The Mro-Khimi people ( my, မြို(ခမိ) or မြိုလူမျိုး ), also known as Mro, Awa Khami Mro, Wakim, Mro Chin or Awa Khami, are one of the 135 ethnic groups recognized by the government 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 ...
. They are identified as a sub-group of
Chin people. They live widely in some parts of northern
Rakhine state
Rakhine State (; , , ; formerly known as Arakan State) is a Administrative divisions of Myanmar, state in Myanmar (Burma). Situated on the western coast, it is bordered by Chin State to the north, Magway Region, Bago Region and Ayeyarwady R ...
,
Chin state
Chin State (, ) is a state in western Myanmar. The Chin State is bordered by Sagaing Division and Magway Division to the east, Rakhine State to the south, Bangladesh to the south-west, and the Indian states of Mizoram to the west and Manipur t ...
, the townships of
Matupi and
Paletwa
Paletwa (, ) is one of the westernmost towns of Myanmar, in Chin State 18 kilometres from the border with Bangladesh. Its population in 2014 was about 97,000.
Demographics
Rakhine is the Lingua Franca of the region, while Kuki-Chin languages a ...
, and the regions of Samechaung and Michaung. They are
Tibeto-Burman
The Tibeto-Burman languages are the non- Sinitic members of the Sino-Tibetan language family, over 400 of which are spoken throughout the Southeast Asian Massif ("Zomia") as well as parts of East Asia and South Asia. Around 60 million people spea ...
and have their own language, culture and customs which are still in existence. For Chin specifically, the Mro People are one of 53 sub-groups identified by the government of Myanmar.
According to the Rakhine Chronicles, the Mro people were the first people who enter Rakhine land. They call themselves as Khami. It means 'human'. Mro people has their own language, culture. There are more than 100 clans.
The Mro people once ruled as emperors in Rakhine State and established two "Mro" dynasties. The dynasty lasted for about 25 years, from 131 AD to 156 AD.
Origin
The Mro people were descended from the area known as Twipin (Tibet). From there, they moved slowly to the south. After that, they lived in Rokon for about thirty years. From there, they arrived at Cha Phawi Mountain and lived there for about 300 years, then moved to Khang Lyhn Mawi in Paletwa and descended to Rakhine State.
[Preliminary Study of the Introduction of Indigenous Peoples in the Kaladan River Thesis. Rosan (Researcher)]
Language
The Mro people speak Mro-Khimi, which belongs to the
Kuki-Chin branch of the
Sino-Tibetan language family
Sino-Tibetan, also cited as Trans-Himalayan in a few sources, is a family of more than 400 languages, second only to Indo-European in number of native speakers. The vast majority of these are the 1.3 billion native speakers of Chinese languages. ...
.
References
*Hornéy, Christina Scotte. 2012. ''A phonological analysis of Mro Khimi''. MA thesis, University of North Dakota.
External links
List of ethnic groups in MyanmarEssay on the Chin peoples
Ethnic groups in Myanmar
{{Myanmar-stub