Ethnic Groups In Thailand
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Ethnic Groups In Thailand
Thailand is a country of some 70 ethnic groups, including at least 24 groups of ethnolinguistically Tai peoples, mainly the Central, Southern, Northeastern, and Northern Thais; 22 groups of Austroasiatic peoples, with substantial populations of Northern Khmer and Kuy; 11 groups speaking Sino-Tibetan languages ('hill tribes'), with the largest in population being the Karen; 3 groups of Austronesian peoples, i.e., the Malay, the majority ethnic group in the southernmost three provinces, together with the Moken and Urak Lawoi ('sea gypsies'); and both groups of Hmong-Mien. Other ethnic groups include longstanding immigrant communities such as the Chinese, Indians and . Historical development Background Thailand was mainly inhabited by indigenous Austro-Asiatic (Mon-Khmer, Khmu, and Lawa) peoples in the central plains and Northeast, and in the South by Malayo-Sumbawan ( Malay) peoples, until the Tai arrived. Following the arrival of the Tai, Hmong and Mien ...
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Central Thailand
Central Thailand (Central Plain) (historically also known as Siam or Dvaravati) is one of the regions of Thailand, covering the broad alluvial plain of the Chao Phraya River. It is separated from northeast Thailand (Isan) by the Phetchabun Mountains, Phetchabun mountain range. The Tenasserim Hills separate it from Myanmar to the west. In the north it is bounded by the Phi Pan Nam Range, one of the hilly systems of northern Thailand. The area was the heartland of the Ayutthaya Kingdom (at times referred to as Siam) and is still the dominant area of Thailand since it contains the world's most primate city#Examples, primate city, Bangkok. Definition The grouping of Thai provinces into regions follow two major systems in which Thailand is divided into either Regions of Thailand, four or six regions. In the six-region system, commonly used in geographical studies, central Thailand extends from Sukhothai Province, Sukhothai and Phitsanulok Province, Phitsanulok Provinces in the north t ...
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Hmong–Mien Languages
The Hmong–Mien languages (also known as Miao–Yao and rarely as Yangtzean) are a highly tonal language family of southern China and northern Southeast Asia. They are spoken in mountainous areas of southern China, including Guizhou, Hunan, Yunnan, Sichuan, Guangxi, Guangdong and Hubei provinces; the speakers of these languages are predominantly " hill people", in contrast to the neighboring Han Chinese, who have settled the more fertile river valleys. Relationships Hmongic (Miao) and Mienic (Yao) are closely related, but clearly distinct. For internal classifications, see Hmongic languages and Mienic languages. The largest differences are due to divergent developments in their phonological systems. The Hmongic languages appear to have kept the large set of initial consonants featured in the protolanguage but greatly reduced the distinctions in the syllable finals, in particular losing all glides and stop codas. The Mienic languages, on the other hand, have largely preser ...
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Vietnam
Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifteenth-most populous country. One of two communist states in Southeast Asia, Vietnam shares land borders with China to the north, and Laos and Cambodia to the west. It shares Maritime boundary, maritime borders with Thailand through the Gulf of Thailand, and the Philippines, Indonesia, and Malaysia through the South China Sea. Its capital is Hanoi and its largest city is Ho Chi Minh City. Vietnam was inhabited by the Paleolithic age, with states established in the first millennium BC on the Red River Delta in modern-day northern Vietnam. Before the Han dynasty's invasion, Vietnam was marked by a vibrant mix of religion, culture, and social norms. The Han dynasty annexed Northern and Central Vietnam, which were subs ...
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Laos
Laos, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic (LPDR), is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by Myanmar and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the southeast, and Thailand to the west and southwest. The country has a population of approximately eight million. Its Capital city, capital and most populous city is Vientiane. The country is characterized by mountainous terrain, Buddhist temples, including the UNESCO's World Heritage Site of Luang Prabang, and French colonial architecture. The country traces its historic and cultural identity to Lan Xang, a kingdom which existed from the 13th to 18th centuries. Through its location, the kingdom was a hub for overland trade. In 1707, Lan Xang split into three kingdoms: Kingdom of Luang Phrabang, Luang Prabang, Kingdom of Vientiane, Vientiane, and Kingdom of Champasak, Champasak. In 1893, these kingdoms were unified under French protection as part of French Indochina. Laos was und ...
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Guizhou
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Mien
The Yao people () or Dao () is a classification for various ethnic minorities in China and Vietnam. Their majority branch is also known as Mien. They originated in the areas around Changsha, which today is the capital of Hunan province. They speak a branch of the Hmong-Mien family of languages and share a strong genetic connection to the Hmong peoples. They are believed to have diverged from the Hmong around 5,800 years ago. They are one of the 56 officially recognized ethnic groups in China and reside in the mountainous southwest and south of the country. They also form one of the 54 ethnic groups officially recognized by Vietnam. They numbered 2,796,003 in the 2010 Chinese census and 891,151 in the 2019 Vietnamese census. An estimated 60,000 Yao of the Iu Mien branch reside in the United States, mostly in the Western coastal states. History China Origin myth The origins of the Yao can be traced back two millennia to Hunan around the Dongting Lake region. According to ...
