Tai peoples

Not to be confused with the ethnic group in Thailand, Thai people, which is one member of this group.

Tai
Distribution of Tai people
Regions with significant populations
Southeast Asia
Myanmar (Tai Yai)
Laos
Thailand
Vietnam
South Asia
India (Tai Khamti, Tai Ahom,Tai Phake, Tai Aiton, Tai Turung,[1][2] and iရှမ်းနီ
East Asia
China (Dai people, Zhuang people, Bouyei people)
Languages
Tai languages
Religion
Majority Theravada Buddhism; Tai folk religion, Hinduism (Ekasarana Dharma • Vaishnavism)

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, Thai, Isan, Lao, Shan, Ahom, Zhuang, Tày, Nùng, Táy, and some 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.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Tun was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Hannay was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
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