Ngoenyang

Hiran Nakhon Ngoenyang (Northern Thai: ᩉᩥᩁᩢᨬ᩠ᨬᨶᨣᩬᩁᨦᩮᩥ᩠ᨶᨿᩣ᩠ᨦ; Thai: หิรัญนครเงินยาง) was an early mueang or polity of the Tai Yuan people that flourished between the 7th and 13th centuries CE in the upper Mekong basin. Known by several names in historical sources, including Jayavaranagara (ชยวรนคร), Chiang Lao (เมืองเชียงลาว), Hiraṇyanagara Ngoenyang Chiang Saen (หิรัญญนครเงินยางเชียงแสน), Nagarayāṅgapura (นครยางคปุระ), and Thasai Ngoenyang (เมืองท่าทรายเงินยาง). It emerged in the aftermath of the fall of the Yonok Kingdom and developed into a significant regional center in what is now northern Thailand.

The political and urban center of Hiran Nakhon Ngoenyang was located at the site of present-day Wiang Phang Kham in Mae Sai District, Chiang Rai Province, Thailand. The settlement was originally founded under the name Hiran and later expanded into a larger fortified city, after which it became known as Ngoenyang. Archaeological evidence indicates that this transformation involved the northward expansion of the original settlement.

Throughout its history, Ngoenyang functioned within a mandala-style political system characteristic of mainland Southeast Asia, exercising influence over a network of allied and subordinate mueang through dynastic ties, military power, and ritual authority. The polity reached its historical culmination under King Mangrai, the 25th ruler of Ngoenyang, who founded Chiang Rai and later established the Lan Na Kingdom in the late 13th century, marking the transition from the Ngoenyang polity to a new regional kingdom.