Mon

Mon

Any member of a people thought to have originated in western China and currently living in the eastern delta region of Myanmar (Burma) and in west-central Thailand. They have lived in their present area for the last 1,200 years and brought Myanmar its writing (Pali) and its religion (Buddhism). Rice and teak are their most important agricultural products. Today they number more than 1.1 million. See also Dvaravati; Mon kingdom.

---

Mon 

a people living in southern Burma (more than 400,000) and southwestern Thailand (about 90,000; figures are 1970 estimates). They migrated from Burma to Thailand in the 18th century. The Mon language belongs to the Mon-Khmer group; the written language dates to the sixth century A.D.

The Mon are Buddhists of the southern faction. They are one of the most ancient peoples of Indochina; early states (among them Dvaravati) formed among the Mon. The Burmese penetration of the Mon country from the north began in the late first millennium A.D.; the Burmese destroyed the Mon state in the mid-18th century. The Mon exerted a great cultural influence on the Burmese. Some Mon in Burma are being assimilated by the Burmese and Karen. Their main occupation is irrigated rice cultivation, and crafts (such as pottery-making) are well developed.

REFERENCE

Narody lugo-Vostochnoi Azii. Moscow, 1966.