaware of the rest of the story - but that is all the more reason to make it complete. I have attempted to present the smoking gun but leave the readers to draw their own inferences. In my view the alternative would be biassed, suppressing the fact of a smoking gun on the grounds that people might draw inferences from it.

I should make clear that what appears to republicans as bias is not - at least in my case - prejudice, but a response to my own experiences and observations. If I really WERE prejudiced, I would reasonably be expected to be a republican on the back of my family's involvement with, e.g., Irish issues (my great uncle ended up Irish Minister to Madrid during the Second World War, and has a footnote in the history books). Is it bias to point out when people practise selective editing? I'd be glad to point out any monarchist efforts that way, only since I don't happen to have bumped into them I'll have to leave that to others. MY "bias" is towards objective truth, and if in practice that aligns me against republicans, that is an outcome of what's there and not an input from me; I'm choosing sides based on what I see, not on where I'm coming from.

But if you think the Republic Advisory Committee was bad, you should try the Constitutional Centenary Foundation - they even tried book burning (that too is on the record). Oh, not literally burning - they wanted to destroy the material they didn't like in the modern way, by pulping or similar, and also to suppress the fact that they were doing it, which to me suggests a degree of awareness of improper behaviour. PML.

My apologies if i mis-judged you PML - what does that stand for by the way? - as an Irish descended Australian as well i can see your viewpoint as the right one - i didn't see it before - thank you for explaining it. I personally think the monarchy as with everything else won't last forever but i am in no haste to discard it - gradual change achieves more good than rapid ill thought out change or no change at all - neither the extreme left or the extreme right should be taken seriously i think. -- Paul Melville Austin

 * There was no 'visible republican bias' because I am not a republican. (I've annoyed Sinn Feiners on Wikipedia by correcting the SF page to point out that their party was founded as a monarchist, not a republican one!) One Australian republican accused me of a 'clear monarchist agenda'!!!! (By the way, I am Irish too, though not Australian-Irish. My only personal links with Australia were through my grand-uncle who was a Christian Brother in Sydney. (Another grand-uncle moved to New Zealand after the First World War to set up home with his boyfriend, while a third fought for the IRA in the 1920s!). Indeed in a radio interview during the referendum I described the proposed republican structures as 'deeply unworkable', which did not go down too well in republican circles.  Furthermore, I have worked on a research basis for both monarchist and republican organisations in Australia and made a point of refusing to take sides. (I have also written extensively in the media on Britain's monarchy.) All I am interested in is a 100% factual analysis of the RAC. I am very interested in the allegations you make; I did make the point that those on the RAC were republicans. But again I go back to the central point: if they formally excluded people, then that can be stated. If they informally excluded people, and it is not unambiguously demonstrated in a memo/instruction/executive order, etc that we cannot make the statement, merely the allegation with a statement of the evidence. Just because the word 'alleged' is use doesn't make it untrue.

 * I am a bit of a stickler for facts. I've been rowing with people on Wikipedia over their bizarre attempts to call all British kings 'english' kings. I spent ages correcting royal titles so that they refer to England, Great Britain and the United Kingdom correctly, which they did not do before. And I have been insisting that the page on the Republic of Ireland be called the 'Republic of Ireland' not ' simply Ireland'. (I seem to have won both arguments, but lost the one on the correct way by which Wikipedia should refer to the late Queen Mother.) I also edited a page on the Gough Whitlam dismissal which was blantantly biased pro-Whitlam and neglected to point out the considerable extent to which he was the author of his own downfall.

 * What you said about the Constitutional Centenary Foundation is remarkable, if true. But again, different sides can genuinely read different and indeed contradictory things into actions. Before writing that, I would need to have objective evidence (which I'm not saying there isn't, merely that I have not seen it). I will say one thing. Australia did the right thing in voting against the republic last time. The form of republic proposed was seriously flawed, to put it mildly. But then they clearly ignored the international reports submitted to the RAC on places like Ireland. If you are going to move to a whole new constitutional system, you have got to get it right. What was proposed in 1999 wasn't right, it was an incompetent mess, as I told republicans when they asked my opinion. Like Queen Victoria, they were not amused. (The monarchists, when they asked me and I gave the same answer, were!) . JTD 06:38 Dec 24, 2002 (UTC)

JTD can i ask you your opinion on the part of the article about how non republicans "were refused" permission to participate. it seems logical to me that if you are looking at options for changing the system that you wouldn't include those who don't want to change the system at all.

PML visiting from an internet site (I'm away from work, and the edit doesn't work at my home system). On some points that just came up...

You can get some details about the behaviour of the CCF at http://users.netlink.com.au/~peterl/publicns.html#ADVERT1 (my email address is available there too). The main constitutional material is currently unavailable until I get round to a major update of my pages, but you can easily cross check the assertions made there with my lawyer when he returns from his Christmas break (his real world and email details are mentioned at the link there). The legal actions at the time were all technically resolved in my favour, but did not prevent them improperly attaining most of what they wanted, so various follow on action is still under way.

