Mon History
Pre-Colonial
the Mon were one of the earliest distinct groups to occupy Burma, moving into the area possibly as early as 1500 BCE. The Mon history has their first kingdom, Suwarnabhumi, founded around the port of Thaton in 300 BCE. They were converted to Theravada Buddhism in the 200s BCE. Ashoka is known to have sent an envoy of monks for this purpose, however tradition states that the Mon had previous contact with the religion through seafaring.The Mon prospered in southern Burma until around 1000 when they came under pressure from new ethnic groups arriving from the north. Successive waves of Burman and Thai groups slowly eroded the Mon kingdoms until the final collapse. The last Mon kingdom was Hongsavatoi - they reconquered much of their lost territory until the energetic Burman leader U Aungzeya forced them back and captured the kingdom by 1757. The Mon religious leaders were forced to flee to Siam and the Mon were harshly repressed.
Colonial
Burma, including the Mon territories, was conquered by the British by 1824 after the Second Anglo-Burmese War. The Mon aided the British in the overthrow of the Burman monarchy.
Post-Colonial
The Mon soon became anti-colonialists and following the grant of independence to Burma in 1948 they sought self-determination, U Nu refused them this and they rose in revolt to be crushed again. They have remained a repressed and defiant group in the country since then. They have risen in revolt against the central Burmese government on a number of occasions, initially under the Mon People's Front and from 1962 through the New Mon State Party. A partially autonomous Mon state, Monland, was created in 1974 covering Tenasserim, Pegu and Irrawaddy. Resistance continued until 1995 when NMSP and SLORC agreed a cease-fire and in 1996 the Mon Unity League was founded. SLORC troops continued to operate in defiance of the agreement.
In 1947 Mon National Day was created to celebrate the ancient founding of . (It follows the full moon on the 11th month of the Mon lunar calendar, except in Phrapadaeng, Thailand, where it is celebrated at Songkran.)
IQ Encyclopædia Article
Dvaravati
ancient kingdom of Southeast Asia that flourished from the 6th to the 13th century. It was the first Mon kingdom established in what is now Thailand and played an important role as a propagator of Indian culture. Situated in the lower Chao Phraya River valley, Dvaravati extended westward to the Tenasserim Yoma (mountains) and southward to the Isthmus of Kra. The Mon, who are believed to have originated in western China, entered the area in the 1st millennium BC, penetrating westward from the upper Mekong River. Dvaravati emerged as an independent entity late in the 6th century AD, maintaining its independence until late in the 11th century. Rarely politically dominant and continually under the shadow of stronger neighbours, Dvaravati was prevented by geographic barriers from establishing close political ties with other Mon states to the west in southern Myanmar (Burma) and with the Mon state in northern Thailand. Dvaravati experienced political domination by neighbouring peoples on three separate occasions: in the 10th century, when the Burmese conquered the Mon state of Thaton west of the Tenasserim Yoma; from the 11th to the 13th century, when the Khmer empire (Cambodia) arose in the east; and finally, in the late 13th century, when Dvaravati was absorbed by the Thai empire. Subjugation did not, however, mean extinction. The Dvaravati Mon retained their customs and a relative degree of racial homogeneity under their own rulers.
Dvaravati was historically important as a transmitter of Indian culture. Having had early commercial and cultural contact with India, the Mon assumed the role of disseminators of the main features of Indian culture. They were the most receptive of Southeast Asian peoples to Indian art and literature. Indian influence was apparent in matters of sculpture, writing, law, and governmental forms.
Despite political domination, Dvaravati exerted another important force in relation to its conquerors. Whereas contacts with India had contributed to the development and character of Mon civilization, the Dvaravati Mon in their turn became the teachers of their conquerors, the Khmer, the Burmese, and the Thai. All three conquerors were influenced by Dvaravati in writing systems, art forms, government, religious terminology, and scholarship.
Encyclopædia Britannica Article
Mon Kingdom
It also called Hanthawaddy Kingdom, kingdom of the Mon people, who were powerful in Myanmar (Burma) from the 9th to the 11th and from the 13th to the 16th century and for a brief period in the mid-18th century. The Mon migrated southward from western China and settled in the Chao Phraya River basin (of southern Thailand) about the 6th century AD. Their early kingdoms, Dvaravati and Haripunjaya (qq.v.), had ties with the ancient Cambodian kingdom of Funan and with China and were also strongly influenced by Khmer civilization.After the Mon moved westward into the Irrawaddy River delta of southern Myanmar in the ensuing centuries, they acquired Theravada Buddhism, their state religion, from Ceylon and South India, and they adopted the Indian Pali script. By 825 they had firmly established themselves in southern and southeastern Myanmar and founded the cities of Pegu and Thaton.
About the same period, southward-migrating Burmans took over lands in central Myanmar and established the kingdom of Pagan. In 1057 Pagan defeated the Mon kingdom, capturing the Mon capital of Thaton and carrying off 30,000 Mon captives to Pagan. This event was to prove culturally decisive for the Burmans because the Mon captives included many Theravada Buddhist monks, who converted the Burmans to Theravada Buddhism; Pali replaced Sanskrit as the language of the sacred literature, and the Burmans adopted the Mon alphabet.
After the fall of Pagan (1287) to the invading Mongols, the Mon, under Wareru, regained their independence and captured Martaban and Pegu, thus virtually controlling their previously held territory. The next 200 years witnessed incessant warfare between the Mon and the Burmans, but the Mon managed to retain their independence until 1539, when they came under the domination of Toungoo Myanmar. In the mid-18th century the Mon rose in rebellion and reestablished their kingdom of Pegu, but it lasted only some 10 years. The Burmans triumphed permanently over the Mon when their leader Alaungpaya razed Pegu in 1757. Many of the Mon were killed, while others fled to Siam (now Thailand). The Mon are still centred in southeastern Myanmar, though their numbers are small compared to those of the ethnic Burmans.
Encyclopædia Britannica Article
Haripunjaya
an ancient Mon kingdom centred in the Mae Nam (river) Ping Valley in northwestern Thailand. It was founded in the mid-7th century by a queen of Lopburi, the capital of the Mon Dvaravati kingdom to the south. Although originally established as a colony of Dvaravati, Haripunjaya maintained its independence and its own ruling dynasties as a member of a loose confederation including the Mon states of Dvaravati and Thaton.
Haripunjaya flourished and developed an advanced civilization. Espousing the conservative Theravada Buddhism, the kingdom acted as a transmitter of Indian cultural influences. The development of irrigation systems, law, and art forms were among its accomplishments.Haripunjaya was barely able to maintain its independence against attacks by the Thai in the 9th century and the Khmer (Cambodians) in the 10th century. It also conducted continual warfare against Dvaravati, which was conquered by the Khmer in the early 11th century.
After centuries of independence, the advanced civilization of Haripunjaya was absorbed by the Thai when the Thai ruler Mangrai conquered Haripunjaya in 1292, establishing the city of Chiengmai a few miles from Lamphun, the old capital of Haripunjaya. The Mon became the teachers of the Thai and influenced the development of Thai writing, scholarship, and art forms.
Encyclopædia Britannica Article

Burman ethnic dominated central government also adopted “assimilation policy” or “Burmanization policy” with a main strategic plan to assimilate all other ethnic people to become Burman.
In the implementation of this policy, the military regime have restricted the use of ethnic language in schools, in the public places and banned not to use as official language.
UN Envoy returns from Myanmar - Professor Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, the United Nations’ Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights Situation in Myanmar, retuned from his latest visit to the country on the 10th of November, 2003. He spoke with Karishma Vyas from the UN Information Services about the outcomes of his visit.


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