Brao people ( km, ព្រៅ, ) are an ethnic group that live on both sides of the Cambodia-Laos border. There are approximately 60,000 Brao people, broadly defined, worldwide. They mainly live in Attapeu and Champasak Provinces in southern Laos, and Ratanakiri and Stung Treng Provinces in northeastern Cambodia. In Cambodia, the Brao include people from the following sub-groups: Amba, Kreung, Kavet, Brao Tanap, and Lun. In southern Laos, they belong to the Jree, Kavet, Lun, Hamong and Ka-ying sub-groups Baird, Ian G. 2008. “Various forms of colonialism: The social and spatial reorganisation of the Brao in southern Laos and northeastern Cambodia”. PhD Dissertation, Department of Geography, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C., Canada. * Brao people speak various dialects of the

Brao language Brao is a Mon–Khmer language of Cambodia and Laos. Phonology Varieties According to Ethnologue, there are four distinct but mutually intelligible varieties, sometimes considered separate languages: Lave (Brao proper), Kru’ng (Kreung), a ...

, a Western Bahnaric Mon–Khmer language of Cambodia and Laos. Keller, Charles; Jordi, Jacqueline; Gregerson, Kenneth; and Ian G. Baird. July 2008. Brao dialects: lexical and phonological variations. Revue de l‘Institut de la Langue Nationale de l‘Académie Royale du Cambodge. Phnom Penh: Institute of National Language. Special Issue. pp. 87-152. * Sometimes the Brao people are confused with the Bru, or the Brou, a Katuic Mon-Khmer language speaking group found in Khammouane and Savannakhet Provinces in southern Laos, and adjacent areas of Viet Nam. Some Bru people also live in northeastern Thailand. The main religion of Brao is

Animism Animism (from Latin: ' meaning ' breath, spirit, life') is the belief that objects, places, and creatures all possess a distinct spiritual essence. Potentially, animism perceives all things— animals, plants, rocks, rivers, weather syst ...

, although “a small minority of the Brao in northeast Cambodia have recently converted to forms of evangelical Christianity.” Brao variety of Animism focuses on appeasing “a wide array of malevolent spirits who manifest in various contexts and ways.” Most rituals “require the consumption of a particular form of fermented rice-beer” as well as “sacrificing chickens, pigs, and water buffaloes and, less frequently, cows.” The last fortune teller-UNESCO

Some people confuse the Brao and the Brou/Bru because an anthropologist, Jacqueline Matras, who wrote about a Brao Tanap village in Ratanakiri Province, but spelt their name "Brou". Matras-Troubetzkoy, J. 1983. Un Village en Forel. L'essartage chez les Brou du Cambodge.SELAF, Paris, 429 pp. However, linguists agree that the proper name is Brao.