As for "it seems logical to me that if you are looking at options for changing the system that you wouldn't include those who don't want to change the system at all" - that is "logical", but it is also poor experimental methodology. As I mention in an RAC report critique I will email to JTD if he sends me a contact email, an experiment needs a control or standard of reference. And, of course, it is only "logical" AFTER determining the remit. The point at issue, when the non-republicans applied, was that the RAC itself was created after the selective editing was underway. They were correctly concerned that they would be told "you can have input later", only to find that they would be edited out of the preparation of the agenda preparing for the republican move. They were saved by a change of government, which decide to play a dead bat and be even handed; for his pains John Howard was accused of sabotaging the republican push by not continuing to select for it.

It is NOT factually inaccurate that a new monarch's accession in Australia 'would be an automatic consequence of accession to the British throne' ; the actual mechanism for Australia DOES piggyback on the British mechanism; the Australian monarch - under today's rules - is whoever accedes to the British throne. It's like the way some coal mines don't have separate pumping systems, but drain into nearby works which do have.

The British mechanism is in fact rather elaborate if you get into detail, with the Act of Succession doing what the will of Henry VIII once did, determining the standing orders of the "Council of Accession", which is now an ad hoc subcommittee of the Privy Council but ultimately descends from the same Anglo-Saxon Witan that gave the throne to William the Conqueror in 1066! (It makes its own rules, too - last time it met in two separate sessions to accommodate the absence overseas of the Queen to be.) The mechanism is in fact a remarkably stable one, found with variations in the appointment of Church of England Bishops, the Pope, or the President of the USA. The general idea - as Gibbon used to say - is that the formalisms are put into an actual piece of machinery, a "college" of persons with power they have in their own right and not derived from the college itself, that has a real world task of giving effect to the formalisms. Gibbon's insights into why Bishops were and in his view ought to be elected for life are of interest too; they help raise questions that we ought to run past any similar position, whether we expect the circumstances to alter the cases or not, since we should not just take these things as read.

We normally stand further back and say "the Prime Minister appoints Bishops" or "the American people elect their President", because from our lesser altitude we can abstract out these manoeuvrings that resolve problems of statescraft. The 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica - now on the internet - does describe how monarchies evolved from specialised electoral systems; while it has been imperfectly scanned in, I have been able to check it to Geoffrey Blainey's copy (I did some fact checking for his latest book, and I am credited in its introduction). PML.


text:
Montagnard (Vietnam)

Montagnard is an umbrella term for the various indigenous peoples of the Central Highlands of Vietnam. The French term Montagnard signifies a mountain dweller, and is a carryover from the French colonial period in Vietnam. In Vietnamese, they are known by the term người Thượng (lit. 'highlanders'), although this term can also be applied to other minority ethnic groups in Vietnam. In modern Vietnam, both terms are archaic, and indigenous ethnic groups are referred to as đồng bào (lit. 'compatriots') or người dân tộc thiểu số (lit. 'minority people'). Earlier they were referred to pejoratively as the mọi. Sometimes the term Degar is used for the group as well. Most of those living in the United States refer to themselves as Montagnards, while those living in Vietnam refer to themselves by their individual ethnic group.

The Montagnards are most covered in English-language scholarship for their participation in the Vietnam War, where they were heavily recruited by the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) and its American and Australian allies. The Montagnards tended to be Christian at a higher proportion than that of the Viets, and the North Vietnamese were seen by some Montagnards as propounding a heavily centralized state that would not value Montagnard Degar local priorities or religious practices.

Ethnic groups
Below is a list of officially recognized ethnic groups in Vietnam that are indigenous to the Central Highlands and nearby areas, with a total population of approximately 2.25 million. They speak Austroasiatic languages of the Katuic and Bahnaric branches, as well as Chamic languages (which belong to the Austronesian language family). Population statistics are from the 2009 Vietnam Population Census.

 * Katuic speakers:
 * Bru (2019 population: 94,598): Quảng Trị province
 * Katu (2019 population: 74,173): Quảng Nam province
 * Tà Ôi (2019 population: 52,356): Thừa Thiên-Huế province and Quảng Trị province
 * Bahnaric speakers:
 * West Bahnaric
 * Brau (2019 population: 525): Kon Tum province
 * East Bahnaric
 * Cor (2019 population: 40,442): Quảng Ngãi province
 * North Bahnaric
 * Xo Dang (2019 population: 212,277): Kon Tum province and Quảng Nam province
 * H're (2019 population: 149,460): Quảng Ngãi province
 * Rơ Măm (2019 population: 639): Kon Tum province
 * Central Bahnaric
 * Bahnar (2019 population: 286,910): Gia Lai province and Kon Tum province
 * Jeh-Tariang (2019 population: 63,322): Kon Tum province and Quảng Nam province
 * South Bahnaric
 * Cho Ro (2019 population: 29,520): Đồng Nai province
 * Koho (2019 population: 203,800): Lâm Đồng province
 * Mạ (2019 population: 50,322): Lâm Đồng province
 * Stieng (2019 population: 85,436): Bình Phước province
 * Mnong (2019 population: 100,752): Đắk Lắk province and Đắk Nông province
 * Chamic speakers:
 * Chams (2019 population: 178,948): Ninh Thuận province and Bình Thuận province
 * Churu (2019 population: 23,242): Lâm Đồng province
 * Rade (2019 population: 398,671): Đắk Lắk province
 * Jarai (2019 population: 513,930): Gia Lai province
 * Raglai (2019 population: 146,613): Ninh Thuận province and Khánh Hòa province

