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Written by Administrator
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Tuesday, 26 February 2008 04:37 |
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The Mon are an ethnic group in Southeast Asia. They live in Mon State, historic lower Burma and the area around the southern Burmese-Thailand border. There are believed to be around 8 million people who claim Mon ancestry and retain their culture and language, but the majority of the Mon (possibly 4 million) use the modern Burmese language for daily business and are literate only in Burmese (not in their native language). As with many other ethnic minorities in Burma, they have been fighting against the Burmese Government for an independent state. The largest Mon refugee communities are currently in Thailand, with smaller communities in US, Australia, Canada, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands and other countries around the world. The majority of Mon live around the city of Bago or the site of their historic capital, Thaton and the port of Mawlamyaing. They also constitute a significant percentage of the population further south along the lowland coast to the city of Ye, Burma.
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