Myanmar Burmese Shan Chin Mon.....

Myanmar has about 130 ethnic groups.

and there are real differences between them. The  main groups are the Burmese, the Shan, the Mon or Talaing, the Karen, the Chin, the Kachin, the Salon and other. For other Myanmar ethnic groups pls. have a look at the menu left.

Of Myanmar people the Burmese are the largest group. Of the Myanmar ethnic groups the smallest and most backward are the Salon People, who inhabit the islands off the southern coast, mainly in the Mergui or Myeik archipelago, further south in Thailand they are called Moken.They are probably the oldest inhabitants on the west coast of south east Asia. Salon or Moken can be found from the Nicobar and Andaman Islands of India to the Islands of  southern Myanmar and all the way down to Indonesia.

Myanmar people came in from the north by three waves of immigration from China. The earliest who came to Myanmar were the Mon or Talaing, they also migrated all the way down to present day Phuket Island in southern Thailand.

The second and third wave of people into Myanmar or Burma were the today Burmese and the Shan. The Kachin are of the same ethnic group as the Burmese, but they came into Myanmar or Burma later.  Today Mon people (called Thalang at Phuket Thailand) have their Mon State around Bago and southwards. So

have the Karen the Karen State, Chin the Chin State and so on but everything is tightly controlled by the central Government at Naypyidaw. Unfortunately there is a continuous struggle between the people of the different ethnic groups in Myanmar.

since they all come over to Thailand to buy their goods, there is no supply on the Myanmar side. This mainly done in the Myanmar area west of Thailand's Mae Hong Son. Sometimes riots in Chin State and elsewhere erupt. Chin State is really totally neglected and probably the poorest in Myanmar. Naga people are a sub tribe of the Chin.

Almost all struggle between the central Myanmar government and the different ethnic groups came to an end around a decade ago. The only groups left who demand their own independent state are the Karen and some parts of Shan people. This two groups get support in various form from the USA.

One of the most interesting Myanmar people in terms of appearance are the Kayan or Padaung, a indigenous tribe from eastern Myanmar. Famous for the "long neck" women and girls with brass spirals around their neck, arms and legs.

Some of them run away to Thailand, near Mae Hong Son, from the continuous fighting between the Myanmar military and insurgent groups at that area. Today they earn a living in Thailand by posing for tourist who come in by large numbers to see this unique brass fashion.

They say they wear the brass spirals and rings to remember their mythical ancestors, the Naga, a mythical snake.

British colonial army and Myanmar - Burma King Thibaw 1886


Myanmar People at the Ayeyarwady or Irrawaddy River

Myanmar Shan People

Myanmar Shan People Rural

Myanmar Chin Makan People

Myanmar Chin People

Myanmar People Chin Girl with Face Tattoo

Myanmar Chin People Fashion

The Colonial British in Burma or Myanmar have given political freedom to the Karen people and and sent missionaries. There are more than 7 million Karen people in today Myanmar and about half a million in neighboring Thailand.

The Karen people occupy a long strip of the country on the east of Myanmar at the border to Thailand and a portion of the eastern Irrawaddy or Ayeyarwady Delta. All the Karen people of Thailand and Myanmar came more or less from today Toungoo region. Toungoo is in east-central Myanmar on the bank of the Sittang River.

The Shan people with the wide trousers and a instinct for trade are concentrated in Myanmar Shan State, the area around Inle Lake and to the north and east. Shan princes and Sabwas were very notable Myanmar people during British colonial times and before.

The Shan people came into Myanmar or Burma from South-western China about two thousand years ago. Their migration was initiated by the pressure of the Chinese.

As the migration pressure increased they moved from the area of the Shweli river, southwards until present day Thailand, eastward to Vietnam, and north and west, even reaching the Brahmaputra and founded the Ahom kingdom of Assam. In Myanmar, beside of Shan State far down into south east Myanmar at Mergui or Myeik.

In the north they spread over the whole of the upper area of the Ayeyarwady or Irrawaddy

Myanmar People Irrawaddy River at Bagan

from Myitkyina and along the Chindwin in the area of Singkaling, Hkamti and Thaungdut.

They have ruled at Ava and Amarapura, and were very close to take over then Burma.
Myanmar Chin Lady smoking Pipe plus Face Tattoo

The Chin and Kachin people have long been at war with the rest of Myanmar or Burma even after the British established their colonial rule over Myanmar.

Their protection lay in the rough Myanmar Himalaya mountains of the north - Myanmar Kachins -, and the extremely rough terrain of the north west of Myanmar were the Chin people have their villages in today Chin State.

Of the Myanmar Chin people in the hills which separate central Myanmar from Arakan or today Rakhine and Assam in India there are two divisions, the Northern Myanmar Chin people and the Southern.

Their tribes lap over into the subsidiary valleys which lie between the Irrawaddy or Ayeyarwady and the main area of the Arakan or Rakhine Loma.

The Northern Chin People have a bigger territory, known administratively as " The Chin Hills." It consists of mountains intersected by deep valleys.
The use of tribal face tattoo is very common and a normal addition to the women beauty.

The Northern Chin have a strong tribal organization and time has developed each of their tribes a separate idiosyncrasy.

The Myanmar Chin people, a warrior ethnic group are one of the the rough ethnic group of Myanmar together with the Naga in upper north west.
 

Kachin are 12 different
ethnic groups.
 
Kachin
Atsi
Dalaung
Duleng
Guari
Hkahku
Jinghpaw
Lashi
Lisu - also in Thailand
Maru
Rawang
Taron

Kayah are 9 different
ethnic groups.

Kayah
Bre
Gheko
Ka-Yun or Padaung
Kebar
Manu Manaw
Yin Talai
Yin Baw
Zayein

Kayin are 11 different
ethnic groups.

Kayin
Bwe
Kayinpyu
Mon Kayin
Monnepwa
Monpwa
Pa-Le-Chi
Paku
Shu
Sgaw
Ta-Lay-Pwa

Chin are 53 different ethnic groups.

Chin
Anu
Anun
Awa Khami
Asho
Dai
Dim
Gunte
Gwete
Haulngo
Ka-Lin-Kaw
Kaungso
Kaung Saing
Khawno




 

Khami
Kwangli
Kwelshin
Lai
Laizao
Lawhtu
Laymyo
Lushei
Lyente
Lhinbu
Magun
Malin
Matu
Meithei
Mgan
Miram
Mi-er
Naga
Ngorm
Oo-Pu

Panun
Rongtu
Saing Zan
Saline
Sentang
Tanghkul
Taishon
Tapong
Tay-Zan
Thado
Tiddim
Torr
Za-How
Zahnyet
Zizan
Zo
Zo-Pe
Zotung
Wakim

Bamar are 9 different ethnic groups.
 
Bamar
Beik
Dawei
Ganan
Hpon
Kadu
Salon
Yabein
Yaw

Mon is 1 ethnic group.
 
Mon

Rakhine or Arakan are 7 ethnic groups.
 
Rakhine
Daingnet
Kamein
Kwe Myi
Maramagyi
Mro
Thet

Shan are 33 ethnic groups.

Shan
Danaw
Danu
Eng
Eik-swair
Hkun
Intha
Kaw or Akha
Khamu
Khamti Shan
Kokant

Kwi
Lahu
Man Zi
Maingtha
Maw Shan
Palaung or Kayan
Pale
Pa-O
Pyin
Shan Gale
Shan Gyi

Son
Tai-Lem
Tai-Loi 
Tai-Lon
Tai-Lai
Taungyo
Yao
Yin Kya
Yin Net 
Yun or Lao
Wa

Myanmar People, .