Pictures of East/Southeast Asia people per country

[NightBazaar]

Originally Posted by Ezio_Auditore

Well I need to explain one thing about this part a little bit more. Becasue the Siamese and the Thai(Dai/Tai) are TOTALLY different people from different time and definitely not related to one another. And the representative ethnic of Thailand(and Laos) are the Dai/Tai ethnic.

The "Thai"(could also be call as Dai or Tai) are the people those whom migrated from S.China during 13th centurty into what is now called Thailand and Laos becasue of invasion of Mongolian empire.

The "Siamanese" were the aboriginal people those were living in what is now Center Area of Thailand at the first place, long before the Thai(Dai/Tai) that came from S. China makes it into Southeast Asia. By the way there are no actually info about whom Siamese were related to, some people may say that they were related to Mon-Khmer people like Vietnamese and Khmer. Becasue Vietnamese,Khmer, other Mon-Khmer ethnics were know of have been living in Southeast Asia for more than 4500 years.

While Dai/Tai/Tai-Kadai ethnics like Lao and Thai are known to be the most recent people whom came from S.China and made it into Southeast Asia in around 13th century.

"Siamanese"? I'm assuming that's a misspelling. Isn't this thread called "Pictures of East/Southeast Asia people per country"? I'd be inclined to say that's most likely referring to present day people, not so much the anthropological origins 1000's of years ago. In any case, it's an interesting subject, but it'd also be very helpful if you'd include some supporting references. Links please!

Are you some sort of SE Asian anthropological expert on the subject of Thailand? While I'm certainly no expert, I don't think there's any doubt that there were certainly "aboriginal" people long ago in the area now known as Thailand. However, I'm not sure what your point is about "Siamese". I think it's fair to say that it refers to the people of Siam, which in turn is referring to the people of the Kingdom of Thailand. While you indicate the Tai migrated from China to Thailand in the 13th century, I'm seeing reference of migration from Yunnan in the 10th century. You're saying the Siamese are different people, different times than the Thai/Dai/Tai. What makes you think that? Unless you're referring to the Mon Dvaravati or other ancient civilizations. I think it may be stretching it though to say they were necessarily known as Siamese. I honestly don't know, and I don't think you do either.

The oldest known mention of the Thai people in the region dates back to an inscription at Angkhor Wat in Cambodia from the 12th century. The word was "Siamese" which is an exonym of "syam", meaning "dark brown" people. The thinking is that it came from the Sanskrit (India) word, "syam", which meant "brown race" which was not meant to be flattering. Chinese writings used the name "sein" for the northern kingdom around Sukhothai. That would date it to around the 12th century. But to the Thai people, it has always been known as "Mueang Thai". In fact, even today, Thais still often refer to the country as "Meuang Thai". My wife calls it that, and she was born in Sukhothai. So do other Thais I know. It's used as an informal, comfortable name.

In terms of the country name, it was called the Siam Empire from 1856-1932. It was called the Siam Kingdom from 1932-1940 and again from 1945-1948. I have no idea what it was called between 1940-1945. That would've been right around the time of the Japanese occupation. Evidently the Portuguese had a hand in calling it Siam in 1455. At a guess, it may have been easier calling Siam than calling it Meuang Thai. The Thais pronounce "Siam" as see-ahm. The word is still in use today. Examples: Siam Commercial Bank and Siam Cement Company. In general, by the end of the 19th century the use of "Siam" seemingly for appeasement, probably for the sake of international trade relations because it was most commonly used by Europeans and Americans at the time.

Granted, a number of indigenous cultures did live in the area now known as Thailand for a very long time. The Mon Dvaravati lived in the Chao Phraya area from the 7th to the 10th century. If you want to go a really long way back, there is evidence of animistic people going back almost from about 1 million to 500,000 years ago. Homo erectus fossils are an example found at Lampang.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siam_(disambiguation)

History of Thailand - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia