| Chiang Mai's rich history goes back hundreds of
years. Because of its prime location and fertile land, the valley that extends from the base of Suthep Mountain to the
Ping River was settled in early times by several different ethnic groups, including the hilltribe group known as the Lua
tribe. Later, King Mengrai unified the different towns and villages into what came to be known as the Lanna Thai Kingdom.
In 1296, he fortified the fertile valley area with a rectangular shaped brick wall measuring 1.6 kilometers (1 mile) wide,
and 2.0 kilometers (1.25 miles) long. Parts of the wall are still intact today, and the area within it is often called the
"old city". King Mengrai went on to expand his kingdom to both sides of the Ping River and beyond, naming it "Nop Buri Sri
Nakorn Ping Chiang Mai". This city became the center of the Lanna Thai Kingdom that later expanded and covered much of
Northern Thailand. After that there was sporadic warfare for several generations, and Chiang Mai fell several times to
both the Burmese and to a powerful kingdom to the south that was centered around the Choa Phaya Basin.
In the end, Chiang
Mai was taken by Krung Thon Buri, the capital of Thailand during that time, and under the fifth Rama, became a part of
Thailand. Since the time of the Lanna Thai Kingdom, Chiang Mai has been a city for a total of 701 years. |
| With a population of 1,547,085 Chiang Mai is one of
Thailand's largest provinces. Of the above number, 170,348 are currently living in Chiang Mai's city area with the rest
distributed throughout Chiang Mai's 21 districts, 2 sub-districts. 80% of the people in Chiang Mai are locals by birth,
and speak a dialect that is a slight variation of the central Thai language. The remaining 20% is made up of Thai
nationals and foreigners who have moved to Chiang Mai to work, study, or retire.
 There are many hilltribe people living in the mountainous
districts surrounding Chiang Mai such as Omkoi, Mae Jam,
Chiang Dao, and Mae Ai. Statistics reported by the Tribal Research Institute of Chiang Mai stated that in the year 1992
there were 1,049 hilltribe villages in the Chiang Mai province, constituting a total of 174,195 people. Of this amount,
106,116 were from the Karen tribe, 27,392 from the Lahu (Musur) tribe, 17,198 from the Hmong (Meo) tribe, 10,873 form the
Lisu tribe, 8,862 from the Lua tribe, 2,609 from the Akha tribe, 1,145 from the Mien (yao) tribe, and 485 from the Palong
tribe. The hilltribe people are agricultural; planting fields, raising animals, and hunting for a living. Since each tribe
has its own culture and language, they blanket the hills of Chiang Mai with an interesting patchwork quilt of diverse
variety.
The majority (80%) of the Chiang Mai people earn a living through agriculture and agricultural
related professions. The second largest vocation is tourism and its directly and indirectly related jobs. General commerce
and industry--mainly in the form of handicrafts, and of processing agricultural products--are the two other major
professions in which the Chiang Mai people are involved. |
