Akha people
A Burmese depiction of the Akha in the early 1900s | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 680,000 | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Mainland Southeast Asia and Yunnan (China) | |
| China | 240,000 |
| Laos | 112,979 |
| Thailand | 80,000 |
| Languages | |
| Akha, Lao, Thai | |
| Religion | |
| Akhazah (Animism), Buddhism, Christianity | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Hani, Karen | |
The Akha are an ethnic group who live in small villages at higher elevations in the mountains of Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, and Yunnan Province in China. They made their way from China into Southeast Asia during the early 20th century. Civil war in Burma and Laos resulted in an increased flow of Akha immigrants and there are now 80,000 people living in Thailand's northern provinces of Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai.
The Akha speak Akha, a language in the Loloish (Yi) branch of the Tibeto-Burman family. The Akha language is closely related to Lisu and it is thought that it was the Akha who once ruled the Baoshan and Tengchong plains in Yunnan before the invasion of the Ming dynasty in 1644.