Mon

Mon, also spelled Mun, Burmese Talaing, people living in the eastern delta region of Myanmar (Burma) and in west-central Thailand, numbering in the early 21st century somewhere between one and five million, though less than a third speak the Mon language. The Mon have lived in their present area for more than 1,200 years, and they are one of the earliest indigenous peoples of the region. It was they who gave Myanmar its writing (Pali) and its religion (Theravada Buddhism). The Mon are believed to have spread from China over the river lowlands from the Irrawaddy River delta south to the Chao Phraya River basin in Thailand. The Mon city of Thaton was conquered by Burmans migrating southward in 1057. The Mon kingdom endured, however, until it was finally subjugated by the Burmans in 1757. Some Mon speak Burmese as well as their own language, which is of Austroasiatic stock.

The Mon homeland occupies a coastal strip of land bordering the Gulf of Martaban and includes the Bilugyun and Kalegauk islands. The physiography of the area consists of lowlands terminated by the Taungnyo Range in the east. The Sittang River is the region’s northwestern boundary, and the rivers Gyaing, Ataran, Salween, and Ye drain the area westward to the Gulf of Martaban. Rice and teak are the most important agricultural products; mangoes and durians are cultivated as well. Tea, sugar, tobacco, rubber, salt, and bamboo products are exported from Mawlamyine (formerly Moulmein). Other cities and towns in the region include Thaton, Ye, and Martaban. Thaton, the former capital of the Mon kingdom, was once a significant port but has lost its position because of silting.

A Mon village typically consists of rectangular houses with thatch roofs, granaries, and cattle sheds. Most villages have a monastery that also functions as a school, as well as pagodas, an image house where images of the Buddha are kept, and a rest house or meeting house. The family unit is nuclear rather than extended. The Mon religion of Theravada Buddhism is combined with belief in various ghosts or spirits.