 Khmu children inLaos | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 643,000 (excluding disputedKhao andBit peoples) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Laos,Vietnam,Thailand,Burma andChina | |
| Languages | |
| Khmuic languages | |
| Religion | |
| Theravada BuddhismAnimism,Shamanism,Native Ancestral Worship | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Palaungic peoples,Mon–Khmer peoples andMunda peoples |
Khmuic peoples refers to a group ofethnic groups ofSoutheast Asia.
The Khmuic peoples are aboriginal to Laos and surrounding areas. Most Khmuic peoples live in northernLaos and neighboring areas inVietnam, although they can also be found inThailand,Burma andChina.
The individual Khmuic ethnic groups are as follows:
Other two groups:Khmu Chuang andKhmu Kaye are extinct or were assimilated in other ethnic groups especially Khmu Chuang was believed to be extinct, absorbed or assimilated by or into Khmer. In the ancient time, the Khmu Chuang lived in the southern part of Khmuic territory which is the area of the present day southern Laos). The Khmu Kaye lived in the eastern part of Khmuic territory which is the area of the present day Xiengkhuang province. Be in mind that some scholars confuse Khmu Cheuang [cɯaŋ] and Khmu Chuang [cuaŋ]. These two groups are not the same, Khmu Cheuang are still exist in the present day and mostly live in northwestern of Vietnam.
The following are individual ethnic groups which some scholars misunderstand that they are Khmu and speak Khmuic. In fact they are much different from Khmu, in both language and culture. There are only a few words (less than 10%) of their vocabularies that resemble Khmuic.
There are also theKhao andBit peoples which were once thought to be Khmuic, although recent linguistic studies suggest they are probablyPalaungic.
The Khmuic peoples are believed to have migrated by land from China to Laos, where they have resided for at least 4,000 years. Some 10,000 years ago, they were probably part of a largely homogeneous ethnicity, now referred to as theAustro-Asiatic peoples, with a homeland somewhere within the borders of the modern-dayPeople's Republic of China. The prevalence ofY-DNA Haplogroup O among Austro-Asiatic peoples suggests a common ancestry with theSino-Tibetan,Austronesian, andHmong–Mien peoples some 35,000 years ago in China. Haplogroup O is asubclade ofY-DNA Haplogroup K, which is believed to have originated approximately 40,000 years ago somewhere between Iran and Central China. In addition to the ethnicities previously mentioned, the progenitor of Haplogroup K was the patrilineal ancestor of nearly all modernMelanesians andNative Americans. Haplogroup K, in turn, is a subclade ofY-DNA Haplogroup F, which is believed to have originated in Northern Africa some 45,000 years ago. In addition to the ethnicities previously mentioned, the progenitor of Haplogroup F was probably the ancestor of allIndo-Europeans.
Their languages belong to theKhmuic language family, which is a branch of theAustro-Asiatic language family. Most scholars agree that the Khmuic languages are part of theMon–Khmer branch of the Austro-Asiatic family, but the validity of the Mon–Khmer branch has recently been called into question.[1]
The Khmuic are generally an agricultural people, although gathering, hunting, trapping and fishing are also parts of the Khmuic lifestyle.[2]
| Austroasiatic (Vietic) | |
|---|---|
| Austroasiatic (non-Vietic) | |
| Hmong–Dao | |
| Tai–Kadai | |
| Sino-Tibetan (Chinese) | |
| Sino-Tibetan (Tibeto-Burman) | |
| Malayo-Polynesian | |
| Immigrants and expatriate | |
The 54 officially recognised ethnic groups are ranked by population in their language families according to2019 census
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