The Tai Ahom Kingdom of Assam
Tai peoples had been migrating southwards from southern China in large numbers from at least as early as the C7th CE and possibly earlier. Some historians believe that Tais had been migrating into Myanmar (where they are called Shans) for two thousand years and point to the 78 CE revolts in China as cause for large-scale migrations (see e.g. Sai Aung Tun, 2000).
However, it was not until later that the Tais were able to establish their own states. One of the first of these was Yonok, in the Chiang Saen region where the north of Thailand borders the Mekong river and the territory beyond the river. There the Tai prince defeated the local Khom people (probably a mixture of indigenous Lawa and Mon peoples) and established his own principality (Wyatt, 1984, pp.30-1).
The pattern of migration was for a state to be established and people to settle there, occupying the river valley locations suitable for wet-rice farming and displacing any indigenous peoples to less-favourable upland locations. When population increased to place strain on the amount of cultivable land available or, else, when an adventurous noble felt he could establish his own state, then a group of families would be given royal permission to push further onwards until a suitable new location was reached, mostly ignoring any unsuitable intervening locations which might be left to whoever happened to be occupying them. By the time of the large-scale Tai migrations, "... there was no region of [mainland] Southeast Asia which was essentially empty land open to the establishment of new settlements. There was a continual migration and contact in war and peace among the various groups" (Dhida Saraya, 2000, p.8).
As a result of this pattern of migration, Tai moved further away from their previous homelands in the southern regions of the lands claimed by Nanchao (by then under the name of the Kingdom of Hou Li). Further, each new state would have a definite founder around whom tales of heroism and virtue would naturally be attached. Such was the case with Prince Siu-Ka-Pha of the Tai Mao state. Tai Mao was a principality that occupied the area around what is now known as Xishuangbanna or, in Tai, Sip Song Pan Na (twelve thousand rice fields). It existed for hundreds of years and was only finally destroyed by large armies of Chinese soldiers in 1604.
Siu-ka-pha began his march westward with his people in 1215. It was a long journey:
Tai peoples had been migrating southwards from southern China in large numbers from at least as early as the C7th CE and possibly earlier. Some historians believe that Tais had been migrating into Myanmar (where they are called Shans) for two thousand years and point to the 78 CE revolts in China as cause for large-scale migrations (see e.g. Sai Aung Tun, 2000).
However, it was not until later that the Tais were able to establish their own states. One of the first of these was Yonok, in the Chiang Saen region where the north of Thailand borders the Mekong river and the territory beyond the river. There the Tai prince defeated the local Khom people (probably a mixture of indigenous Lawa and Mon peoples) and established his own principality (Wyatt, 1984, pp.30-1).
The pattern of migration was for a state to be established and people to settle there, occupying the river valley locations suitable for wet-rice farming and displacing any indigenous peoples to less-favourable upland locations. When population increased to place strain on the amount of cultivable land available or, else, when an adventurous noble felt he could establish his own state, then a group of families would be given royal permission to push further onwards until a suitable new location was reached, mostly ignoring any unsuitable intervening locations which might be left to whoever happened to be occupying them. By the time of the large-scale Tai migrations, "... there was no region of [mainland] Southeast Asia which was essentially empty land open to the establishment of new settlements. There was a continual migration and contact in war and peace among the various groups" (Dhida Saraya, 2000, p.8).
As a result of this pattern of migration, Tai moved further away from their previous homelands in the southern regions of the lands claimed by Nanchao (by then under the name of the Kingdom of Hou Li). Further, each new state would have a definite founder around whom tales of heroism and virtue would naturally be attached. Such was the case with Prince Siu-Ka-Pha of the Tai Mao state. Tai Mao was a principality that occupied the area around what is now known as Xishuangbanna or, in Tai, Sip Song Pan Na (twelve thousand rice fields). It existed for hundreds of years and was only finally destroyed by large armies of Chinese soldiers in 1604.
Siu-ka-pha began his march westward with his people in 1215. It was a long journey:
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