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Hill tribe is a term used in Thailand for all of the various tribal peoples who migrated from China and Tibet over the past few centuries. They now inhabit the remote border areas between Northern Thailand, Laos and Burma (Myanmar). These areas are known for their thick forests and mountainous terrain. The six major hill tribes within Thailand are the Akha, Lahu, Karen, Hmong, Mien and Lisu, each with a distinct language and culture.
The hill tribes are subsistence farmers who use slash and burn agricultural techniques to farm their heavily forested communities. Tighter conservation of Thailand's virtually depleted forests, however, has forced hill tribe people to abandon their traditional agricultural methods. Traditionally, hill tribes were also a migratory people, leaving land as it became depleted of natural resources.
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The Akha
The Akha are closely related to the Hani of China's Yunnan province, They are also known derogatorily in Thai as the Gaw or the E-gaw, the Akha are one of the dominant cultural influences in the area. There are two to three million Akha and Akha-Hani in total, 70,000 of whom live in Thailand. The Akha speak a language in the Lolo/Yi branch of the Tibeto-Burman language group, but have no traditional written language.
Although many Akha, especially younger people, profess Christianity, Akha Zang (The Akha Way) still runs deep in their consciousness. The Akha Way, a prescribed lifestyle derived from religious chants, combines animism, ancestor worship, and a deep relationship with the land. The Akha Way emphasizes rituals in everyday life and stresses strong family ties; every Akha male can recount his genealogy back over fifty generations to the first Akha, Sm Mi O.
The Lahu
The Karen
The Pwakin-nyaw, known to many as Karen, and to others as Kariang, are one of the largest hill tribes in Southeast Asia. They have a total population of about three million, spread throughout Burma, Laos and Thailand. The approximately 320,000 Karen in Thailand comprise half of the country's total hill tribe population.
While the Karen still practice slash and burn farming as other hill tribes do, they differ in that they live in permanent villages at lower elevations and have been aggressive in developing environmentally sustainable terraced rice fields. These factors have allowed the Karen to better integrate themselves into Thai society.
The Hmong
The Hmong are believed to have been the original inhabitants of the Yellow River valley in ancient China. The expansion of the neighboring Chinese from the north, caused a disruption in the Hmong culture and forced them to migrate southwards to escape oppression and persecution. Over the centuries, many wars have been waged against the Chinese in which the Hmong would suffer heavy casualties from, being that they were outnumbered.
The futile efforts to establish themselves as an independent people apart from the expanding Chinese led to their mass exodus further south of China, and eventually into Southeast Asia. From here, they made their way into the territories of the European colonies that later gained independence and became known as Laos, Vietnam, and Myanmar. While the Hmong came to inhabit the hillside of Thailand, the country had always maintain its sovereignty from the colonists.
Today, the Hmong are located in the uppermost region of Thailand, although some are found elsewhere within the country. Among the hilltribes, the Hmong are becoming well integrated into Thai society as well as being among the most successful. The current population of Hmong in Thailand is estimated to be roughly 151,080.
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