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35-485: Mueang Chat Trakan was an ancient city of the same era as Mueang Nakhon Thai. Originally part of Nakhon Thai District, it was made a minor district ( king amphoe ) on 1 May 1969, consisting of the two tambon Chat Trakan and Pa Daeng. It was upgraded to a full district on 1 April 1974. It was a scene of conflict in the Thai–Laotian Border War (December 1987 – February 1988.) Neighboring districts are (from

70-408: A central king or other leader. The more powerful mueang (generally designated as chiang , wiang , nakhon or krung – with Bangkok as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon ) occasionally tried to liberate themselves from their suzerain and could enjoy periods of relative independence. Mueang large and small often shifted allegiance , and frequently paid tribute to more than one powerful neighbor –

105-451: A century the center of Srivijaya was shifted from Sumatra to Java. The overlord-tributary relationship was not necessarily exclusive. A state in border areas might pay tribute to two or three stronger powers. The tributary ruler could then play the stronger powers against one another to minimize interference by either one, while for the major powers the tributaries served as a buffer zone to prevent direct conflict between them. For example,

140-664: A municipal status equivalent to town ( thesaban mueang ). In standard Thai, the term for the country of Thailand is ประเทศไทย, rtgs: Prathet Thai. Mueang still forms part of the placenames of a few places, notably Don Mueang District , home to Don Mueang International Airport ; and in the Royal Thai General System of Transcription Mueang Phatthaya ( เมืองพัทยา ) for the self-governing municipality of Pattaya . Nakhon ( นคร ) as meaning "city" has been modified to thesaban nakhon ( เทศบาลนคร ), usually translated as " city municipality ". It still forms part of

175-518: A special place in that the others often in turn paid tribute to China , although in practice the obligations imposed on the lesser kingdoms were minimal. The most notable tributary states were post-Angkor Cambodia , Lan Xang (succeeded by the Kingdom of Vientiane and Luang Prabang ) and Lanna . Cambodia in the 18th century was described by the Vietnamese emperor Gia Long as "an independent country that

210-867: Is a district on the outskirts of Phitsanulok province, more than 90% of which is reserved forest area . Therefore, Chat Trakan and two neighboring districts, Nakhon Thai and Wat Bot, have the lowest prosperity index in Phitsanulok, lowest household income and highest household debt. Mueang Mueang ( Ahom : 𑜉𑜢𑜤𑜂𑜫 ; Thai : เมือง mɯ̄ang , pronounced [mɯaŋ˧] listen ), Muang ( Lao : ເມືອງ mɯ́ang , pronounced [mɯaŋ˦] ; Tai Nuea : ᥛᥫᥒᥰ muang ), Mong ( Shan : မိူင်း mə́ŋ , pronounced [məŋ˦] ), Meng ( Chinese : 猛 or 勐 ) or Mường (Vietnamese) were pre-modern semi-independent city-states or principalities in mainland Southeast Asia , adjacent regions of Northeast India and Southern China , including what

245-566: Is colloquially known as Muang Lao , but for Lao people , the word conveys more than mere administrative district. The usage is of special historic interest for the Lao; in particular for their traditional socio-political and administrative organisation, and the formation of their early (power) states , described by later scholars as Mandala (Southeast Asian political model) . Provinces of Laos are now subdivided into what are commonly translated as districts of Laos , with some retaining Muang as part of

280-747: Is in Chat Trakan District. The northeastern part of the district is in the southernmost prolongation of the Luang Prabang Range mountain area of the Thai highlands . The district is divided into six sub-districts ( tambons ), which are further subdivided into 72 villages ( mubans ). The township ( thesaban tambon ) Pa Daeng covers parts of tambons Pa Daeng and Tha Sakae. There are a further six tambon administrative organizations (TAO). There are 36 active Buddhist temples in Chat Trakan. Chat Trakan

315-578: Is not directly attested by any surviving texts, but has been reconstructed using the comparative method . This term has Proto-Tai-tone A1 . All A1 words are rising tone in modern Thai and Lao, following rules determined for tone origin . Accordingly, the term is: Different linguistic tones give different meanings; scholarship has not established a link between this term and any of the terms which differ in tone. Mueang conveys many meanings, all having to do with administrative, social, political and religious orientation on wet-rice cultivation. The origin of

350-618: Is now Thailand , Laos , Burma , Cambodia , parts of northern Vietnam , southern Yunnan , western Guangxi and Assam . Mueang was originally a term in the Tai languages for a town having a defensive wall and a ruler with at least the Thai noble rank of khun ( ขุน ), together with its dependent villages. The mandala model of political organisation organised states in collective hierarchy such that smaller mueang were subordinate to more powerful neighboring ones, which in turn were subordinate to

