The Karenni ( my, ကရင်နီ, ), also known as the Kayah ( my, ကယားလူမျိုး) or Kayah Li ( Karenni: ), are a Karen people native to the Kayah State of

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

(Burma). According to a 1983 census, the Karenni consist of the following groups: Kayah,

Geko Geko were a gothic rock duo based in Los Angeles. Formed in 1983, the band's nucleus comprised vocalist/bassist Sarah Folkman and guitarist Carrie McNinch. They released one full-length album, titled '' Join My Pretty World'', in 1992 before d ...

(Kayan Ka Khaung, Gekho, Gaykho), Geba (Kayan Gebar, Gaybar), Padaung (Kayan Lahwi),

Bre British English (BrE, en-GB, or BE) is, according to Lexico, Oxford Dictionaries, "English language, English as used in Great Britain, as distinct from that used elsewhere". More narrowly, it can refer specifically to the English language in ...

, Manu-Manau (Manumanao), Yintale, Yinbaw, Bwe and Pa'O. Several of the groups (Geko, Geba, Padaung, Yinbaw) belong to Kayan, a subgroup of Karenni. The groups Bre and Manu-Manau belong to the Kayaw subgroup.

Karenni States

The Karenni States were a collection of small states inhabited by Karenni people, ruled by petty princes named ''myozas''. These included

Kantarawadi Kantarawadi ( my, ကန္ဒရဝတီ; th, กันตรวดี), also known as Gantarawadi, was one of the Karenni States in what is today Kayah State in Burma. It was also known as "Eastern Karenni" owing to the location of part of it ...

, the only state whose ruler was promoted to a '' saopha'' or sawba,

Kyebogyi Western Karenni was the collective name for the four Karenni States located west of the Salween River: Bawlake, Nammekon, Naungpale, and Kyebogyi. On 21 June 1875, the government of British India and king Mindon of Burma signed a treaty recognizi ...

, Bawlake,

Nammekon Western Karenni was the collective name for the four Karenni States located west of the Salween River: Bawlake, Nammekon, Naungpale, and Kyebogyi. On 21 June 1875, the government of British India and king Mindon of Burma signed a treaty recognizi ...

and

Naungpale Western Karenni was the collective name for the four Karenni States located west of the Salween River: Bawlake, Nammekon, Naungpale, and Kyebogyi. On 21 June 1875, the government of British India and king Mindon of Burma signed a treaty recognizi ...

. They were independent until

British rule in Burma ( Burmese) , conventional_long_name = Colony of Burma , common_name = Burma , era = Colonial era , event_start = First Anglo-Burmese War , year_start = 1824 , date_start = ...

, and had feudal ties to the Burmese kingdom. The states bordered the Shan States of Mong Pai,

Hsatung Hsatung (also known as Hsahtung or Thaton) was a Shan state in what is today Burma. Hsatung was a tributary of Burma until 1887, when the Shan states submitted to British rule after the fall of the Konbaung dynasty. The capital was formerly Laip b ...

and

Mawkmai Mawkmai is a town and capital of Mawkmai Township in Loilem District, Shan State, Burma. Mawkmai is connected by road to Loimut in the west and Langkho in the north-east which connects with the National Road 45. It was the historical capital o ...

to the north, Thailand to the east, the

Papun Papun ( my, ဖာပွန်မြို့; kjp, ဍုံဖာပံင်; ) is a town in Kayin State, Myanmar. It is on the east side of the Yunzalin River. It was formerly one of the headquarters of the Karen National Union and the Kare ...

district of

Lower Burma Lower Myanmar ( my, အောက်မြန်မာပြည်, also called Lower Burma) is a geographic region of Myanmar and includes the low-lying Irrawaddy Delta (Ayeyarwady Region, Ayeyarwady, Bago Region, Bago and Yangon Regions), as we ...

to the south, and a stretch of the Karen Hills inhabited by the

and various other small tribes to the west. During British rule, the Karenni had a garrison of military police, which was stationed at the village of Loikaw. The

British government ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd , image = HM Government logo.svg , image_size = 220px , image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg , image_size2 = 180px , caption = Royal Arms , date_es ...

formally recognised and guaranteed the independence of the Karenni States in an 1875 treaty with Burmese king Mindon Min, by which both parties recognised the area as belonging neither to Burma nor to Great Britain. Consequently, the Karenni States were never fully incorporated into

British Burma British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

. The Karenni States were recognised as tributary to British Burma in 1892 when their rulers agreed to accept a stipend from the British government. In the 1930s, the

Mawchi Mawachi a region in the Bawlake district of the Kayah State (formerly called Karenni State) of Myanmar. In the 1930s, the Mawchi Mine was the most important source of tungsten in the world. Mawchi contained the world's largest granite-hosted tin- ...

Mine in Bawlake was the most important source of tungsten in the world. The Constitution of the Union of Burma in 1947 proclaimed that the three Karenni States be amalgamated into a single constituent state of the union, called Karenni State. It also provided for the possibility of secession from the Union after 10 years. In 1952, the former Shan state of Mong Pai was added, and the whole renamed Kayah State, possibly with the intent of driving a wedge between the Karenni (in Kayah State) and the rest of the Karen people (in

Karen State Kayin State ( my, ကရင်ပြည်နယ်, ; kjp, ဖၠုံခါန်ႋကၞင့်, italics=no; ksw, ကညီကီၢ်စဲၣ်, ), also known by the endonyms Kawthoolei and Karen State, is a state of Myanmar. The ca ...

), both fighting for independence.

Gallery

File:Kayanlahta.jpg, A Kayan Lahta couple in traditional dress File:Kayar.jpg, A Karenni couple

References

External links

"Huay Pu Keng"
Retrieved 12 January 2016. * {{Authority control Ethnic groups in Myanmar Geography of Myanmar Karen people