Mon kingdoms were polities established by the Mon-speaking people in parts of present-day Laos, Myanmar and Thailand. The polities ranged from Dvaravati and Haripuñjaya in present-day northern Thailand to Thaton, Hanthawaddy (1287–1539), and the Restored Hanthawaddy (1740–1757) in southern Myanmar.
Central Thailand (Central Plain) (historically also known as Siam or Dvaravati) is one of the regions of Thailand, covering the broad alluvial plain of the Chao Phraya River. It is separated from northeast Thailand (Isan) by the Phetchabun mountain range. The Tenasserim Hills separate it from Myanmar to the west. In the north it is bounded by the Phi Pan Nam Range, one of the hilly systems of northern Thailand. The area was the heartland of the Ayutthaya Kingdom (at times referred to as Siam) and is still the dominant area of Thailand since it contains the world's most primate city, Bangkok.
Northern Thailand, or more specifically Lan Na, is a region of Thailand. It is geographically characterized by several mountain ranges, which continue from the Shan Hills in bordering Myanmar to Laos, and the river valleys that cut through them. Like most of Thailand, it has a tropical savanna climate, but its relatively high elevation and latitude contribute to more pronounced seasonal temperature variation, with cooler winters than the other regions.
Historically, northern Thailand has been linked to the Hariphunchai Kingdom, which emerged as a powerful state in the region in the 7th century. This kingdom was related to the Dvaravati that existed from the 6th to 11th centuries. The Hariphunchai culture later influenced the development of the Lanna Kingdom, which emerged in the 13th century and lasted until the 18th century.
Ratchaburi' (Thai: ราชบุรี, pronounced [râːt.t͡ɕʰā.bū.rīː]; also rendered as Rajburi or Rat Buri) is a historic town (thesaban mueang) in western Thailand and the capital of Ratchaburi Province. The area shows early settlement associated with Dvaravati culture and later became an important trade centre in the Ayutthaya period.
Ratchaburi town covers the entire tambon Na Mueang (หน้าเมือง) of Mueang Ratchaburi District. As of 2018 it had an estimated population of 36,040, down from 38,149 in 2005.
Buddhism in Cambodia or Khmer Buddhism (Khmer: ព្រះពុទ្ធសាសនានៅកម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: Preăh Pŭtthôsasânéa noŭ Kâmpŭchéa) has existed since at least the 5th century. In its earliest form it was a type of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Today, the predominant form of Buddhism in Cambodia is Theravada Buddhism. It is enshrined in the Cambodian constitution as the official religion of the country. Theravada Buddhism has been the Cambodian state religion since the 13th century (except during the Khmer Rouge period). As of 2019 it was estimated that 97.1 percent of the population are Buddhists.
The history of Buddhism in Cambodia spans a number of successive kingdoms and empires. Buddhism entered Cambodia via two different streams. The earliest forms of Buddhism, along with Hindu influences, entered the Kingdom of Funan with Hindu merchants. In later history, a second stream of Buddhism entered Khmer culture during the Angkor empire when Cambodia absorbed the various Buddhist traditions of the Mon kingdoms of Dvaravati and Haripunchai.
The Monic /ˈmoʊnɪk/ languages are a branch of the Austroasiatic language family descended from the Old Monic language of the kingdom of Dvaravati in what is now central Thailand. The Nyahkur people continue directly from that kingdom, whereas the Mon are descendants of those who migrated to Pegu after the 11th century Khmer conquest of Dvaravati.
The Nyah Kur language, also called Chao-bon (Thai: ชาวบน), is an Austroasiatic language spoken by remnants of the Mon people of Dvaravati, the Nyah Kur people, who live in present-day Thailand. Nyah Kur shares 69% lexical similarity with Mon, the only other language in the Monic language family.
The Nyah Kur (known in Thai as ชาวบน, 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 Lavo Kingdom (Thai: อาณาจักรละโว้) was a political entity (mandala) on the left bank of the Chao Phraya River in the Upper Chao Phraya valley from the end of Dvaravati civilization, in the 7th century, until 1388. The original center of Lavo was Lavapura and was shifted to Ayodhya (Xiān) in the 1080s. However, since both Ayodhya or Xiān and Lavo separately sent embassies to the Chinese court in the late 1200s, these two polities were potentially individual states.
Before the 9th century, Lavo, together with other supra-regional settlements, such as Si Thep, Sema, Phimai, Nakhon Pathom, and others were the centers of the mandala-style polities of Dvaravati. Due to several circumstances, including climate changes and the invasions of the surrounding polities, several Dvaravati centers lost their prosperity, and the mandalas in the Menam Valley was then split into three groups: Lavo (modern Lopburi) to the east, which was more often in touch with the Angkorean and pre-Angkorean worlds, Suphannaphum (modern Suphanburi) to the west, which had more contact with the Mon and Malay worlds and the northern polities, which had more complexity in culture, ethnic, and linguistic than the aforementioned two polities. Meanwhile, the Mun–Chi mandalas allied with Kambudesha in the Tonlé Sap basin.
Suphannabhum or Suvarnabhumi; later known as Suphan Buri (Thai: สุพรรณภูมิ or สุพรรณบุรี) was a Siamese city-state, that emerged in the early "Siam proper" which stretched from present-day west central Thailand to the north of the Kra Isthmus, with key historical sites at Uthong, Nakhon Pathom, Suphan Buri, and Ban Don Ta Phet. The kingdom is referred to as Xiān in the Chinese records since 1349, but according to the archaeological evidence in Suphan Buri, it was speculated to have emerged around the mid-12th century. However, a calculation made by Borihan Thepthani based on the information provided in the Northern Chronicle says that the city of Suphan Buri was founded in 877 and became a free city-state after its suzerain, Nakhon Pathom of Kamalanka, fell to Phetchaburi in 913. Japanese scholar Tatsuo Hoshino has proposed that Suphannabhum was identified in Chinese sources as Shě Bá Ruò (舍跋若), which he further interprets as the western terminus of a trans-Mekong trade confederation in the 9th century. According to this hypothesis, the confederation comprised five polities: Pó Àn (婆岸), identified with Mueang Phon; Zhān Bó, associated with Champasri; Qiān Zhī Fú, identified with Si Thep; Mó Là (摩臘), located in the coastal region of Champa; and Shě Bá Ruò, corresponding to Suphanburi.
Suphannabhum became the center of Xiān, succeeding Phip Phli, no later than 1349, when Xiān was defeated by Luó hú (Lavo) and the tribute sent to China under the name of Xiānluó hú (Siam-Lavo or Ayutthaya Kingdom) was led by Xiān's King of Su-men-bang, in which Su-men-bang has been identified with Suphanburi. Since then, it was one of the states under the mandala confederation of Ayutthaya Kingdom and was completely merged to the Ayutthaya in 1438. However, modern scholars suggest Xiān mentioned in the Chinese and Đại Việt sources since the 11th century potentially was Ayodhya, a polity that later known as the Ayutthaya Kingdom (Xiānluó hú or Xiānluó) in the mid-14th century.