Mon

/mohn/, n.

an Austroasiatic language used chiefly in Burma in the vicinity of Moulmein.

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I

Any member of a people thought to have originated in western China and currently living in the eastern delta region of Myanmar (Burma) and in west-central Thailand.

They have lived in their present area for the last 1,200 years and brought Myanmar its writing (Pali) and its religion (Buddhism). Rice and teak are their most important agricultural products. Today they number more than 1.1 million. See also Dvaravati; Mon kingdom.

II

(as used in expressions)

Mon kingdom

Mon Khmer languages

Mons Jovis

Olympus Mons

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▪ India

      town, northern Nagaland (Nāgāland) state, northeastern India. The town was occupied by the British in 1889 and designated a subdivisional headquarters; it was the scene of guerrilla activity until the formation of Nagaland state in 1963. The town has many traditional cottage industries and is noted for its weaving. It also trades in bay leaf. A cottage-industries training and production centre was established in the town in the mid-1970s. The economy of the surrounding area is based on agriculture. The people practice both shifting and terraced cultivation of rice, millet, corn (maize), pulse (legumes), sugarcane, potatoes, cotton, and vegetables. Poultry and pig raising are also important. Cottage industries include the spinning, weaving, and dyeing of textiles; soapmaking; and candle making. Pop. (2001) 16,590.

▪ people

also spelled  Mun , Burmese  Talaing 

      people living in the eastern delta region of Myanmar (Burma) and in west-central Thailand, numbering in the late 20th century more than 1.1 million. The Mon have lived in their present area for the last 1,200 years, and it was they who gave Myanmar its writing (Pāli) and its religion (Buddhism). The Mon are believed to have spread from western China over the river lowlands from the Irrawaddy River delta south to the Chao Phraya River basin in Thailand. The Mon city of Thaton was conquered by Burmans migrating southward in 1057. The Mon state endured, however, until it was finally subjugated by the Burmans in 1757 (see Mon kingdom). Most Mon are bilingual, speaking Burmese as well as their own language, which is of Austroasiatic stock.

      The Mon homeland occupies a coastal strip of land bordering the Gulf of Martaban and includes the Bilugyun and Kalegauk islands. The physiography of the area consists of lowlands terminated by the Taungnyo Range in the east. The Sittang River is the region's northwestern boundary, and the rivers Gyaing, Ataran, Salween, and Ye drain the area westward to the Gulf of Martaban. Rice and teak are the most important agricultural products; mangoes and durians are cultivated as well. Tea, sugar, tobacco, rubber, salt, and bamboo products are exported from Moulmein. Other cities and towns in the region include Thaton, Ye, and Martaban. Thaton, the former capital of the Mon kingdom, lost its position as a port because of silting.

      A Mon village typically consists of rectangular houses with thatch roofs, granaries, and cattle sheds. Most villages have a monastery that also functions as a school, as well as pagodas, an image house where images of the Buddha are kept, and a rest house or meeting house. The family unit is nuclear rather than extended. The Mon religion of Theravāda (Hīnayāna) Buddhism is combined with belief in various spirits.

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