Listed by province, from north to south as well as west to east:
 * Quảng Trị province: Bru (Katuic), Ta Oi (Katuic)
 * Thừa Thiên-Huế province: Ta Oi (Katuic)
 * Quảng Nam province: Katu (Katuic), Xo Dang (North Bahnaric), Jeh-Tariang (Central Bahnaric)
 * Quảng Ngãi province: H're (North Bahnaric), Cor (East Bahnaric)
 * Kon Tum Province: Jeh-Tariang (Central Bahnaric), Bahnar (Central Bahnaric), Xo Dang (North Bahnaric), Rơ Măm (North Bahnaric), Brau (West Bahnaric)
 * Gia Lai province: Jarai (Chamic), Bahnar (Central Bahnaric)
 * Đắk Lắk province: Rade (Chamic), Mnong (South Bahnaric)
 * Khánh Hòa province: Raglai (Chamic)
 * Đắk Nông province: Mnong (South Bahnaric)
 * Lâm Đồng province: Churu (Chamic), Mạ (South Bahnaric), Ko Ho (South Bahnaric)
 * Ninh Thuận province: Raglai (Chamic), Chams (Chamic)
 * Bình Phước province: Stieng (South Bahnaric)
 * Đồng Nai province: Cho Ro (South Bahnaric)
 * Bình Thuận province: Chams (Chamic)

Pre-colonial history
In 1962, the population of the Montagnard people in the Central Highlands was estimated to number as many as one million. Today, the population is approximately four million, of whom about one million are Montagnards. The 30 or so Montagnard tribes in the Central Highlands comprise more than nineteen different ethnic groups who speak languages drawn primarily from the Malayo-Polynesian, Tai, and Austroasiatic language families. The main tribes, in order of population, are the Jarai, Rade, Bahnar, Koho, Mnong, and Stieng.

According to a genetic survey conducted in 2019 by Macholdt et al., two largest Montagnards groups, the Jarai, Rade, are genetically distinct from the mainstream Vietnamese ethnic groups. According to mitochondrial analyses on Jarai and Rade individuals, their paternal ancestors were a dark-skinned and woolly hair people related to Andamanese peoples, and their maternal ancestry mainly descended from a group of Polynesians who arrived much later. This study underlines the genetic diversity within the Central Highlands' native population, while further consolidating the Out of Africa migration of ancient peoples and refutes any challenge to the African origin of modern humans.

Ancient Chinese chronicles like the Book of Jin recorded that the West of Linyi (Champa) were inhabited by numerous tribes who were described as "savages." According to the Jin dynasty annalists, in the 4th century CE the King of Lâm Ấp, Fan Wen, went to subdue and incorporated the tribes of Daqijie, Xiaoqijie, Ship, Xulang, Qudu, Ganlu, and Fudan in the Central Highlands into Champa's territory.

The Old Book of Tang notes that the people of Champa have "black skin, eyes deep in the orbit, short stature, broad nose, and frizzy hair."

Surrounded by Indianized and Sinicized states from all sides, the Montagnard tribes however have preserved their distinct cultures dating back to the prehistoric era, thanks to the high mountains. The Montagnard region was known by the Vietnamese as Rung Moi (Forest of the Savages).

The Montagnards have a history of tensions with the Vietnamese majority since the 19th century. While the Vietnamese or Kinh majority have a common language and culture and have developed and maintained the dominant social institutions of Vietnam, the Montagnard do not share that heritage. The Montagnards retain their tribal customs and ancestral land ownership. Unlike the Buddhist Vietnamese who are patriarchal, the Montagnards mainly practice traditional matrilineality, such as the Jarai and Rade, where head of the house is passed down from the mother to the oldest daughter, and women take charge of the leadership in tribal communities. There have been conflicts between the two groups over many issues, including land ownership, language and cultural preservation, access to education and resources, and political representation.

The Vietnamese defeated the Chams in 1471 and occupied former Champa. As anticipated, Vietnamese rulers established numerous military colonies, đôn điên, for Kinh settlers. However, they did not venture deep into the Highlands unlike the Chams, and there were no attempts to colonize the Highlands. But in 1802, the emperor of Vietnam, Gia Long, planned to pacify the Montagnard tribes. Several tribes and chiefdoms accepted tributary status under nominal Vietnamese overlord. Vietnamese privileged traders known as các lái were prominently active in the highland commodities trade involving Western merchants. Under Emperor Tu Duc, in 1863 a Son Phòng (mountain defense) program was laid out to prevent Hre tribal revolt as well as to collect taxes from friendly Montagnard tribes. The Son Phong program was dismantled by the French in 1898, as it had become outdated and corrupted.