385-529: Is slave of two" (Chandler p. 119). The system was eventually ended by the arrival of the Europeans in the mid-19th century. Culturally, they introduced Western geographical practices, which assumed that every area was subject to one sovereign. Practically, the colonisation of French Indochina , Dutch East Indies , British Malaya and Burma brought pressure from the colonisers for fixed boundaries to their possessions. The tributary states were then divided between

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420-647: Is the post-Majapahit Islamic kingdoms in Java. Historian Martin Stuart-Fox uses the term "mandala" extensively to describe the history of the Lao kingdom of Lan Xang as a structure of loosely held together mueang that disintegrated after Lan Xang's conquest by Thailand starting in the 18th century. Thai historian Sunait Chutintaranond made an important contribution to study of the mandala in Southeast Asian history by demonstrating that "three assumptions responsible for

455-511: The Yuan as imperial officials, in an arrangement generally known as the Tusi ("Native Chieftain") system. Ming and Qing -era dynasties gradually replaced native chieftains with non-native Chinese government officials. In the 19th century, Thailand's Chakri dynasty and Burma's colonial and subsequent military rulers did much the same with their lesser mueang, but, while the petty kingdoms are gone,

490-477: The feudal system of Europe, states were linked in suzerain – tributary relationships. The term draws a comparison with the mandala of the Hindu and Buddhist worldview ; the comparison emphasises the radiation of power from each power center, as well as the non-physical basis of the system. Other metaphors such as S. J. Tambiah 's original idea of a " galactic polity" describe political patterns similar to

525-438: The colonies and Siam, which exercised much more centralised power but over a smaller area than thitherto. The advent of Islam in the archipelago saw the application of this system which is still continued in the formation of the government, such as the formation of the 18th century Negeri Sembilan coalition which focused on Seri Menanti as a center flanked by four inner luak serambi and four outer districts. Another example

560-561: The mandala. The historian Victor Lieberman prefers the "solar polity" metaphor, referencing the gravitational pull the sun exerts over the planets. Historically, the main suzerain or overlord states were the Khmer Empire of Cambodia ; Srivijaya of South Sumatra ; the successive kingdoms of Mataram , Kediri , Singhasari and Majapahit of Java ; the Ayutthaya Kingdom of Thailand ; Champa and early Đại Việt . China occupies

595-419: The meaning of "town language," specifically in contrast to those of the many hill tribe peoples in the surrounding mountainous areas. Mandala (political model) Maṇḍala is a Sanskrit word meaning 'circle'. The mandala is a model for describing the patterns of diffuse political power distributed among Mueang or Kedatuan (principalities) in medieval Southeast Asian history , when local power

630-633: The most powerful of the period being Ming China . Following Kublai Khan 's defeat of the Dali Kingdom of the Bai people in 1253 and its establishment as a tutelary state, new mueang were founded widely throughout the Shan States and adjoining regions – though the common description of this as a "mass migration" is disputed. Following historical Chinese practice, tribal leaders principally in Yunnan were recognized by

665-406: The name of some places. Sung Noen District is noted for having been the site of two ancient cities: Mueang Sema and Khorakhapura. Pali púra became Sanskrit puri , hence Thai บุรี, บูรี , (buri) all connoting the same as Thai mueang : city with defensive wall. "Khorakhapura" was nicknamed "Nakhon Raj," which as a portmanteau with Sema, became Nakhon Ratchasima. Though dropped from

700-585: The name of this mueang, Sanskrit buri persists in the names of others. Müang Fai is a term reconstructed from Proto-Tai , the common ancestor of all Tai languages . In the Guangxi - Guizhou of Southern China region, the term described what was then a unique type of irrigation engineering for wet-rice cultivation . Müang meaning 'irrigation channel, ditch, canal' and Fai , 'dike, weir, dam.' together referred to gravitational irrigation systems for directing water from streams and rivers. The Proto-Tai language

735-451: The name: Thailand is colloquially known as Mueang Thai . After the Thesaphiban reforms of Prince Damrong Rajanubhab , city-states under Siam were organized into monthon ( มณฑล , Thai translation of mandala ), which was changed to changwat ( จังหวัด ) in 1916. Mueang still can be found as the term for the capital districts of the provinces ( amphoe mueang ), as well as for

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770-455: The people of a particular area. The tributary owner in turn had power either over tributary states further down the scale, or directly over "his" people, wherever they lived. No ruler had authority over unpopulated areas. The personal relationship between overlord and subordinate rulers also defined the dynamic of relationship within a mandala. The relations between Dharmasetu of Srivijaya and Samaratungga of Sailendra , for instance, defined

805-562: The place names remain. Place names in Southwestern Tai languages In Khmer, "moeang" (មឿង) is a word borrowed from the Thai language meaning "small city" or "small town." Usually used as a place name for villages. The placename "mueang" is written in Chinese characters as 勐, 孟 ; měng , which is equivalent to Tai Nüa : ᥛᥫᥒᥰ and Tai Lü : ᦵᦙᦲᧂ , both of which are spoken in China . Laos

