Namhsan ( my, နမ့်ဆန်မြို့;
Palaung: Om-yar; ), also spelt Namh San, Namsan, or Nam San, is the capital of
Tawngpeng District in northern
Shan State
Shan State ( my, ရှမ်းပြည်နယ်, ; shn, မိူင်းတႆး, italics=no) also known by the endonyms Shanland, Muang Tai, and Tailong, is a state of Myanmar. Shan State borders China (Yunnan) to the north, Laos ( ...
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 Wells explai ...
(Burma). The town is a popular starting point for trekking to
Hsipaw
Hsipaw ( shn, သီႇပေႃႉ; Tai Nuea: ᥔᥤᥴ ᥙᥨᥝᥳ), also known as Thibaw ( my, သီပေါ), is the principal town of Hsipaw Township in Shan State, Myanmar on the banks of the Duthawadi River. It is north-east of Mand ...
.
Besides its
Palaung residents, the town is also populated by
Karen
Karen may refer to:
* Karen (name), a given name and surname
* Karen (slang), a term and meme for a demanding woman displaying certain behaviors
People
* Karen people, an ethnic group in Myanmar and Thailand
** Karen languages or Karenic l ...
,
Lisu Lisu may refer to:
*Lisu people, an ethnic group of Southeast Asia
*Lisu language, spoken by the Lisu people
* Old Lisu Alphabet or Fraser Alphabet
*Lisu syllabary
* Lisu (Unicode block), the block of Unicode characters for the Lisu language.
*Lisu ...
, and
Shan ethnic tribal groups, as well as
Indian
Indian or Indians may refer to:
Peoples South Asia
* Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor
** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country
* South Asia ...
and
Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...
residents.
History
During
British rule in Burma (Myanmar), Namhsan was the capital of
Tawngpeng State
Tawngpeng (''Loi Lung'' in Shan) was a Shan state in what is today Myanmar. It belonged to the Northern Shan States.
The capital was Namhsan (Om-yar). History
The predecessor state was named Pappatasara. Not much is known about the history of the ...
, a
Palaung substate of the
Shan States
The Shan States (1885–1948) were a collection of minor Shan kingdoms called '' muang'' whose rulers bore the title ''saopha'' in British Burma. They were analogous to the princely states of British India.
The term "Shan States" was fi ...
in
British Burma; and the only Palaung kingdom in the former Shan States. The people of the town were predominantly of the Ka-tur (Samlong) tribe. The people of the tribe are often referred to as the Golden Palaung (Shwe Palaung) because of their coloured belts. Historically, they wore silver belts for special occasions, but aluminum has since been used instead.
Their language is called Shwe, a language variant that is only partially intelligible by other
Palaungic language speakers.
"Overview of the Shwe De'ang"
Asiaharvest.org, last accessed 5 October 2010 In Shwe, Namhsan means ''trembling waters'' and the town is thought to be named that way because it is situated on a marsh which gets flooded during heavy rains. During the 1920s and 1930s, the town prospered from the presence of silver mines and the tea grown in the area. The tribe was heavily studied by anthropologist Mrs. Leslie Milne.
References
External links
Satellite map
Wikimapia
Wikimapia is a geographic online encyclopedia project. The project implements an interactive "clickable" web map that utilizes Google Maps with a geographically-referenced wiki system, with the aim to mark and describe all geographical objects ...
{{Shan-geo-stub
Populated places in Shan State
Township capitals of Myanmar
Palaung people