Contacts between the Montagnards with Westerners started in the sixteenth century by Portuguese missionaries, followed by Dutch traders and French missionaries. European Jesuits such as Christoforo Borri reported tribes known as kemois (barbarians) dwelling in the mountainous areas of Cochinchina yet not subjected to the king. A French Missionary Père Gagelin made the first direct contact with the tribes in 1830. In 1841, bishop of Quy Nhon diocese Mgr. Cuénot wrote a short description of the Cham, the Rhade, and the Jarai tribes. In 1848, Vietnamese priest Father Dô was sent to perpetrate the highland and sought to study the Bahnar language and culture of the Montagnards. Major contacts occurred in the next decades, with stream of outsiders mostly Vietnamese Catholics arrived at Kon Tum to escape violence by members of the neo-Confucian extremist Văn Thân movement.

Colonial period
France conquered Vietnam in 1862 and conquered Tonkin and Annam in 1884. At that time, the Montagnard lands remained largely unexplored. The French government began to search for backup evidence for their claim over the Montagnard lands by looking into Vietnamese annals and asserted historic Vietnamese suzerainty over the Jarai chiefdoms of p’tau apui and p’tau ia in 1889. The Jarai resisted and defeated the French in 1894, but later were subdued when the French came back in 1897 with more soldiers. In the next two decades, the French government made heavy efforts to secure the highlands and trust from the indigenous peoples. Despite that, the Montagnard tribes fiercely fought back. From 1901 to 1914, four high-ranking French military officers were killed by the Montagnard warriors armed with bows and sticks.

Kontum became a major settlement for Franco–Vietnamese Catholics by 1885. Direct rule over the Highlands began in 1898. The region was administered from a French center in Kontum, and tax-collection among the Montagnards began on a regular basis. Missionary activities succeeded in converting the Bahnar tribes to Catholicism, but found difficulty with other tribes such as the Sedang, the Jarai, and the Mnong who refused to accept French colonial rule and industrial encroachment of their village lands. Resistance from the Sedang and Mnong would last as late as 1914. That said, there was more rivalry than cooperation between the Catholic Church and the French colonial administration. The missionary enclave in Kontum often acted with hostility to French government officials in preserving their and the associated converts' privileges, while the French government accused the Catholic missionaries of displacement of non-Christian villages, owning slaves, murders, and dispossession of lands. Disputes between missionaries and colonial officials reached a peak in the 1930s when French state officials openly tried to convert the Montagnards to Buddhism.

Several plans were proposed to colonize the highlands. Some believed that the Montagnards should be Christianized but their original culture also should be respected and preserved. Other Social-Darwinists pushed far as proposing the colonization should be done with a large number Vietnamese settlers, mainly Catholic, that would eventually outnumber the indigenous tribes and perform the tasks of "civilizing" them. Henri Maitre in his book Les Jungles Moï argued that the black Montagnards would be rapidly disappeared according to Social Darwinist theories which more advanced races like the Vietnamese and the French would gradually replace the Montagnards in their own ancestral lands.

L. Nouet, a French civil official, observed the Montagnard's swidden slash-and-burn style of agriculture and considered it a source of poverty, writing that "the Moi are always hungry." He wrote that he wondered if a French decree of 1875 that prohibited agricultural practices of the rây (shifting cultivation) on the Montagnards was strictly enforced, that the Montagnard might starve and go extinct. Nouet believed that a Vietnamese migration into the Central Highlands would set up a social Darwinist "survival of the fittest" scenario that would be good for both groups. French missionaries converted some Montagnard to the Catholic Church in the nineteenth century, but American missionaries converted more to Protestantism in the 1920s and 1930s. Of the approximately one million Montagnard, close to half are Protestant, and around 200,000 are Roman Catholic. This made Vietnam's Communist Party suspicious of the Montagnard, particularly during the Vietnam War, since it was thought that they would be more inclined to help the heavily Christian American forces.

The Indochinese Communist Party began to concern about Montagnard autonomy as early as its First National Party Congress held in Macau 1935. The Meeting's resolutions declared to all ethnic groups rights "to choose between adhering to the Union of Indochinese Soviet Republics and proclaiming itself a separate state. The Soviet government of the workers, peasants and soldiers of Indochina will in no way interfere or create obstacle..."

The colonization of the Central Highlands became stalled in the 1930s due to combination of many factors, including prolonged indigenous resistances of the Mnong led by N'Trang Lung and rubber uprisings; the Great Depression of 1929; decreasing global demand of rubber and coffee; and the mitigative policies applied by Leopold Sabatier, administrator of Đắk Lắk province from 1914 to 1926. Sabatier, an admirer of Rhade culture, was disgusted by abuses and forced assimilation imposed by missionaries upon the native Montagnards. Sabatier openly opposed against further expansion of French industrial businesses and Vietnamese migration into the Central Highlands, which he believed to be main threat to traditional Montagnard society. As a result, by 1940 only 5,000 French and 35,000 Vietnamese lived in the region, mostly rubber contractors and Catholic settlers, compared to 750,000 indigenous Montagnards.

Unrest of 1929
In 1929, the price of rubber fell, and tensions rose. There were some attacks by Montagnard tribesmen against rubber plantations and transport trucks. While these were fairly minor events, the administration responded with air attacks on insurgent villages. The French also began building new roads to make it easier to monitor the area. Neo-Marxist scholar Geoffrey Gunn suggests that a growing indigenous Christian-millennialist movement among the Montagnards prior to the Montagnard revolt eight years later was a result of the French violent overreaction backlash during the economic crisis of 1929.

