müang

The term müang refers to a group of villages that formed the basic unit of Tai political organization. These villages were typically situated along river valleys and were involved in subsistence rice agriculture, fishing, and gathering forest products. The müang was governed by a hereditary chief or lord, known as a chao. This political structure allowed the Tai people to expand from their original homeland, spreading across southeastern China and northern mainland Southeast Asia by the 8th century CE. By the 11th century, they began migrating into the region now known as Thailand.12