Salone
Moken children near Surin Island, Thailand.
|
|
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| (2,000 to 3,000) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Southern Thailand, Southern Burma | |
| Languages | |
| Moken, Thai, Burmese, others | |
| Religion | |
| Traditional religion, Buddhism | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Malay, Orang laut |
The Moken (also Mawken or Morgan; Burmese: ဆလုံလူမျိုး; Thai: ชาวเล, chao le, sea people) are an Austronesian people of the Mergui Archipelago, a group of approximately 800 islands claimed by both Burma and Thailand. Most of the 2,000 to 3,000 Moken live a semi-nomadic hunter-gatherer lifestyle heavily based on the sea, though this is increasingly under threat.
The Moken identify in a common culture, and speak the Moken language, a distinct Austronesian language. Attempts by both Burma and Thailand to assimilate the Moken into the wider regional culture have met with very limited success. However, the Moken face an uncertain future as their population decreases and their nomadic lifestyle and unsettled legal status leaves them marginalized by modern property and immigration laws, maritime conservation and development programs, and tightening border policies.
The people refer to themselves as Moken. The name is used for all of the Austronesian speaking tribes who inhabit the coast and islands in the Andaman Sea on the west coast of Thailand, the provinces of Satun, Trang, Krabi, Phuket, Phang Nga, and Ranong, up through the Mergui Archipelago of Burma (Myanmar). The group includes the Moken proper, the Moklen (Moklem), the Orang Sireh (Betel-leaf People), and the Orang Lanta. The last, the Orang Lanta, are a hybridized group formed when the Malay people settled the Lanta islands where the proto-Malay Orang Sireh had been living.
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