Montagnard revolt of 1937
In June 1937, Montagnard villages from many different tribes led by Sam Bram, a prominent Jarai chief in the vicinity of Cheo Reo, began to form an esoteric Christian religious movement. The chief announced that his daughter had given birth to a python who was believed to be incarnation of the Python God called Dam Klan. Sam Bram distributed magic water (Jarai: la Iun) to his followers, and preached about how the expulsion of white people and Vietnamese off the highlands would fulfill Biblical prophecy. The new faith spread quickly to Kontum, Quảng Nam, Quảng Ngãi, and to Rhade recruits of the French garrison of Buôn Ma Thuột. Followers of Sam Bram then attacked French patrols in the highlands. The movement was quickly suppressed by the French military, although Dieu Python groups in north of the highlands continued to resist French pacification until 1940 when tribal resistance eventually linked up with Vietnamese communists active in the region.

At the end of the revolt in 1938, Sam Bram was sentenced ten years in prison for "sorcery with the aim of fraud by abuse of influence". Other 14 people who got involved in the movement were convicted 8 to 20 years in jail for "sorcery, secret meetings and conspiracy against the state security."

The Dieu Python movement's appeal across several distinct tribes convinced the French colonial officials, among others, of an incipient pan-highland nationalism. The French began treating the people of the Pays Moïs as one ethnicity and worthy of separate status, and attempted to suppress ethnic rivalries within the Montagnard. The French position of power also allowed them to decide which aspects of Montagnard culture should be preserved, and which ones changed; they were happy to celebrate harmless traditions such as ritual buffalo sacrifice, but continued discouraging of shifting cultivation or the remnants of the Dieu Python movement. Leopold Sabatier, who had been driven out by rivals in the 1920s, was rehabilitated in French eyes as a visionary who had understood the locals. The result was the French administration presenting itself to the Montagnards as a friendly if stern father figure that protected them from the Kinh people, justifying the French administration as preserving Montagnard autonomy. The French military also sought to be ready to use the Highlands should a war with Japan come and they need to retreat inland.

French Indochina War
In April 1946, a Congress of the Southern National Minorities was held in Pleiku under the auspices of the Viet Minh. Ho Chi Minh, in his letter addressing the Congress, recognized the multinational nature of his proposed Vietnamese state which would be a country of the Kinh majority and 'national' minorities alike. As the struggle broke out between the French and the Viet Minh, the Montagnards were split. Later communist Vietnamese historiography would glorify resistance from Montagnard populations including the Katu, H're, Bahnar, Cor tribes that aided the Viet Minh. Still, Kontum was a French stronghold, and the French rapidly reconquered the Central Highlands from 1945 to 1946. While the French had control of the Central Highlands and established the Montagnard autonomous region, their control was limited outside the major cities as time went on. Montagnard recruits to the French forces sometimes deserted in disgust at poor treatment from French officers, who would use their services for hard labor.

In 1950 the French government established the Central Highlands as the Pays Montagnard du Sud (PMS) under the authority of Vietnamese Emperor Bảo Đại, whom the French had installed as nominal chief of state in 1949 as an alternative to Ho Chi Minh's Democratic Republic of Vietnam. While the French colonials were carrying out divide-and-rule strategy to exploit Montagnards and other tribes against the communist Vietminh, the Vietminh in turn employed the same strategy and tactics just as the French to by allying with alienated tribal leaders and dissatisfied tribes against the French. By 1953 it appears clear that the Vietminh had surpassed French efforts and much of the mountain tribes were under Vietminh control.

In the same year, the Vietminh held another congress with the attendance of 140 tribal chiefs from 20 different ethnicities across the country, in which they announced the establishment of ethnic autonomous regions for the "national minorities." By 1956, North Vietnam had created three ethnic autonomous regions.

In the mid-1950s, the once-isolated Montagnard began experiencing more contact with outsiders after the Vietnamese government launched efforts to gain better control of the Central Highlands and, following the 1954 Geneva Conference, new ethnic minorities from North Vietnam moved into the area. As a result of these changes, Montagnard communities felt a need to strengthen some of their own social structures and to develop a more formal shared identity. When the French withdrew from Vietnam and recognized a Vietnamese sovereignty, Montagnard political independence was drastically diminished.

Vietnam War

The new President of South Vietnam Ngo Dinh Diem opposed Montagnard autonomy. After introducing the 21st Act (Dụ số 21, enacted March 11, 1955), Diem abolished the Montagnard Autonomous Region. The Montagnards, Chinese, Khmer, and Cham were declared ethnic minorities. Implementing the Act disguised as Development and Land Reform Program, Diem confiscated all traditional indigenous Montagnard lands and distributed them to Kinh settlers from North Vietnam. More than one million Kinh migrants, mostly Catholic, were welcomed to settle in the Central Highlands. The Montagnards were expelled from their ancestral homelands or forced-relocated into confined strategic hamlets.

