Mueang

Mueang (Thai: เมือง mɯ̄ang, pronounced [mɯaŋ˧]), Muang (Lao: ເມືອງ mɯ́ang, pronounced [mɯaŋ˦]), Mường (Vietnamese pronunciation: [/mɨəŋ ˨˩/]) or Mong (Shan: မိူင်း mə́ŋ, pronounced [məŋ˦]) were pre-modern semi-independent city-states or principalities in Indochina, adjacent regions of Northeast India and Southern China, including what is now Thailand, Laos, Burma, Cambodia, parts of northern Vietnam, southern Yunnan, western Guangxi and Assam.

Mueang was originally a Thai term for a town having a defensive wall and a ruler with at least the Thai noble rank of khun (ขุน), together with its dependent villages. The Mandala model of political organisation organised states in collective hierarchy such that smaller mueang were subordinate to more powerful neighboring ones, which in turn were subordinate to a central king or other leader. The more powerful mueang (generally designated as chiang, , or — with Bangkok as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon) occasionally tried to liberate themselves from their suzerain and could enjoy periods of relative independence. Mueang large and small often shifted allegiance, and frequently paid tribute to more than one powerful neighbor — the most powerful of the period being the Ming of Imperial China.

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