The Highland Peoples of Thailand

Introduction of the highland peoples The highland peoples of Thailand or (in Thai) Chao Thai Phukhao, literally: Thai Citizens on the Mountains represent an ethnical minority who lives in the highland areas in the northern and southwestern parts of the country. They all can be divided in 3 groups by linguistic roots of their languages, that is, Chinese, Tibeto-Burman and Mon-Khmer family of languages. By characteristic of settlement locations, they can be placed into 2 main groups, i.e. those who live in lowlands or valleys, and those who only live in highlands or mountainous areas. Tribal peoples living in lowlands or valleys are Karen, Lawa (Lua), Khamu and H'Tin make their living through agriculture of paddy rice and circulated cultivation or land rotation. Most of these group members have been living in the country for centuries. Tribal peoples living in highlands or mountainous areas include Hmong, Mien, Lahu, Lisu and Akha. They usually have their settlements on highlands higher than 1,000 meters above sea level. They make their living through slash-and-burn style or shifting cultivation. Most of these group members recently, which means not longer than 100 years, migrated from the north -from Burma and Laos- into Thailand.