page_title: Mon people
section_title: Early history
hierarchical_section_title: Mon people / History / Early history
caption_attribution_description: English: Myazedi Inscription in Mon language -- Gubyaukgyi Temple, Bagan, Myanmar
context_page_description: The Mon are an ethnic group who inhabit Myanmar's Mon State, Bago Region, the Irrawaddy Delta, the southern Myanmar border with Thailand, and Thailand's Thon Buri District, Pakret District, Phra Pradaeng District and Lat Krabang District.
  The Mon were one of the earliest to reside in Southeast Asia, and were responsible for the spread of Theravada Buddhism in Mainland Southeast Asia. The civilisations founded by the Mon were some of the earliest in Thailand as well as Myanmar.
  They speak the Mon language, an Austroasiatic language, and share a common origin with the Nyah Kur people of Thailand; they are from the Mon mandala of Dvaravati. A number of languages in Mainland Southeast Asia are influenced by the Mon language. The Mon were a source of influence on the culture of Myanmar and Thailand. The Mon are regarded as a large exporter of Southeast Asian culture. Historically, many cities in both countries today, including Yangon and Bangkok were founded either by the Mon people or Mon rulers.
  Nowadays, the Mon are a major ethnic group in Myanmar and a minor ethnic group in Thailand. The Mons from Myanmar are called Burmese Mon or Myanmar Mon.
context_section_description: The Mon people possibly started migrating down from China into the Indochina area in about 3,000 BC. The Mon were believed to be one of the earliest peoples of Indochina. They founded some of the earliest civilizations there, including Dvaravati in Central Thailand (whose culture proliferated into Isan), Sri Gotapura in central Laos (modern Sikhottabong, Vientiane Prefecture) and Northeastern Thailand, Hariphunchai kingdom in Northern Thailand and the Thaton Kingdom in Lower Burma. They were the first receivers of Theravada missionaries from Sri Lanka, in contrast to their Hindu contemporaries like the Khmer and Cham peoples. The Mon adopted the Pallava alphabet and the oldest form of the Mon script was found in a cave in modern Saraburi dating around 550 AD. Though no remains were found belonging to the Thaton Kingdom, it was mentioned widely in Bamar and Lanna chronicles. The legendary Queen Camadevi from the Chao Phraya River Valley, as told in the Northern Thai Chronicle Cāmadevivaṃsa and other sources, came to rule as the first queen of Hariphunchai (modern Lamphun) kingdom around 800 AD.
  After 1000 AD onwards, the Mon were under constant pressure with the Tai peoples migrating from the north and Khmer invasions from the Khmer Empire in the east. A significant portion of the Dvaravati Mons fled west to the present-day Lower Burma. The Mons of Dvaravati gave their way to the Lavo Kingdom by around 1000 AD. Descendants of the Dvaravati Mon people are the Nyah Kur people of present-day Isan. The Mon were killed in wars, transported as captives, or assimilated into new cultures. The Mon as an entity virtually disappeared in Chao Phraya Valley. However, Hariphunchai kingdom survived as a Mon outpost in northern Thailand under repeated harassment by the Northern Thai people.
  In 1057 AD, King Anawrahta of Pagan Kingdom conquered the Mon's Thaton Kingdom in Lower Burma. The Mon culture and the Mon script were readily absorbed by the Bamar (Burmans) and the Mons, for the first time, came under Bamar rule. The Mon remained a majority in Lower Burma.
  On the one hand, Mon's Hariphunchai kingdom prospered in the reign of King Aditayaraj (around early twelfth century), who allegedly waged wars with Suryavarman II of Angkor (between 1113–1150 AD) and constructed the Hariphunchai stupa (in present-day Lamphun, northern Thailand). In 1230, Mangrai, the Northern Tai chief, conquered Hariphunchai and the Mon culture was integrated into Lan Na culture. The Lan Na adopted the Mon script and religion.
caption: Myazedi Inscription (AD 1113) in Mon language in Bagan. One of the oldest surviving stone inscription in Myanmar.
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