Concept
Isan
Related concepts (19)
Thai people
Thai people (ชาวไทย; endonym), Central Thai people (คนภาคกลาง; exonym and also domestically), Southern Thai people (คนใต้; exonym and also domestically), Dambro (ตามโพร), Siamese (ชาวสยาม; historical exonym and sometimes domestically), Tai Noi people (ไทน้อย; historical endonym and sometimes domestically), Thai Siam (ไทยสยาม), are a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Thailand. In a narrower sense, the Thais are also a Tai ethnic group dominant in Central and Southern Thailand (Siam proper).
Lao people
The Lao people are a Tai ethnic group native to Southeast Asia, who speak the Lao language of the Kra–Dai languages. They are the majority ethnic group of Laos, making up 53.2% of the total population. The majority of Lao people adhere to Theravada Buddhism. They are closely related to other Tai people, especially (or synonymous) with the Isan people, who are also speakers of Lao language, native to neighboring Thailand. In Western historiography, terms Lao people and Laotian have had a loose meaning.
Isan language
Isan or Northeastern Thai (ภาษาอีสาน, ภาษาไทยถิ่นตะวันออกเฉียงเหนือ, ภาษาไทยถิ่นอีสาน, ภาษาไทยอีสาน, ภาษาลาวตะวันตก, ภาษาลาวอีสาน) refers to the local development of the Lao language in Thailand, after the political split of the Lao-speaking world at the Mekong River, with the eastern bank eventually becoming modern Laos and the western bank the Isan region of Thailand (formerly known as Siam prior to 1932), after the conclusion of the Franco-Siamese War of 1893. The language is still referred to as Lao by native speakers.
Khmer people
The Khmer people (ជនជាតិខ្មែរ, Chônchéatĕ Khmêr cɔnciət khmae) are an Austroasiatic ethnic group native to Cambodia. They comprise over 90% of Cambodia's population of 17 million. They speak the Khmer language, which is part of the larger Austroasiatic-language family found in parts of Southeast Asia (including Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, and Malaysia), parts of central, eastern, and northeastern India, parts of Bangladesh in South Asia, in parts of Southern China and numerous islands in the Indian Ocean.
Tai peoples
Tai peoples are the populations who speak (or formerly spoke) the Tai languages. There are a total of about 93 million people of Tai ancestry worldwide, with the largest ethnic groups being Dai, Thais, Isan, Tai Yai (Shan), Lao, Tai Ahom, and Northern Thai peoples. The Tai are scattered through much of South China and Mainland Southeast Asia, with some (e.g. Tai Ahom, Tai Khamti, Tai Phake, Tai Aiton) inhabiting parts of Northeast India. Tai peoples are both culturally and genetically very similar and therefore primarily identified through their language.
Khorat Plateau
The Khorat Plateau (ที่ราบสูงโคราช) is a plateau in the northeastern Thai region of Isan. The plateau forms a natural region, named after the short form of Nakhon Ratchasima, a historical barrier controlling access to and from the area. The average elevation is and it covers an area of about . The saucer-shaped plateau is divided by a range of hills called the Phu Phan Mountains into two basins: the northern Sakhon Nakhon Basin, and the southern Khorat Basin.
Lao language
Lao, sometimes referred to as Laotian (ລາວ, láːw 'Lao' or ພາສາລາວ, pháː sǎː láːw 'Lao language'), is a Kra–Dai language of the Lao people. It is spoken in Laos, where it is the official language for around 7 million people, as well as in northeast Thailand, where it is used by around 23 million people, usually referred to as Isan. Lao serves as a lingua franca among the citizens of Laos, who also speak approximately 90 other languages, many of which are unrelated to Lao.
Nāga
The Nagas (नाग) are a divine, or semi-divine, race of half-human, half-serpent beings that reside in the netherworld (Patala), and can occasionally take human or part-human form, or are so depicted in art. A female naga is called a Nagi, or a Nagini. According to legend, they are the children of the sage Kashyapa and Kadru. Rituals devoted to these supernatural beings have been taking place throughout South Asia for at least 2,000 years.
Wat
A wat (វត្ត, ʋɔət; ວັດ, vat wāt; วัด, wát; 「ᩅᨯ᩠ᨰ」(waD+Dha); 「ᩅ᩠ᨯ᩶」 (w+Da2), wa̋t) is a type of Buddhist temple and Hindu temple in Cambodia, Laos, East Shan State, Yunnan, the Southern Province of Sri Lanka and Thailand. The word wat is a Thai word that was borrowed from Sanskrit vāṭa (Devanāgarī: वाट), meaning 'enclosure'. The term has varying meanings in each region, sometimes referring to a specific type of government-recognised or large temple, other times referring to any Buddhist or Hindu temple.
Khmer Empire
The Khmer Empire was a Hindu-Buddhist empire in Southeast Asia, centered around hydraulic cities in what is now northern Cambodia. Known as Kambuja by its inhabitants, it grew out of the former civilisation of Chenla and lasted from 802 to 1431. Historians call this period of Cambodian history the Angkor period, after the empire's most well-known capital, Angkor. The Khmer Empire ruled or vassalised most of mainland Southeast Asia and stretched as far north as southern China.