Montagnard (, ) is an umbrella term for the various indigenous peoples of the Central Highlands of Vietnam. The French term () signifies a mountain dweller, and is a carryover from the French colonial period in Vietnam. In Vietnamese, they are known as (), 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 () or (). Earlier they were referred to pejoratively as .Although the term moi was derogatory in Vietnamese, meaning "savages", it was not so used in European sources. H. Maître (1909) Les Régions Moi du Sud-lndochinois: Le plateau de Darlac 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, when they were heavily recruited by the Army of the Republic of Vietnam and its American and Australian allies. Today, the Montagnards tend to be Christian in a higher proportion than the Kinh Vietnamese, while the Vietnamese government is often perceived as advancing a heavily centralized state that persecutes Montagnard local priorities and 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 or Êđê (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)
History
Pre-colonial history In 1962, the population of the Montagnard people in the Central Highlands was estimated to number as many as one million.Jackson, Larry R. (1969), "The Vietnamese Revolution and the Montagnards", Asian Survey, Vol 9, No. 5, pp. 315-315 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., the two largest Montagnards groups, the Jarai, Rade, are genetically distinct from the mainstream Vietnamese ethnic groups. According to Y chromosome analyses on Jarai and Rade individuals, their paternal ancestors were a dark-skinned and woolly hair people related to Andamanese peoples. Mitochondrial analyses revealed 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.
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 and Westerners started in the sixteenth century with 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 not yet subjected to the king. A French missionary, Père Gagelin, made the first direct contact with the tribes in 1830. In 1841, the 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 investigate the highland and sought to study the Bahnar language and culture of the Montagnards. Major contacts occurred in the next decades, with a stream of outsiders, mostly Vietnamese Catholics, coming to Kon Tum to escape violence by members of the neo-Confucian extremist Văn Thân movement.
Colonial period
France conquered Cochinchina in 1862 and conquered Tonkin and Annam in 1883. 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 as far as proposing the colonization should be done with a large number of 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.