Ahom people in the context of "Tai peoples"

Tai peoples are the populations who speak (or formerly spoke) the Tai languages. There are a total of about 93 million people of Tai ancestry worldwide, with the largest ethnic groups being Dai, Thai, Isan, Lao, Shan, Ahom, Zhuang, Tày, Nùng, Táy, and some Northern Thai peoples.

The Tai are scattered through much of South China and Mainland Southeast Asia, with some (e.g. Tai Ahom, Tai Khamti, Tai Phake, Tai Aiton) inhabiting parts of Northeast India. Tai peoples are both culturally and genetically very similar and therefore primarily identified through their language.

The Kingdom of Asam now known as Ahom kingdom (/ˈɑːhɔːm/; 1228–1826) was a late medieval kingdom in the Brahmaputra Valley (present-day Assam) that retained its independence for nearly 600 years despite encountering Mughal expansion in Northeast India. Established by Sukaphaa, a Tai prince from Möng Mao (present-day Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture, China), it began as a möng in the upper reaches of the Brahmaputra based on wet rice agriculture. It expanded suddenly under Suhungmung in the 16th century and became multi-ethnic in character, casting a profound effect on the political and social life of the entire Brahmaputra valley. The kingdom became weaker with the rise of the Moamoria rebellion, and subsequently fell to repeated Burmese invasions of Assam. With the defeat of the Burmese after the First Anglo-Burmese War and the Treaty of Yandabo in 1826, control of the kingdom passed into East India Company hands.

Though it came to be called the Ahom kingdom in the colonial and subsequent times, it was largely multi-ethnic, with the ethnic Tai-Ahom people constituting less than 10% of the population toward the end.People from different ethnic groups became a part of the Ahom population due to the process known as Ahomisation. The identity of the Ahom people in this kingdom was fluid, with the king controlling who belonged to it and who did not. The Ahoms initially called their kingdom Mong Dun Shun Kham till 1401 (Assamese: xunor-xophura; English: casket of gold), but adopted Assam in later times. The British-controlled province after 1838 and later the Indian state of Assam came to be known by this name. The kingdom maintained close political ties with other Tai-states especially with Mong Kwang (Nara) till the end of its rule in the 19th century.

The Shan people (Shan: တႆး, pronounced [taj˥], or Burmese: ရှမ်းလူမျိုး, pronounced [ʃáɰ̃ lùmjó]), also known as the Tai Long (တႆးလူင်, [taj˥.loŋ˨˦]) or Tai Yai, are a Tai ethnic group of Southeast Asia. The Shan are the biggest minority of Burma (Myanmar) and primarily live in the Shan State, but also inhabit parts of Mandalay Region, Kachin State, Kayah State, Sagaing Region and Kayin State, and in adjacent regions of China (Dai people), Laos, Assam and Meghalaya (Ahom people), Cambodia (Kula people), Vietnam and Thailand. Though no reliable census has been taken in Burma since 1935, the Shan are estimated to number 4–6 million, with CIA Factbook giving an estimate of five million spread throughout Myanmar which is about 10% of the overall Burmese population.

'Shan' is a generic term for all Tai-speaking peoples within Myanmar (Burma). The capital of Shan State is Taunggyi, the fifth-largest city in Myanmar with about 390,000 people. Other major cities include Thibaw (Hsipaw), Lashio, Kengtung and Tachileik.