North Thailand People

The Mon People In North Thailand

• The Mon ruled North Thailand for 500 years until they were conquered by the Tai in 1292. When the Tai conquered the Mon they adopted their Buddhist religion, their Mon alphabet, their arts and culture, all of which was influenced by the prior Indianisation of South and Central Thailand hundreds of years before.
  
• In the North the Mon Kingdom was called Haripunchai and in the central and Southern regions Dvaravati. The original Mon of North Thailand were assimilated into the Thai nation.
  
• However as a result of repression of Mons in Burma by the Burmese some Mon migrated as late as the 19th C and pockets of these Mon speakers remain today.