Diem continued this Development Act by forcing the Montagnards to learn Vietnamese, banning Montagnard languages in public schools, compelling the Montagnards to dress like Vietnamese, and forcing them to abandon their culture. He believed that these policies would overcoming the 'superstition', 'ignorance and backwardness' of the indigenous villagers. Chief American advisor Wolf Ladejinsky who was the architect of Diem's policies applauded the South Vietnamese development program as having progressively transformed the wilderness.

Meanwhile, in North Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh established Ethnic Autonomous Region in 1956 in accordance to the Bill no. 268/SL January 7, 1956, hinting that the North Vietnamese government recognized indigenous rights and land acknowledgements, though this did not last long. About 6,000 Rhade communists went north and trained by the North Vietnamese. US advisors, such as Price Gittinger of the US Operation Mission (USOM) Agricultural Division, and Gerald Hickey, alarmed Diem that his Development Act would drive the Montagnard tribes to look for communists support, further hurting efforts to contain communism in South Vietnam.

Wesley R. Fishel, chief executive advisor of the Michigan State University Vietnam Advisory Group (MSUG), in a letter to Bureau of Indian Affairs in Washington DC in 1956, expressed that: "This request may seem surprising, but the fact is that Viet-Nam has an Indian problem of its own, resembling in certain respects that of our own."

Meanwhile, the North Vietnamese were sending back trained-Montagnard communist cadres back to the Central Highlands through the Ho Chi Minh trail, where they would play crucial roles such as recruiting Montagnard tribesmen into Vietcong guerrillas and spreading Marxist works and propaganda in indigenous languages to villages. It was estimated by the CIA that in 1961 roughly half of the highlander population of the Central Highlands were NLF sympathizers, if not outright supporters.

In 1958, the Montagnard launched a movement known as BAJARAKA (the name is made up of the first letters of prominent tribes; similar to the later Nicaraguan Misurasata) to unite the tribes against the Vietnamese. There was a related, well-organized political and (occasionally) military force within the Montagnard communities known by the French acronym, FULRO, or United Front for the Liberation of Oppressed Races. FULRO's objectives were autonomy and civil right for the Montagnard tribes. The BAJARAKA staged a mass protest in August 1958, but was put down by South Vietnam President Ngo Dinh Diem's law enforcement forces, who implicitly perpetuated the oppressive assimilation policies on the disadvantaged indigenous communities in South Vietnam like the Chams, the Montagnards, and the Khmer Krom. Diem labeled the protest as 'pro-communist sympathizers.'

On July 31, 1958, the BAJARAKA sent two representatives Y-Ju and Y Nam to the US Embassy in Saigon, where they attempted to reach and inform to the United Nations Secretary-General and other world leaders about the unequal Development Act of the Diem regime, which they described as racist and neocolonial.

An declaration regarding the Montagnards was released in the first meeting of the NLF (Viet Cong) in 1960. It calls for the establishment of autonomous regions in minority areas and for the abolition of the "US-Diêm clique's present policy of ill-treatment and forced assimilation of the minority nationalities." Both the NLF and Hanoi actively recruited the Montagnards into their forces from 1960, with radio broadcasting propaganda in indigenous languages began as early as 1955. Some Montagnards leaders were invited to visit North Vietnam's non-Kinh autonomous regions, along with promises of autonomy that would be granted for the Montagnards when the south is liberated. In 1961, Montagnard members of the Vietcong, led by Y Bih Aleo, a former BAJARAKA leader, formed the NLF's Montagnard Autonomy Movement.

As the Vietnam War began to loom on the horizon, both South Vietnamese and American policy makers sought to begin training troops from minority groups in the Vietnamese populace. The U.S. Mission to Saigon sponsored the training of the Montagnard in unconventional warfare by American Special Forces. These newly trained Montagnard were seen as a potential ally in the Central Highlands area to stop Viet Cong activity in the region and a means of preventing further spread of Viet Cong sympathy. Later, their participation would become much more important as the Ho Chi Minh trail, the North Vietnamese supply line for Viet Cong forces in the south, grew. The U.S. military, particularly the Special Forces, developed base camps in the area and recruited the Montagnard. The Montagnard were valued allies with their resolve, skills in tracking, and knowledge of the region; roughly 40,000 fought alongside American soldiers and became a major part of the U.S. military effort in the Highlands and I Corps, the northernmost region of South Vietnam.

The central highlands were greatly affected by American aerial bombing and herbicides during targeting of North Vietnamese materiel transportation on the Ho Chi Minh trail.

The Montagnards also cooperated with the Australians in addition to the Americans; the Australian Army Training Team Vietnam (AATTV) gained the support of many Montagnards by spending prolonged periods in different villages in the region, embracing their culture and gaining over a thousand recruits for the ARVN by 1964.

In 1967, the Viet Cong killed 252 Montagnard in the village of Đắk Sơn, home to 2,000 Highlanders, known as the Đắk Sơn massacre, in revenge for the Montagnard's support and allegiance with South Vietnam.

A triangle relationship developed between Black American soldiers, white soldiers, Montagnards, and Vietnamese soldiers during the height of American ground intervention in Vietnam. Black veteran Wayne Smith recalled: "some Vietnamese, you know they had some prejudices... They were discriminating against the Montagnards, the mountain people of Vietnam, who were darker complexioned... The Vietnamese treated them like white people in the South treated African Americans."

