Nan Zhao was destroyed by the Mongols in 1253, but long before that time small groups of Thais moved out in search of greener pastures. One group already mentioned, the Shans, settled eastern Burma. Others included the Lao, who settled the Khorat Plateau and the upper Mekong valley; the Ahom or Assamese, who have been the dominant group in northeast India since 1228; the White, Red and Black Thai, who stayed in the highlands of Indochina and derived their names from the main color of their clothing; and a group called the Small Thai, who settled in the heart of modern Thailand, the Menam (Chao Phraya) valley. Those Thais who stayed at home became the Zhuang, the largest (12 million) ethnic minority in modern China. Wherever they went the Thais became both settlers and mercenaries. Once they left China they discarded the culture that they learned from the Chinese, since it was now a symbol of oppression. In its place they learned Theravada Buddhism from the Mons, the arts from the Khmers, and developed an alphabet based on the scripts of both.

As long as Southeast Asia was ruled by strong empires like Pagan and Cambodia, the Thais were no threat. But when those empires weakened in the thirteenth century the Thais found a vacuum they could fill. In several places along the Menam River Thai mercenaries revolted, setting up independent muang or city-states in place of Khmer rule. The most important of these was Sukhothai, founded around 1238 on the upper Menam, and Lan Na ("One Million Rice Fields"), farther north on the same river. Lan Na's first ruler, Mangrai (1259-1318), was an excellent monarch, who defeated and conquered many of the rival muang (tribes) around him and made his kingdom both civilized and powerful. He even defeated the Mongols when they invaded Lan Na in 1296 and 1301. After making a few counter-raids of his own into China, Mangrai sent elephants and other gifts to the court of the Great Khan, and Sino-Thai relations were fine after that. In 1296 he founded an impressive new capital, Chiangmai, and the kingdom of Lan Na is usually referred to as Chiangmai after this.


*Posted by Berosus on Jan. 22, 2001