The Karenni ( my, ကရင်နီ, ), also known as the Kayah ( my, ကယားလူမျိုး) or Kayah Li ( Karenni: ), are a

Karen people The Karen, kjp, ပ်ုဖၠုံဆိုဒ်, my, ကရင်လူမျိုး, , th, กะเหรี่ยง ( ), also known as the Kayin, Kariang or Kawthoolese, are an ethnolinguistic group of Sino-Tibetan language ...

native to the

Kayah State Kayah State ( my, ကယားပြည်နယ်, formerly Karenni State) is a state of Myanmar. Situated in eastern Myanmar, it is bounded on the north by Shan State, on the east by Thailand's Mae Hong Son Province, and on the south and we ...

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

(Burma). According to a 1983 census, the Karenni consist of the following groups: Kayah,

Geko Geko were a gothic rock duo based in Los Angeles. Formed in 1983, the band's nucleus comprised vocalist/bassist Sarah Folkman and guitarist Carrie McNinch. They released one full-length album, titled '' Join My Pretty World'', in 1992 before ...

(Kayan Ka Khaung, Gekho, Gaykho), Geba (Kayan Gebar, Gaybar), Padaung (Kayan Lahwi),

Bre British English (BrE, en-GB, or BE) is, according to Oxford Dictionaries, "English as used in Great Britain, as distinct from that used elsewhere". More narrowly, it can refer specifically to the English language in England, or, more broadly, ...

, Manu-Manau (Manumanao), Yintale, Yinbaw, Bwe and

Pa'O Pa'O may refer to: * Pa'O language, a Karen language of Burma * Pa'O people , native_name_lang = my , image = Pa O Tribe Kalaw Shan Myanmar.jpg , caption = A Pa'O woman near Kalaw, southern Shan State , population = ...

. Several of the groups (Geko, Geba, Padaung, Yinbaw) belong to Kayan, a subgroup of Karenni. The groups Bre and Manu-Manau belong to the Kayaw subgroup.

Karenni States

The Karenni States were a collection of small states inhabited by Karenni people, ruled by petty princes named ''myozas''. These included Kantarawadi, the only state whose ruler was promoted to a ''

saopha Chao-Pha (; Tai Ahom: 𑜋𑜧𑜨 𑜇𑜡, th, เจ้าฟ้า}, shn, ၸဝ်ႈၾႃႉ, translit=Jao3 Fa5 Jao3 Fa5, my, စော်ဘွား ''Sawbwa,'' ) was a royal title used by the hereditary rulers of the Tai peoples of ...

'' or sawba, Kyebogyi,

Bawlake Bawlakhe ( my, ဘော်လခဲမြို့) is a town in the Kayah State of eastern part of Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British ...

, Nammekon and Naungpale. They were independent until

British rule in Burma ( Burmese) , conventional_long_name = Colony of Burma , common_name = Burma , era = Colonial era , event_start = First Anglo-Burmese War , year_start = 1824 , date_start = ...

, and had feudal ties to the Burmese kingdom. The states bordered the

Shan States The Shan States (1885–1948) were a collection of minor Shan kingdoms called '' muang'' whose rulers bore the title ''saopha'' in British Burma. They were analogous to the princely states of British India. The term "Shan States" was fi ...

of Mong Pai, Hsatung and Mawkmai to the north,

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

to the east, the

Papun Papun ( my, ဖာပွန်မြို့; kjp, ဍုံဖာပံင်; ) is a town in Kayin State, Myanmar. It is on the east side of the Yunzalin River. It was formerly one of the headquarters of the Karen National Union and the Kare ...

district of

Lower Burma Lower Myanmar ( my, အောက်မြန်မာပြည်, also called Lower Burma) is a geographic region of Myanmar and includes the low-lying Irrawaddy Delta ( Ayeyarwady, Bago and Yangon Regions), as well as coastal regions of the c ...

to the south, and a stretch of the Karen Hills inhabited by the

and various other small tribes to the west. During British rule, the Karenni had a garrison of

military police Military police (MP) are law enforcement agencies connected with, or part of, the military of a state. In wartime operations, the military police may support the main fighting force with force protection, convoy security, screening, rear rec ...

, which was stationed at the village of Loikaw. The

British government ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd , image = HM Government logo.svg , image_size = 220px , image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg , image_size2 = 180px , caption = Royal Arms , date_est ...

formally recognised and guaranteed the

independence Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the stat ...

of the Karenni States in an 1875 treaty with Burmese king

Mindon Min Mindon Min ( my, မင်းတုန်းမင်း, ; 1808 – 1878), born Maung Lwin, was the penultimate King of Burma (Myanmar) from 1853 to 1878. He was one of the most popular and revered kings of Burma. Under his half brother King ...

, by which both parties recognised the area as belonging neither to Burma nor to

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It ...

. Consequently, the Karenni States were never fully incorporated into

British Burma British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

. The Karenni States were recognised as tributary to British Burma in 1892 when their rulers agreed to accept a stipend from the British government. In the 1930s, the

Mawchi Mawachi a region in the Bawlake district of the Kayah State (formerly called Karenni State) of Myanmar. In the 1930s, the Mawchi Mine was the most important source of tungsten in the world. Mawchi contained the world's largest granite-hosted tin- ...

Mine in Bawlake was the most important source of

tungsten Tungsten, or wolfram, is a chemical element with the symbol W and atomic number 74. Tungsten is a rare metal found naturally on Earth almost exclusively as compounds with other elements. It was identified as a new element in 1781 and first isol ...

in the world. The Constitution of the Union of Burma in 1947 proclaimed that the three Karenni States be amalgamated into a single constituent state of the union, called Karenni State. It also provided for the possibility of secession from the Union after 10 years. In 1952, the former Shan state of Mong Pai was added, and the whole renamed

, possibly with the intent of driving a wedge between the Karenni (in Kayah State) and the rest of the

(in

Karen State Kayin State ( my, ကရင်ပြည်နယ်, ; kjp, ဖၠုံခါန်ႋကၞင့်, italics=no; ksw, ကညီကီၢ်စဲၣ်, ), also known by the endonyms Kawthoolei and Karen State, is a state of Myanmar. The ...

), both fighting for independence.

Gallery

File:Kayanlahta.jpg, A Kayan Lahta couple in traditional dress File:Kayar.jpg, A Karenni couple

References

External links

"Huay Pu Keng"
Retrieved 12 January 2016. * {{Authority control Ethnic groups in Myanmar Geography of Myanmar Karen people