Khmu people

The Khmu (/kəˈmuː/; Khmu: /kmm̥uʔ/ or /kmmúʔ/; Lao: ຂະມຸ [kʰámūʔ]; Thai: ขมุ; Vietnamese: Khơ Mú; Chinese: 克木族; Burmese: ခမူ) are an ethnic group of Southeast Asia. The majority (88%) live in northern Laos where they constitute one of the largest minority ethnic groups, comprising eleven percent of the total population. Alternative historical English spellings include Khamu, Kemu and Khammu, among others.

The Khmu can also be found in southwest China (in Xishuangbanna in Yunnan province), and in recent centuries have migrated to areas of Burma, Thailand and Vietnam (where they are an officially recognized ethnic group). In the People's Republic of China, however, they are not given official recognition as a separate "national" group, but are rather classified as a subgroup of Bulang.

The endonym "Khmu" is suspected to stem from their word kymhmuʔ meaning "people". Khmu also often refer to their ethnicity as pruʔ.

Geographic distribution

The Khmu were the indigenous inhabitants of northern Laos. It is generally believed the Khmu once inhabited a much larger area. After the influx of Thai/Lao peoples into the lowlands of Southeast Asia, the Khmu were forced to higher ground (Lao Theung), above the rice-growing lowland Lao and below the Hmong/Mien groups (Lao Sung) that inhabit the highest regions, where they practiced swidden agriculture. There are more than 568,000 Khmu around the world, with populations of 500,000 in Laos, 73,000 in Vietnam, 10,000 in Thailand, 10,000 in China, and an estimated 8,000-10,000 in the United States.

KMU

KMU may refer to: