In which present day Asian country are the Shan and Karen peoples to be found?
"became briefly independent following the collapse of the first Toungoo dynasty, in 1599. The Restored Toungoo dynasty under King Nyaungyan and King Anaukpetlun recovered the Shan states, including the two strongest—Monhyin and Mogaung by 1605 and Lan Na by 1615. In the early 18th century, the rule of Burmese monarchs declined rapidly and by the 1730s, the northernmost Shan States, many of which had paid dual tribute to China and Burma, had been annexed by the Qing Dynasty of China. The annexed border states ranged from Mogaung and Bhamo in present-day Kachin State to Hsenwi (Theinni) and Kengtung (Kyaingtong) in"
"Karen people The Karen, Kayin, Kariang or Yang people ( , , ; ""Per Ploan Poe"" or ""Ploan"" in Pwo Karen and ""Pwa Ka Nyaw"" or ""Kanyaw"" in Sgaw Karen; ) or ) refer to a number of individual Sino-Tibetan language-speaking ethnic groups, many of which do not share a common language or culture. These Karen groups reside primarily in Kayin State, southern and southeastern Myanmar. The Karen make up approximately seven percent of the total Burmese population with approximately five million people. A large number of Karen have migrated to Thailand, having settled mostly on the Thailand–Myanmar border. The"
"conflict conflict, many of whom have fled to neighbouring Thailand. The Karen people are one of the largest ethnic groups in Southeast Asia. The Karen constitute a population of 5 to 7 million and around twenty different Karen dialects are recognised of which Sgaw and Pwo Karen are the two most widely spoken. Other groups of Karen are the Kayah, Bwe, Kayan, Bre, Pa-o and some other subgroups. The Karen languages are part of the Tibeto-Burman languages which are a branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages. It is generally agreed that the Karen began to arrive in what is today known"
"Shan people The Shan (; , ; ; ; ) are a Tai ethnic group of Southeast Asia. The Shan live primarily in the Shan State of Burma (Myanmar), but also inhabit parts of Mandalay Region, Kachin State, and Kayin State, and in adjacent regions of China, Laos and Thailand. Though no reliable census has been taken in Burma since 1935, the Shan are estimated to number 4–6 million, with CIA Factbook giving an estimation of 5 million spread throughout Myanmar. The capital of Shan State is Taunggyi, the fifth-largest city in Myanmar with about 390,000 people. Other major cities"
"while in Myanmar, there are known as ""Kayin"". Karen legends refer to a ""river of running sand"" which ancestors reputedly crossed. Many Karen think this refers to the Gobi Desert, although they have lived in Myanmar for centuries. The Karen constitute the third largest ethnic population in Myanmar, after the Bamars and Shans. ""Karen"" refers to a heterogeneous lot of ethnic groups that do not share a common language, culture, religion, or material characteristics. A pan-Karen ethnic identity is a relatively modern creation, established in the 19th century with the conversion of some Karen to Christianity and shaped by various"
"Karenni people The Karenni, also known as the Red Karen, the Kayah () or the Kayahli (meaning ""red human""), are a Sino-Tibetan people living mostly in Kayah State, Myanmar (Burma). According to a 1983 census, the Karenni consist of the following groups: Kayah, Geko (Kayan Ka Khaung, Gekho, Gaykho), Geba (Kayan Gebar, Gaybar), Padaung (Kayan Lahwi), Bre, Manu-Manau (Manumanao), Yintale, Yinbaw, Bwe and Pao. 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. The Karenni States were a collection of small states inhabited by"
"estimate makes their population equivalent to that of Switzerland). The approximately 320,000 Karen in Thailand comprise half of the country's total hill tribe population. While the Karen still practice slash and burn farming as other hill tribes do, they differ in that they live in permanent villages at lower elevations and have been aggressive in developing environmentally sustainable terraced rice fields. These factors have allowed the Karen to better integrate themselves into Thai society. The Hmong are believed to have been the original inhabitants of the Yellow River Valley in ancient China. The expansion of the neighboring Chinese from the"
"S'gaw Karen language S'gaw (စှီၤ/ကညီကျိာ်), Sgaw Karen or Sgaw Kayin, commonly known as Karen is a language spoken chiefly by the Sgaw Karen people in Myanmar and Thailand. A Karenic branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family, Sgaw Karen is spoken by over four million people in Tanintharyi Region, Ayeyarwady Region, Yangon Region, and Bago Region in Myanmar, and about 200,000 in northern and western Thailand along the border near Kayin State. It is written using the S'gaw Karen alphabet, derived from the Burmese script although a Latin-based script is also in use among the Sgaw Karen in northwestern Thailand. Various"
"ethnic groups, many of them with distinct subgroups. These groups come from very different origins. The extent of differences is visible in their cultures and languages. According to the Karen, their people ""arrived in Burma, a region at the time was virtually unpopulated jungle, approximately 2,500 years ago after a migration in several stages from the region of what is now Mongolia, and settled in what is now the Irrawaddy and Sittaung basin of central Burma."" This began the movement of peoples like the Karen from the central lowlands out into the hills. The British took over what is now"
"as Burma around 500 BC. The Karen are believed to come from what is known today as Mongolia and travelled south through three river valleys: the Mekong Valley, the Irrawaddy Valley and the Salween valley. The Karen traditionally have five oral legends which explains their ancestry. The word 'Karen' is derived from different Tai and Burmese names for a collective term referring to people in the forest and in the mountains. The term Karen was never used by the people who are referred to by the term today. It was not until the nineteenth century that Christian missionaries from America"
"and British colonial officers labelled these people 'Karen'. The Karen are not a homogenous group. Different groups of Karen did not share the same history within the kingdoms of pre-colonial Burma or the British colonial empire. Some Karen fulfilled functions as ministers in urbanised kingdoms like the Pegu kingdom in the sixteenth century. Other Karen developed a subsistence way of living in the forests bordering Thailand and some Karen still practice this way of life. Around 20% of the Karen are Christian whereas 75% is Buddhists. A small percentage of Karen is animist and in the lowland riverdelta the so-called"
"in Burma’s eastern hills named the Dawna Range and the Tenasserim Hills bordering Thailand developed their own distinct society and history. The hill Karen communities developed a subsistence way of life. Today about three million Karen live in the Irrawaddy river delta and they have developed an urbanised society based on the agriculture of rice. Karen communities are religiously, linguistically, culturally separated and geographyically dispersed. Some scholars have claimed ‘the’ Karen do not exist. The outbreak of the Karen conflict has its roots in the British colonial era. In the nineteenth century certain Karen hill tribes were Christianized by American"
"first Akha, Sm Mi O. AFECT NGO (akhathai.org) is the oldest non-governmental organization for tribes in Asia helping to protect the deeply shamanic tribal culture. Akha Asia (akhaasia.org) runs an Akha cultural school. The Bwa G'Naw,() known to many as Karen, and to others as Kariang or Yang, are one of the largest hill tribes in Southeast Asia. The total population of Karen people is unknown, since they are spread throughout Burma, Laos and Thailand, and no reliable census has been conducted in Burma since the 1930s. Population estimates range from 7.5 million to 14 million people. (The more conservative"
"or Kayah, a Sino-Tibetan people. Karenni ( Kayah )State is located in the eastern part of Myanmar. The relief of Karenni ( Kayah ) State is mountainous with the Dawna Range and the Karen Hills also known as ""Karenni-Karen"" mountains separated by the Salween River as it flows through Karenni ( Kayah ) State. Balu Chaung, flows from Inle Lake flow to Than Lwin River and converge with the Salween in southern Karenni (Kayah) State. Lawpita Dam, built in 1950 as a bilateral reparation agreement with Japan, is a major hydroelectric production dam which produces a quarter of the total"
"The Myanmar government has been accused of massive human rights violations in the region. Ethnographers classify anywhere from seven to ten ethnic groups (not including ethnic sub-groups) as native to Kayah State. In addition, Shan, Intha, and Bamar live in the north and Pa-O in surrounding hills. Each group is also known by more than one name. Clearly, ethnicity in Kayah State is a complex issue, made more complex by the current political situation. According to the 1983 census conducted by United Nations and the Burmese government, the Kayah composed 56.12%, while Bamar (17.58%), Shan (16.66%), Karen (6.45%), mixed races"
"through Laos. The Iu Mien arrived in Thailand approximately 200 years ago, contemporaneously with a large number of other Hmong–Mien migrants. The primary homeland of the Hmong–Mien ethnicity is said to be Kweichow, a province of southern China, where they settled at least 2,000 years ago. The Karen left Tibet and migrated to Burma as refugees, establishing themselves along the Burmese border with Thailand. When during World War II the Japanese occupied Burma, long-term tensions between the Karen and Burmese turned into open fighting. After the war ended, Burma was granted independence in January 1948, and the Karen, led by"
"Roe (1993:21ss) Kayan number about 40,000 in Shan State (around the Pekon Township area) and 20,000 in Kayah State (around Demawso and Loikaw). A 2004 estimate puts the population at approximately 130,000. About 600 Kayan reside in the three villages open to tourists in Mae Hong Sorn, or in the Ban Mai Nai Soy refugee camp. According to Kayan tradition the Kayan settled in the Demawso area of Karenni State (Kayah State) in 739 AD. Today, they reside in Karenni (Kayah) State around Demawso and Loikow, in the southern region of Shan State and in Mandalay’s Pyinmana and Karen’s Than"
"S'gaw people The S'gaw,( or ) also known as Skaw, S'gaw, S'gau, White Karen, Paganyaw, Pgaz Cgauz and Pakayo, are an ethnic group of Burma and Thailand. They speak the S'gaw Karen language. The S'gaw are a subgroup of the Karen people. They are also referred to by the exonym ""White Karen"", a term dating from colonial times and used in contrast to the Karenni (or ""Red Karen"") and the Pa'O (or ""Black Karen""), even though the latter often rejected the term ""Karen"" to refer to themselves. The S'gaw live primarily in eastern Burma (Karen State, Mon state, Karenni state)."
