Lao people
The Lao ( Lao: ລາວ, Isan: ลาว, IPA: [ la ː w], and Laotians ) are an ethnic group in the north of Southeast Asia and form a subgroup of the Tai peoples. The majority of Lao lives in Laos and Thailand on the middle Mekong. The Thai Lao focus on the region Isan, although there are many workers from Isan in the other parts of Thailand, such as Bangkok. The Lao speak different dialects of Lao and Isan, both of which are often presented as a single language. Many people in Isan prefer the term " Isan " in front of himself as a " Thaiisierungskampagne " was performed in the 20th century. Nevertheless, there are still many cultural connections between the Lao total.
In the 19th century distinguished the Lao in two groups: the western Lao (actually Tai Yuan or Khon Müang ) tattooed themselves and are therefore lao pung dam ( Schwarzbäuchige Lao ) called. The eastern ( actual ) are the Lao lao khao pung ( White Lao ).
Lao ( including Isan ) lived in 2000:
- Thailand about 10-15 million,
- Laos about 2.6 million,
- Cambodia about 100,000,
- Myanmar, about 80,000,
- Vietnam about 9600.
Name
Members of the Lao - as well as the other Tai peoples - call themselves Tai (Lao: ໄທ, Isan: ไท, IPA: [t ʰ ɑj ] ), more precisely Tai Lao ( ໄທ ລາວ, ไท ลาว ). The naming situation in Isan is more complex, as there are both old men, who call themselves Lao, but this is regarded as an offense against the Central Thai. They are generally Khon Isan or Tai Isan (Lao: ໄທ ອີ ສານ, Isan: ไท อีสาน, IPA: [i ː sa ː n] ), called which identifies them as residents of a part of Thailand - in contrast to the Lao of Laos. The Lao in Laos denote the Lao Isan in Thailand as Tai.
History
The history of the Lao, as the other Tai peoples is characterized by the Müang, territories defined by personal relationships of a ruler ( Chao ) to surrounding settlements who received their land rights from him.
The origin of the name Lao is not known, but long before the 13th century small Müang were built along the Mekong River and on the Khorat Plateau, from which developed the independent Lao identity. The invasion of the Mongols was an opportunity for the expansion of the Tai peoples, including the Lao, who took over a small city of the Khmer: Mueang Swa. The area later called Luang Prabang, was the historical heartland of the Lao. Fa Ngum (r. 1357-1371 ) expanded the influence of the kingdom of up to Vientiane and called the kingdom of Lan Xang. This is considered as the first kingdom of the Lao.
From 1574 onwards, the kingdom was under the influence of Burma. 1707/1713 fell Lan Xang apart into three sub- kingdoms, which increasingly came under the influence of Siam. 1893 a territory called Laos was built by the French colonial administration.
More recently, the Lao were then divided by boundaries in several states. The break was officially opened by Franco- Siamese Treaty of 1893 and 1904, which laid down the boundary between Siam and French Indochina between Isan and Laos. The Mekong River, until then connecting arterial and lifeline of Lao- countries, became the border river.
See also: History of Laos, Thai history, Shan State, people of Vietnam