Ranking as the second majority group among the Cambodian population, Cham people have largely settled in the province of Kampong Cham. They have peacefully coexisted with the majority Khmer for centuries. King Father Norodom Sihanouk even called them as "Khmer-Islam," which means Khmer practicing Islam, to create the sense of closeness and acceptance. In so doing, Cham people never felt they were migrants from their lost Kingdom of Champa, now in the central and southern Vietnam. However, it was criticized for a possible consequence of losing Cham people as a race.

During the Khmer Rouge regime (1975-1979), Cham people, including the majority Khmer and other ethnic groups, suffered enormously from its policies and ideologies. Many Cham people were executed and their culture was strongly prohibited from practice. Like many other religions at the time, Islam was totally wiped out. Muslim mosques were transformed into warehouses and husbandries. Cham language was not allowed for any sort of communication. The Khmer Rouge caused a serious destruction on the Cham culture, thus constituting a cultural genocide on Cham population.