The
Degar (referred to by French colonists as
Montagnard) are the
indigenous peoplesIndigenous peoples are people, communities, and nations who claim a historical continuity and cultural affinity with pre-invasion and pre-colonial societies which sprung up on their original territories, and therefore consider themselves distinct from societies of the majority culture/s that have...
of the
Central HighlandsTây Nguyên, translated as Western Highlands and sometimes also called Central Highlands, is one of the regions of Vietnam. It contains the provinces of Đắk Lắk, Đắk Nông, Gia Lai, Kon Tum, Lâm Đồng....
of
VietnamVietnam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam , is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea, referred to as East Sea , to the east...
. The term Montagnard means "mountain people" in French and is a carryover from the French colonial period in Vietnam. In
VietnameseVietnamese , is the national and official language of Vietnam. It is the mother tongue of 86% of Vietnam's population, and of about three million overseas Vietnamese. It is also spoken as a second language by many ethnic minorities of Vietnam...
, they are known by the term
thượng (highlanders) - this term can also be applied to other
minority ethnic groups in Vietnam.
Thượng is the Vietnamese adaptation of the Chinese "Shang" (上). Montagnard was the term, typically shortened to "Yard", used by
U.S. militaryThe United States Armed Forces are the overall unified military forces of the United States. They consist of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard.The United States has a strong tradition of civilian control of the military...
personnel in the Central Highlands during the
Vietnam WarThe Vietnam War was a Cold War military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from November 1, 1955 , to April 30, 1975 when Saigon fell...
. However the term has been viewed as derogatory and the official term is now
Người dân tộc thiếu số (literally means minority people).
History
Before the
Vietnam WarThe Vietnam War was a Cold War military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from November 1, 1955 , to April 30, 1975 when Saigon fell...
, the population of the Central Highlands, estimated at between 3 and 3.5 million, was almost exclusively Degar. Today, the population is approximately 4 million, of whom about 1 million are Degars. The 30 or so Degar tribes in the Central Highlands comprise more than six different ethnic groups who speak languages drawn primarily from the
Malayo-PolynesianThe Malayo-Polynesian languages are a subgroup of the Austronesian languages, with approximately 351 million speakers. These are widely dispersed throughout the island nations of Southeast Asia and the Pacific Ocean, with a smaller number in continental Asia...
,
TaiThe Tai languages are a subgroup of the Tai-Kadai language family. The Tai languages include the most widely spoken of the Tai-Kadai languages, including standard Thai, the national language of Thailand, Lao or Laotian, the national language of Laos, Burma's Shan language, and Zhuang, a major...
, and
Mon-KhmerThe Mon-Khmer languages are a language family of Southeast Asia. Together with the Munda languages of India, they are one of the two traditional primary branches of the Austroasiatic family...
language families. The main tribes, in order of population, are the
JaraiThe Jarai is an ethnic group based primarily in Vietnam's Central Highlands. The Jarai language is a member of the Malayo-Polynesian branch of the Austronesian language family...
,
RhadeThe E De are an ethnic group of the Hill Cham agglomeration of southern Vietnam .-Language:...
,
BahnarThe Bahnar are an ethnic group of Vietnam living primarily in the Central Highland provinces of Gia Lai and Kon Tum, as well as the coastal provinces of Bình Định and Phú Yên...
, Koho,
MnongThe Mnong or M'nong are an ethnic group from Vietnam . They can be subdivided into three groups:...
, and Stieng.
Originally inhabitants of the coastal areas of the region, they were driven to the uninhabited mountainous areas by invading Vietnamese and
CambodianKhmer people are the predominant ethnic group in Cambodia, accounting for approximately 90% of the 14.8 million people in the country. They speak the Khmer language, which is part of the larger Mon-Khmer language family found throughout Southeast Asia...
s beginning prior to the 9th century.
Although French Roman Catholic missionaries converted some Degar in the nineteenth century, American missionaries made more of an impact in the 1930s, and many Degar are now Protestant. Of the approximately 1 million Degar, close to half are Protestant, while around 200,000 are Roman Catholic. This made Vietnam's Communist Party suspicious of the Degar, particularly during the Vietnam War, since it was thought that they would be more inclined to help the American forces (predominantly Christian—mainly Protestant).