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Hmong People
The Hmong people ( RPA: , CHV: ''Hmôngz'', Nyiakeng Puachue: , Pahawh Hmong: , , zh, c=苗族蒙人) are an indigenous group in East Asia and Southeast Asia. In China, the Hmong people are classified as a sub-group of the Miao people. The modern Hmong reside mainly in Southwestern China and Mainland Southeast Asian countries such as Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, and Myanmar. There are also diaspora communities in the United States, Australia, France, and South America. Etymology The term ''Hmong'' is the English pronunciation of the Hmong's native name. It is a singular and plural noun (e.g., Japanese, French, etc.). Very little is known about the native Hmong name as it is not mentioned in Chinese historical records, since the Han identified the Hmong as Miao. The meaning of it is debatable and no one is sure of its origin, although it can be traced back to several provinces in China. However, Hmong Americans and Hmong Laotians often associate it with "Free" and/or "Hmoov ...
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Malays (ethnic Group)
Malays ( ; , Jawi alphabet, Jawi: ) are an Austronesian peoples, Austronesian ethnoreligious group native to eastern Sumatra, the Malay Peninsula and coastal Borneo, as well as the smaller islands that lie between these locations. These locations are today part of the countries of Malaysia, Indonesia (eastern and southern Sumatra, Bangka Belitung Islands, West Kalimantan and Riau Islands), the southern part of Thailand (Pattani Province, Pattani, Satun Province, Satun, Songkhla Province, Songkhla, Yala Province, Yala and Narathiwat Province, Narathiwat), Singapore and Brunei Darussalam. There is considerable linguistic, cultural, artistic and social diversity among the many Malay subgroups, mainly due to hundreds of years of immigration and assimilation of various regional ethnicity and tribes within Maritime Southeast Asia. Historically, the Malay population is descended primarily from the earlier Malayic languages, Malayic-speaking Austronesians and Austroasiatic languages, Au ...
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Malayo-Sumbawan Languages
The Malayo-Sumbawan languages are a proposed subgroup of the Austronesian languages that unites the Malayic and Chamic languages with the languages of Java and the western Lesser Sunda Islands (western Indonesia), except for Javanese (Adelaar 2005). Adelaar, Alexander. 2005. Malayo-Sumbawan'. Oceanic Linguistics, Vol. 44, No. 2 (Dec., 2005), pp. 357–388. If valid, it would be the largest demonstrated family of Malayo-Polynesian outside Oceanic. The Malayo-Sumbawan subgroup is however not universally accepted, and is rejected e.g. by Blust (2010) and Smith (2017), who supported the Greater North Borneo and Western Indonesian hypotheses. In a 2019 paper published in '' Oceanic Linguistics'', Adelaar accepted both of these groupings, in addition to Smith's (2018) redefinition of Barito languages as forming a linkage. Classification According to Adelaar (2005), the composition of the family is as follows: *Malayo-Sumbawan ** Sundanese (1 or 2 languages of western Java; inc ...
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Northeast Thailand
Northeast Thailand or Isan (Isan language, Isan/, ; ; also written as Isaan, Isarn, Issarn, Issan, Esan, or Esarn; from Pāli ''isāna'' or Sanskrit ईशान्य ''īśānya'' "northeast") consists of 20 provinces in northeastern Thailand. Isan is Thailand's largest Regions of Thailand, region, on the Khorat Plateau, bordered by the Mekong, Mekong River (along the Laos–Thailand border) to the north and east, by Cambodia to the southeast and the Sankamphaeng Range south of Nakhon Ratchasima. To the west, it is separated from Northern Thailand, northern and central Thailand by the Phetchabun Mountains. Isan covers , making it about half the size of Germany and roughly the size of England and Wales. The total forest area is or 15 percent of Isan's area. Since the beginning of the 20th century, northeastern Thailand has been generally known as ''Isan'', while in official contexts the term ''phak tawan-ok-chiang-nuea'' (; "northeastern region") may be used. The majority ...
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Lawa People
Lawa ( or ; ) are an ethnic group in northern Thailand. The Lawa language is related to the Blang language, Blang and the Wa language found in China and Myanmar (Burma), and belongs to the Palaungic languages, a branch of the Austroasiatic languages. Their population is estimated to be some 17,000. The Western Lawa are found in the vicinity of Amphoe Mae Sariang, Mae Sariang in the south of Mae Hong Son Province, the Eastern Lawa are centred on Bo Luang in Chiang Mai Province. Overview The Lawa are sometimes mistaken for being the same people as the Lua people, Lua of northern Laos and of Nan Province, Thailand, who are speakers of the more distantly related Khmuic languages. This problem is compounded by the Eastern Lawa of Chiang Mai Province preferring to be called Lua by outsiders, and by the Thai people generally referring to speakers of these different Palaungic languages as Lua. Today, those Lawa who have not been integrated in mainstream Thai society, still live a traditi ...
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Khmu People
The Khmu (; Khmu: ; or ; ; ; ; ; ) are an ethnic group of Southeast Asia. The majority (88%) live in northern Laos where they constitute the largest minority ethnic group, comprising eleven percent of the total population. Alternative historical English spellings include Kmhmu, Kemu, and Kơbru, among others. The Khmu can also be found in southwest China (in Xishuangbanna in Yunnan province), and in recent centuries have migrated to areas of Burma, Thailand and Vietnam (where they are an officially recognized ethnic group). In the People's Republic of China, however, they are not given official recognition as a separate "ethnic" group, but are rather classified as a subgroup of Bulang. The endonym "Khmu" is suspected to stem from their word ''kymhmuʔ'' meaning "people". Khmu also often refer to their ethnicity as ''pruʔ''. Geographic distribution The Khmu were the indigenous inhabitants of northern Laos. It is generally believed the Khmu once inhabited a much large ...
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