 The southernmost sector of modern Vietnam, the Mekong Delta and its surroundings was until the 18th century an integral part, yet of shifting significance of the Austroasiatic Proto-Khmer - and Khmer principalities, like Funan, Chenla, the Khmer Empire and the Khmer kingdom.The classic core population, the Lạc Việt of the rice-farming Phung Nguyen culture and future nation builders, who had found themselves in the Red River basin are predominantly descendants of agricultural communities of the Yangzi and Yellow River valleys in southern and central China, who have arrived in Indochina around 2000 years BC.Fishing and hunting supplemented the main rice crop.