Nyah Kur people
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 2000-6000 | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 Thailand
|
|
| Languages | |
| Nyah Kur, Thai, Isan | |
| Religion | |
| Predominately Theravada Buddhism, traditional Animism, Christian | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Mon, Khmer, Kuy and other Austroasiatic people of Southeast Asia. |
The Nyah Kur (known in Thai as , Chao Bon) are an ethnic group native to Thailand in Southeast Asia. Closely related to the Mon people, the Nyah Kur are the descendants of the Mon of Dvaravati who did not flee westward or assimilate when their empire fell under the influence of the Khmer when Suryavarman I gained the throne in the early 11th century.
The Mon were believed to be one of the earliest people of continental Southeast Asia where they founded some of the earliest recorded civilizations in the region including the Dvaravati in Central Thailand, Sri Gotapura in Central Laos, Hariphunchai in Northern Thailand and the Thaton Kingdom. Dvaravati was among the first to receive Theravada missionaries from Sri Lanka in contrast to Hindu contemporaries, the Khmers and Chams. The Mon adapted the Pallava script to their language and the oldest Mon script was found in a cave in modern Saraburi dating around 550 AD. At the turn of the first millennium, the Mon came under constant pressure due to the Tai migrations from the north and Khmer invasions from the east. When Suryavarman I, the Khmer heir to the throne of the Lavo Kingdom, also became ruler of the Khmer Empire, the vast majority of the Mon of Dvaravati fled west to other Mon lands, were taken as slaves or assimilated to the new culture.
However a small remnant remained in the remote jungles of the Khorat Plateau. Little is known of their history. When they were discovered by western scholars in the early 20th century, it was variously assumed that they were part of the Lawa or Kuy ethnic groups. It was not until 1970 that their language was determined to be directly descended from Old Mon, and in fact, more similar to Old Mon than the modern Mon of their brethren in present-day Burma and Western Thailand. Although Nyah Kur and modern Mon are not mutually intelligible and the endonym Mon is unknown to the Nyah Kur, having remained isolated in the mountains between Central and Northeastern Thailand allowed the Nyah Kur to maintain their own ethnic identity which developed independently from the Mon during the last thousand years yet in some respects shows remarkable similarity to modern Mon culture.
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Wikipedia