840-415: The prehistoric networks of small settlements and reveals itself in historical records was a patchwork of often overlapping mandalas. It is employed to denote traditional Southeast Asian political formations, such as federation of kingdoms or vassalized polity under a center of domination . It was adopted by 20th century European historians from ancient Indian political discourse as a means of avoiding

875-535: The same watershed area that insured a high degree of cooperation to create and maintain irrigation systems ( müang-faai ) – which probably was the primary reason for founding mueang . Kham Mueang ( Thai : คำเมือง ) is the modern spoken form of the old Northern Thai language that was the language of the kingdom of Lan Na (Million Fields). Central Thai may call northern Thai people and their language Thai Yuan . They call their language Kham Mueang in which Kham means language or word; mueang ; town, hence

910-617: The southeast clockwise) Na Haeo of Loei province , Nakhon Thai , Wang Thong , Wat Bot of Phitsanulok Province, Thong Saen Khan and Nam Pat of Uttaradit province . And to the east it borders Xaignabouli of Laos . Chat Trakan lies within the Nan Basin , part of the Chao Phraya Watershed . The Khwae Noi River flows through Chat Trakan, as well as the lesser Kap (Thai: ลำน้ำคับ), Phak (Thai: ลำน้ำภาค) and Kleung (Thai: ลำน้ำคลึง) Rivers. Namtok Chat Trakan National Park

945-477: The succession of this dynastic family. Dharmasetu was the Srivijayan Maharaja overlord, while the house of Sailendra in Java is suggested to be related and was subscribed to Srivijayan mandala domination. After Samaratungga married Princess Tara, the daughter of Dharmasetu, Samaratungga became his successor and the house of Sailendra was promoted to become the dynastic lineage of later Srivijayan kings, and for

980-491: The term " state " in the conventional sense. Not only did Southeast Asian polities , except Vietnam, not conform to Chinese and European views of a territorially defined state with fixed borders and a bureaucratic apparatus , but they diverged considerably in the opposite direction: the polity was defined by its centre rather than its boundaries, and it could be composed of numerous other tributary polities without undergoing administrative integration. In some ways similar to

1015-436: The tributary, but in general interference with the tributary's domestic affairs was minimal: he would retain his own army and powers of taxation, for example. In the case of the more tenuous relationships, the "overlord" might regard it as one of tribute, while the "tributary" might consider the exchange of gifts to be purely commercial or as an expression of goodwill (Thongchai p. 87). The emphasis on personal relationships

1050-409: The tributary. However, the tributary also had to provide men and supplies when called on, most often in time of war. The main benefit to the tributary was protection from invasion by other powers, although as South East Asia historian Thongchai Winichakul notes, this was often "mafia-like protection" from the threats of the overlord himself. In some cases, the overlord also controlled the succession in

1085-617: The view that Ayudhya was a strong centralized state" did not hold and that "in Ayudhya the hegemony of provincial governors was never successfully eliminated." The obligations on each side of the relationship varied according to the strength of the relationship and the circumstances. In general, the tributary was obliged to pay bunga mas , a regular tribute of various valuable goods and slaves, and miniature trees of gold and silver ( bunga mas dan perak ). The overlord ruler reciprocated with presents often of greater value than those supplied by

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1120-753: The word mueang yet remains obscure. In October 2007, The National Library of Laos , in collaboration with the Berlin State Library and the University of Passau , started a project to produce the Digital Library of Lao Manuscripts. Papers presented at the Literary Heritage of Laos Conference, held in Vientiane in 2005, have also been made available. Many of the mss. illuminate the administrative, social, political, and religious demands put on communities in

1155-422: Was more important than the central leadership. The concept of the mandala balances modern tendencies to look for unified political power, e.g. the power of large kingdoms and nation states of later history – an inadvertent byproduct of 15th century advances in map-making technologies . In the words of O. W. Wolters who further explored the idea in 1982: The map of earlier Southeast Asia which evolved from

1190-409: Was one of the defining characteristics of the mandala system. The tributary ruler was subordinate to the overlord ruler, rather than to the overlord state in the abstract. This had many important implications. A strong ruler could attract new tributaries, and would have strong relationships over his existing tributaries. A weaker ruler would find it harder to attract and maintain these relationships. This

1225-435: Was put forward as one cause of the sudden rise of Sukhothai under Ramkhamhaeng , for example, and for its almost equally steep decline after his death (Wyatt, 45 and 48). The tributary ruler could repudiate the relationship and seek either a different overlord or complete independence. The system was non-territorial. The overlord was owed allegiance by the tributary ruler, or at most by the tributary's main town, but not by all

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