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THE KAREN IN NORTHERN THAILAND
Karen believe they came from a place they denote a "Thibi Kawbi". Some feel that this is their representation of the lands of Tibet and southern Gobi desert. However during the 18th century the Karen began to move southward, across the Salveen River from Burma to the Thai Payap (old northern kingdom of Siam).
The Karen, like our American Indians, do not recognize the political borders of the regions in which they live. Thus you will find both tribal sects transversing across the borders into Burma and Tibet for family and economical purposes. This leaves no little problem to the operation of border patrols in the countries involved. Many times in their history they been caught between warring factions in their traditional habitats and been forced to feed and clothe rebel forces and regular troops alike or suffer death.
Currently there have been no large migrations of Karen into Thailand. However there are the occasional nomadic movements of whole Burmese Karen villages over the border when the harsh military government of Burma presses and unrest with which it burdens these people.
It was the people called the Yuan of the Thai Payap that helped the Karen move into Thailand and near another Thai tribal group called the Thai Lawa (Lua). Today many Karen villages are near the hospitable Lawa settlements and there has been a natural exchange of cultural ethics and crafts. Like most of Thailand, dissimilar peoples live peacefully near each other.
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