"Karenni States The Karenni States, also known as Red Karen States, was the name formerly given to the states inhabited mainly by the Red Karen, in the area of present-day Kayah State, eastern Burma. They were located south of the Federated Shan States and east of British Burma. The British government recognised and guaranteed the independence of the Karenni States in an 1875 treaty with Burmese King Mindon Min, by which both parties recognised the area as belonging neither to Burma nor to Great Britain. Consequently, the Karenni States were never fully incorporated into British Burma. The Karenni states formed"
"Karen groups as a whole are often confused with the Padaung tribe, best known for the neck rings worn by their women, but they are just one sub-group of Red Karens (Karenni), one of the tribes of Kayah in Kayah State, Myanmar. Some of the Karen, led primarily by the Karen National Union (KNU), have waged a war against the central Burmese government since early-1949. The aim of the KNU at first was independence. Since 1976 the armed group has called for a federal system rather than an independent Karen State. In Thailand, they are usually known as ; 'Karen',"
"Red Karen language Red Karen or Karenni, known in Burmese as Kayah, is a Karen dialect continuum spoken by over half a million Kayah people (Red Karen) in Burma. The name ""Kayah"" is ""a new name invented by the Burmese to split them off from other Karen"". Eastern Kayah is reported to have been spoken by 260,000 in Burma and 100,000 in Thailand in 2000, and Western Kayah by 210,000 in Burma in 1987. They are rather divergent. Among the Western dialects are Yintale and Manu (""Manumanaw"" in Burmese). Eastern Kayah is spoken in: Eastern Kayah dialects are Upper Eastern"
"Siam, and elsewhere. Shans were a major part of Burmese forces in the First Anglo-Burmese War of 1824-1826, and fought valiantly—a fact even the British commanders acknowledged. In the latter half of the 19th century Shan people migrated into Northern Thailand reaching Phrae Province. The Shan population in Thailand is concentrated mainly in Chiang Rai, Chiang Mai, Mae Hong Son, Mae Sariang, Mae Sai and Lampang, where there are groups which settled long ago and built their own communities and temples. Shan people are known as ""Tai Yai"" in north Thailand, where the word ""Shan"" is very seldom used to"
"to the Byamaso civil society organization. Kayan people (Myanmar) The Kayan are a sub-group of Red Karen (Karenni people), Tibeto-Burman ethnic minority of Myanmar (Burma). The Kayan consists of the following groups: Kayan Lahwi (also called Padaung, ), Kayan Ka Khaung (Gekho), Kayan Lahta, Kayan Ka Ngan. Kayan Gebar, Kayan Kakhi and, sometimes, Bwe people (Kayaw). Padaung (Yan Pa Doung) is a Shan term for the Kayan Lahwi (the group in which women wear the brass neck coils). The Kayan residents in Mae Hong Son Province in Northern Thailand refer to themselves as Kayan and object to being called Padaung."