In the mid-1950s, the once-isolated Degar 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 AccordThe Geneva Conference was a conference with "two tasks. The first [was] to try to find a way to unify Vietnam. The second task [was] to discuss the possibility of restoring peace in Indochina."...
, new ethnic minorities from North Vietnam moved into the area. As a result of these changes, Degar communities felt a need to strengthen some of their own social structures and to develop a more formal shared identity.
In 1950, the French government established the Central Highlands as the
Pays Montagnard du Sud (PMS) under the authority of Vietnamese Emperor
Bảo ĐạiBảo Đài is a commune and village in Lục Nam District, Bac Giang Province, in northeastern Vietnam.-References:...
, whom the French had installed as nominal chief of state in 1949 as an alternative to Ho Chi Minh's Democratic Republic of Vietnam. When the French withdrew from Vietnam and recognized a Vietnamese government, Degar political independence was drastically diminished.
The Degar have a long history of tensions with the Vietnamese majority. While the Vietnamese are themselves heterogeneous, they generally share a common language and culture and have developed and maintained the dominant social institutions of Vietnam. The Degar do not share that heritage. 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.
In 1958, the Degar launched a movement known as BAJARAKA (the name is made up of the first letters of prominent tribes; compare 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 Degar communities known by the French acronym, FULRO, or
United Front for the Liberation of Oppressed RacesThe United Front for the Liberation of Oppressed Races was an organization within Vietnam, whose objective was autonomy for the Degar tribes...
. FULRO's objectives were autonomy for the Degar tribes.
The 1960s saw contact between the Degar and the U.S. military, as American involvement in the Vietnam War escalated and the Central Highlands emerged as a strategically important area, in large part because it included the
Ho Chi Minh trailThe Ho Chi Minh trail was a logistical system that ran from the Democratic Republic of Vietnam to the Republic of Vietnam through the neighboring kingdoms of Laos and Cambodia...
, the North Vietnamese supply line for Viet Cong forces in the south. The U.S. military, particularly the
U.S. ArmyThe United States Army is the branch of the United States armed forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven uniformed services...
's
Special ForcesSpecial forces is a generic term for elite, highly-trained military, police or civilian paramilitary tactical teams that conduct specialized operations...
, developed base camps in the area and recruited the Degar, roughly 40,000 of whom fought alongside American soldiers and became a major part of the U.S. military effort in the Highlands.
Thousands of Degar 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 Degar in the United States, primarily in
South CarolinaSouth Carolina is a state in the United States that borders Georgia to the south and North Carolina to the north. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence from the British Crown during the American...
, but these evacuees numbered less than two thousand. In addition, the Vietnamese government has steadily displaced thousands of villagers from Vietnam's central highlands, to use the fertile land for coffee plantations.
Outside of southeast Asia, the largest community of Montagnards in the world is located in
Greensboro, North CarolinaGreensboro is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the third-largest city by population, in North Carolina and the largest city in Guilford County and the surrounding Piedmont Triad metropolitan region. As of the 2000 census, Greensboro was home to 223,891 residents...
(
http://cnnc.uncg.edu/pdfs/montagnards.pdf).
Further reading
- Condominas, Georges
Georges Condominas is a French cultural anthropologist. He is best known for his field studies of the Mnong people of Vietnam .-Biography:Georges Condominas is born in 1921 in Haiphong...
. We Have Eaten the Forest: The Story of a Montagnard Village in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. New York: Hill and Wang, 1977. ISBN 0-8090-9672-2
- Montagnard Foundation. Human Rights Violations: Montagnard Foundation Report, 2001 : Report on the Situation of Human Rights Concerning the Montagnards or Degar Peoples of Vietnam's Central Highlands. Spartanburg, South Carolina: The Foundation, 2001.
- Montagnard Foundation. History of the Montagnard/Degar People: Their Struggle for Survival and Rights Before International Law. Spartanburg, South Carolina: The Foundation, 2001.
See also
- Tay Nguyen
Tây Nguyên, translated as Western Highlands and sometimes also called Central Highlands, is one of the regions of Vietnam. It contains the provinces of Đắk Lắk, Đắk Nông, Gia Lai, Kon Tum, Lâm Đồng....
- List of ethnic groups in Vietnam
- United Front for the Liberation of Oppressed Races
The United Front for the Liberation of Oppressed Races was an organization within Vietnam, whose objective was autonomy for the Degar tribes...
(FULRO)
- Montagnard Foundation
External links