A The New York Times account in 1973 reported that land disputes between the Montagnards and the Vietnamese were deadly and reminiscent "of the American Indian situation." In October 1974, with guides from FULRO, the Montagnards staged an armed rebellion following cases of murders and mass arrests made by the South Vietnamese government.

In 1975, thousands of Montagnard fled to Cambodia after the fall of Saigon to the North Vietnamese Army, fearing that the new government would launch reprisals against them because they had aided the U.S. Army. The U.S. military resettled some Montagnard in the United States, primarily in North Carolina, but these evacuees numbered less than 2,000. In addition, the Vietnamese government has steadily displaced thousands of villagers from Vietnam's central highlands, to use the fertile land for coffee plantations.

Oscar Salemink outlines the conclusion on the dragging of indigenous peoples into the Vietnam War by the United States:

"The assumption that Montagnards were primitive underscored their inherent vulnerability and innocence with respect to modernity, implying that they were victimized by the context of modern warfare. This discursive victimization of the Montagnards (by the Vietnamese, not by the French or Americans – despite the indiscriminate bombing, defoliation and resettlement!) moved the Americans to protect the underdog in this centuries-old antagonism, and hence provided an extra argument for American intervention, similar to the way the French before them had posed as nation protectrice des minorités in the Indochinese context. This denial of coevalness construed Montagnards as in need of US protection, despite the American reputation of racism and discrimination against Native Americans and Afro-Americans (who in the US context only found 'refuge' in ‘Indian reservations’ and ‘Negro ghettos’, respectively). Simultaneously, this discourse denied agency to the Montagnards: they were the victims of history, they could only react to outside developments without being capable of change themselves. The plain fact was conveniently overlooked, that many Montagnards had decided to follow the Viêt Minh in the past, and the Viêt Công in the 1960s – with Montagnard revolts being the ultimate stimulus to establish the NLF; or that many simply did not follow the Americans, and thus made a clear choice. In this narrative, Americans could not only act and think of themselves as protective heroes – good guys in an essentially corrupt cultural environment – but they could stress their essential benevolence, too, in a context which constantly seemed to question the legitimacy of their actions."

Post Vietnam War

Despite previous promises, the Vietnamese Communist leaders did not care about the Montagnards after the war. Vietnamese colonization of the Highlands resumed. Montanard lands were seized and given to coffee and aluminum companies. The anticommunist wing of FULRO decided to continue their insurgency against now-unified Vietnam. Purges from the People's Army of Vietnam in 1976 and 1979 revealed that there were some Montagnards in its senior positions. FULRO continued the fight against the united Vietnamese government; the insurgency lasted into the mid-1980s.

Due to antireligious campaign of the Vietnamese communist government in 1970s, many Montagnard traditional animist religions were condemned as superstitious and excluded, as the Vietnamese government officially recognized six religions. Because of this, evangelical conversion among the Montagnard tribes during this period happened en masse. However, most of their churches are local non-denominational and non-registered from the state-recognized Evangelical Church of Vietnam (ECVN-S). Most considerably, indigenous ethnic minority Protestants prefer to have the Bible (NIV) translated to their indigenous languages, indigenous-run churches, indigenous pastors, sermons and meetings in indigenous customs inside tabernacles. However, these desires were met by suspicions and hostilities from the Vietnamese authorities, who considered non-denominational indigenous Protestantism a continuation of FULRO. In comparison, ethnic Kinh-run churches in the Highlands belonged to the Evangelical Church of Vietnam receive full legal rights and protections from the authorities. Popular but simplistic media portrayal of the Vietnamese repression of Dega Church as "communist-Christianity confrontation" is objected by scholars such as Oscar Salemink, who describes a similar pattern of Evangelization of indigenous peoples around the world, especially in the Global South, regardless of whatever political regimes, but in Vietnam the rhetorics of anti-communist vindications blame it on the communist ideology. University of London Professor Seb Rumsby further argues that Kinh chauvinism conjoint with Western media narrative accidentally push the marginalized indigenous Christians to uncritically take side with right-wing Christian conservative politics, which is the ultimate source of neocolonialism.

The final end of FULRO insurgency against Vietnam came in 1992, with the surrender of 407 FULRO fighters to United Nations' peacekeeping forces in Cambodia. They were interviewed by American journalist Nate Thayer. According to University of Texas Professor Frank Proschan, Nate Thayer successfully constructed an impression myth circulating around international media about the "valiant, loyal Montagnard people who had been decades-long fighting against Vietnamese communists", captivating the colonial nostalgia of former US Special Forces personnel for an imagined past.

It is estimated that over 200,000 Montagnards died and 85% of their villages were destroyed or abandoned during the Indochina Wars.

Most Montagnards lost their lands due to the legacy of former South Vietnam's president Ngô Đình Diệm. The indigenous peoples of the Central Highlands have deep knowledge of the local ecology and previously had life tied with forest, now strangled in impoverished separate hamlets. Uncontrolled Kinh migration from the lowland, deforestation, plantations, US bombings, defoliantation and prolonged warfare had clearing off many natural forests, pushing many rare species to extinction. Forest cover area percentage in the region had dropped significantly from 55% in 1960, to 17% in 1980.