"The Karen languages, members of the Tibeto-Burman group of the Sino-Tibetan language family, consist of three mutually unintelligible branches: Sgaw, Eastern Pwo, and Western Pwo. The Karen languages are almost unique among the Tibeto-Burman languages in having a subject–verb–object word order; other than Karen and Bai, Tibeto-Burman languages feature a subject–object–verb order. This anomaly is likely due to the influence of neighboring Mon and Tai languages. The majority of Karens are Theravada Buddhists who also practice animism, while approximately 15 percent are Christian. Lowland Pwo-speaking Karens tend to be more orthodox Buddhists, whereas highland Sgaw-speaking Karens tend to be heterodox"
"Karenic languages The Karen or Karenic languages are tonal languages spoken by some seven million Karen people. They are of unclear affiliation within the Sino-Tibetan languages. The Burmese languages are written using the Karen script. The three main branches are Sgaw, Pwo, and Pa'o. Karenni (also known as Kayah or Red Karen) and Kayan (also known as Padaung) are related to the Sgaw branch. They are unusual among the Sino-Tibetan languages in having a subject–verb–object word order; other than Karen, Bai, and the Chinese languages, Sino-Tibetan languages have a subject–object–verb order. This is likely due to influence from neighboring Mon"
"and therefore distantly related to the Lolo. There are approximately 510,000 people of Karen descent living in Thailand. A list of the Karen ethnic groups of significant size within Thailand are: Peopling of Thailand The peopling of Thailand refers to the process by which the ethnic groups that comprise the population of present-day Thailand came to inhabit the region. The Tai migration from the northern mountains into Thailand and Laos was a slow process, with the Tai generally remaining near the mountainous area in the region, where they were able to use their specialized agricultural knowledge relating to the use"
"'black Karen', a small minority, is Muslim. The Sgaw speaking population constitutes around 80% of the total Karen population and they are mainly Buddhist. The speakers of Pwo Karen live in the plains of central and lower Burma and were assimilated into the dominant Mon social system throughout history. These 'Mon-Karen' or ""Talaing Kayin"" had a special status and were an essential part of Mon court life. The ""Bama Kayin"" or Sgaw Karen were either absorbed into Burmese society or pushed towards the mountains bordering Thailand in the east and Southeast of Burma by the Burmese population. The Karen living"
"of several hundred thousand citizens, both inside and outside of Burma. The Karen, Karenni, and Mon ethnic groups have been forced to seek asylum in neighbouring Thailand, where they are also abused by an unfriendly and unsympathetic government. These groups are perhaps more fortunate than the Wa and Shan ethnic groups who have become Internally Displaced Peoples in their own state since being removed from lands by the military junta in 2000. There are reportedly 600,000 of these Internally Displaced Peoples living in Burma today. Many are trying to escape forced labour in the military or for one of the"
"Karen State) in eastern Myanmar (also known as ""Burma"") are the third largest ethnic group in Myanmar, consisting of 7% of the country's total population, and have fought for independence and self-determination since 1949. The initial aim of the largest Karen opposition group, the Karen National Union (KNU), was to obtain independence for the Karen people. However, in 1976 they instead began to call for a federal union with fair Karen representation, and the self-determination of the Karen people. Built in 1985, Kawmoora was a Karen stronghold located at a strategic border crossing that controlled minor trade between Myanmar and"
"Salween River), were kept as part of British Burma. The population in the province consists of hill tribes (63 percent), including the Hmong, Yao, Lahu, Lisu, Akha, Karen, and the Shan (Thai Yai). The province has the lowest population density of all the provinces of Thailand. The Karen are not one single group, but rather a mix of closely related tribes. Padaung is a Karen language from the Shan State and the Kayah State. Among the smallest of the Karen tribes in Thailand are Kayan Lahwi. This group's women are recognized by the large brass rings they wear around their"
"is a summary of the public health system in the state, in the fiscal year 2002–2003. Shan State Shan State (Burmese: , ; Shan: ) is a state of Myanmar. Shan State borders China to the north, Laos to the east, and Thailand to the south, and five administrative divisions of Burma in the west. Largest of the 14 administrative divisions by land area, Shan State covers 155,800 km², almost a quarter of the total area of Burma. The state gets its name from the Shan people, one of several ethnic groups that inhabit the area. Shan State is largely"
"Karen of the Andamans The Karen of the Andamans are Karen people who live in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The Karen were encouraged to settle in the Andaman islands in 1924 by Dr Marshall, the principal of the Karen Baptist Theological Seminary, following a visit to his cousin, who was the commissioner there. In 1925, the first thirteen families arrived, led by a priest, Reverend Luygi. In 1926, another fifty families arrived and the first Karen village, Webi, was founded on the Middle Andaman Island. In 2004, the total population of Karen in the Andamans was about 2000 people,"
"villages, expropriation of food supplies and livestock, arrests without charge and exploitation of the poor. The Karenni Army is currently led by General Bee Htoo, and consists of roughly between 500 and 1,500 soldiers. The Karen people of Kayin State (formerly Karen State) in eastern Myanmar are the third largest ethnic group in Myanmar, consisting of roughly 7% of the country's total population. Karen insurgent groups have fought for independence and self-determination since 1949. In 1949, the commander-in-chief of the Tatmadaw General Smith Dun, an ethnic Karen, was fired because of the rise of Karen opposition groups, which furthered ethnic"