T'in - History and Cultural Relations



The T'in have probably lived in the same general area for centuries. Large numbers probably moved from Laos to Thailand in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as a result of internecine warfare between highlanders and lowlanders in Laos, as in Muang Ngol in 1876. Other migrations occurred before and since, both from Laos to Thailand and from Thailand to Laos, spurred by political conditions and availability of good land. There is regular trading between T'in and lowlanders. In Thailand, they have been exposed to strong acculturative pressures by the presence of Thai Border Patrol Police and Thai and Lao military forces. Several thousands were moved into resettlement centers beginning in 1967. A small number of T'in have become nominal Buddhists. American Protestant missionaries have had little success among them.


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