Historical Population Movements in North and Northeast Thailand

Abstract

This paper examines patterns of resettlement in north and northeast Thailand and in adjacent areas of Burma and Laos. The time period is limited mainly to the late-eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, owing to lack of sources for earlier periods. Difficulties in finding and interpreting quantitative data and their limitations are discussed. Patterns are described by major category (refugees, economic migrants and forced resettlement) and by ethnic group. Government policies are discussed
in terms of defensive measures in relation to potential invasions by foreign armies and to resettled people as assets for the state. The paper ends with a theory of recurrent depopulation and repopulation patterns extending back more than 500 years.