After Vietnam's Đổi Mới in 1986, due to ever-greater global capitalist demands of coffee and valuable metals, larger waves of Vietnamese migration arrived in the Central Highlands and overwhelmed indigenous highlanders. The Vietnamese population of the region went from 500,000 to 1975, to 4 million today, outnumbering native ethnic groups three-to-one. They were called di dân tự do (spontaneous migration) and were tentatively given tolerance from Vietnamese authorities. The original peoples of the Central Highlands experienced ruin during and after the Vietnam War; in the worst cases, they were driven from their land and became refugees.

The government policy of sedentarization also left the indigenous peoples apart from society. One Vietnamese anthropologist has described a typical pattern of this impoverishment process: Kinh settlers took the opportunities of exploiting imperfect laws and the judicial system to fraudulently legitimize their assets ownership that were once belonged to indigenous peoples. As the result of being alienated from the means of production (lands), indigenous peoples of the Central Highlands became the poorest population in Vietnam, many have moved to cities and work for either Vietnamese plantation owners or foreign investment facilities, the phenomena that Salemink dubbed as proletarianization of indigenous peoples under "socialist-orientated" free market capitalist economy.

In February 2001, thousands of Montagnards participated in mass protests demanding returns of ancestral lands and religious freedom. Other such protests took place in 2002, 2004, and 2008. The protests involved marches and sit ins. The nearby government officials reacted with military involvement and police arrests. Many Montagnards such as the Jarai were put on trial and imprisoned for years for their involvement in the protests. Some Montagnards residing in the United States also traveled to Washington, D.C. to protest and bring awareness to the Montagnards back in Vietnam. Pressured by indigenous demonstrations, in July 2004 Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan Văn Khải passed Bill 134, pledged to allocate every low-income indigenous household a plot of 0.37 acre of farm land or at least 2,150 sqft (200 square meters) of housing land, also limited or suspended the uncontrolled migration of Vietnamese onto the Central Highlands.

More than 1,000 Montagnard refugees have entered Ratanakiri and Mondulkiri, Cambodia, since 2001, raising issues of Cambodia's international law obligations toward refugees and its right to control its border. The government has a policy of deporting Degar refugees to Vietnam, viewing them as illegal immigrants to the country, and has threatened prosecution of Ratanakiri residents who aid them. Human rights organizations have described this policy as a violation of Cambodia's international law obligation of non-refoulement (not forcibly returning refugees to a country in which they will be harmed). Though the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has become involved processing asylum applications, refugees are often forcibly returned before they are able to apply for asylum. Many refugees have hidden in Ratanakiri's forests to avoid deportation.

In 2003, the group gained admittance to the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization as the "Degar-Montagnards", but this membership was discontinued in 2016.

Diaspora
Outside of southeast Asia, the largest community of Montagnards in the world is located in Greensboro, North Carolina, US. Greensboro is also the home of several community and lobbying organizations, such as the Montagnard Foundation, Inc.

General and cited references

 * Sidney Jones, Malcolm Smart, Joe Saunders, HRW (2002). Repression of Montagnards: Conflicts Over Land and Religion in Vietnam's Central Highlands. Human Rights Watch. ISBN 1-56432-272-6.
 * United States Congress. Senate. Committee on Foreign Relations (1998). The Plight of the Montagnards: Hearing Before the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Relations, original from the Library of Congress.
 * United States Congress. Senate. Committee on Foreign Relations (1998). The Plight of the Montagnards: Hearing Before the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Relations, original from the Library of Congress.
 * United States Congress. Senate. Committee on Foreign Relations (1998). The Plight of the Montagnards: Hearing Before the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Relations, original from the Library of Congress.
 * United States Congress. Senate. Committee on Foreign Relations (1998). The Plight of the Montagnards: Hearing Before the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Relations, original from the Library of Congress.
 * United States Congress. Senate. Committee on Foreign Relations (1998). The Plight of the Montagnards: Hearing Before the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Relations, original from the Library of Congress.
 * United States Congress. Senate. Committee on Foreign Relations (1998). The Plight of the Montagnards: Hearing Before the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Relations, original from the Library of Congress.
 * United States Congress. Senate. Committee on Foreign Relations (1998). The Plight of the Montagnards: Hearing Before the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Relations, original from the Library of Congress.

title: Montagnard (Vietnam)


text:
Baihua

Baihua may refer to:

Languages

 * Baihuawen (白話文), the written literary form of Modern Chinese languages
 * The suffix of some Cantonese dialects (**白話), for instance, "Nanning Cantonese" (南寧白話)
 * Pe̍h-ōe-jī (白話字), a romanization for Southern Min language
 * Bai language (白語), the language in Yunnan, China, used by the Bai people
 * 白話, meaning "idle talk, empty words or trivial chat" in Chinese.

Places in China

 * Baihua, Guangdong (白花), a town in Huidong County, Guangdong
 * Baihua, Sichuan (白花), a town in Yibin, Sichuan
 * Baihua Township (白桦乡), a township in Daxing'anling Prefecture, Heilongjiang
 * Hundred Flower Pond, also known as Baihua Pond, a small artificial lake in Jinan, Shandong

title: Baihua