The Ơ Đu (O'du) are an aboriginal ethnic group in

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

and Laos. Their total population is more than 570.

Name variation

The Ơ Đu are also commonly referred to as O'Du, O Du, Iduh, Tay Hat, Hat, and Haat.Ethnologue report for Laos
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Culture

The Ơ Đu subsist mainly on

slash-and-burn agriculture Slash-and-burn agriculture is a farming method that involves the cutting and burning of plants in a forest or woodland to create a field called a swidden. The method begins by cutting down the trees and woody plants in an area. The downed veget ...

and raising cattle, augmented by hunting, gathering, and weaving.

Language

The Ơ Đu have a language also called ''O'du'', which is a Khmuic language. The Khmuic languages are Austro-Asiatic. There is some debate as to whether the Khmuic languages are of the

Mon–Khmer The Austroasiatic languages , , are a large language family in Mainland Southeast Asia and South Asia. These languages are scattered throughout parts of Thailand, Laos, India, Myanmar, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Nepal, and southern China and are th ...

branch, but the majority opinion is that they are not. Most Ơ Đu presently speak Thai.

Geographic distribution

*Population in Laos: 194 in

Xiangkhouang Province Xiangkhouang ( Lao: ຊຽງຂວາງ, meaning 'Horizontal City') is a province of Laos on the Xiangkhoang Plateau, in the nation's northeast. The province has the distinction of being the most heavily bombed place on Earth. The province ...

*Population in Vietnam: 301 in

Tương Dương ''Tương'' (, Chữ Hán: 醬) is the name applied to a variety of condiments, a kind of fermented bean paste made from soybean and commonly used in Vietnamese cuisine. Originally, the term ''tương'' refers to a salty paste made from fermente ...

district of the Nghệ An Province (

North Central Coast Bắc Trung Bộ (literally North Central Region, and often translated as North Central Coast) is one of the regions of Vietnam. It consists of six provinces: Thanh Hóa, Nghệ An, Hà Tĩnh, Quảng Bình, Quảng Trị, Thừa Thiên–Hu ...

region)

References

External links