Ethnic origin of Muong in Vietnam

Introduction

The ethnic Muong lives in central Vietnam and central Laos today.

In Vietnam, the ethnic Muong called Người Mường live mainly in the mountains of Hoa Binh and Thanh Hoa provinces. They are also known as Nha Lang and Nguon in Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Quang Binh provinces.

In Laos, they are called Lao Theung because they live on the slopes of the Annamese Mountains.

Proto-Muong Homeland

The proto Viet-Muong homeland is in the Annamese Mountains in central Laos specifically Bolikhamxai and Khammuoane provinces bordering Nghe An, Ha Tinh and Quang Binh provinces in Vietnam.

Proto Viet-Muong people didn't live anywhere in Jiaozhi (northern Vietnam) before Vietnam broke away from China in mid 10th century.

The eastern part of their homeland became part of Vietnam when the ethnic Kinh expanded southwards from the Red River delta after the Ngo dynasty was formed in 938 AD as shown in the map below.

Early Muong kingdom

During the Tran dynasty (1225 AD-1400 AD), Austro-Asiatic tribes were called Trai, which means outlier, by the ethnic Kinh who lived mainly in the Red River basin and lowlands.

Le Loi, who grew up in the mountains of modern-day Tranh Hoa province, was a Trai as determined by the location of his homeland and his non-Sinitic lifestyle when Nguyen Trai observed him for the first time.

Today, the ethnic Muong still live in large number in the mountains of Tranh Hoa which gives evidence to his real ethnicity which some people mistook as Kinh.

Le Loi led his ethnic Muong army and drove the Ming dynasty out of Vietnam in 1428 AD and ruled as Later Le dynasty (1428-1788 AD). This campaign was under the pretense of restoring to power the previous Tran dynasty whose rulers were ethnic Kinh.

Statue of Le Loi

His dynasty further expanded Vietnam's southern borders to include the previous Champa kingdom and southeastern part of the Khmer empire.

The proto-Muong language forms the basis of the standard Vietnamese language today due to this dynasty's long rule but this was the language of an ethnic minority and not the ethnic Kinh in Vietnam.

Mythical origin

Their epic book 'De dat de nuoc' narrates the mythical origin of the Muong. There was a great flood which is most probably the flooding of the Mekong River basin and they founded green areas higher up in the mountains represented by a tall Banyan tree. Each branch of the Banyan tree represented a Muong village.

This is a video on the mythical origin of ethnic Muong people in more details.

Whereas the ethnic Kinh doesn't have a similar origin which provides another proof among many proofs that Kinh aren't genetically related to the Muong as commonly thought.

Muong culture

The bronze gong is their most important musical instrument that is played in Muong festivals.

Muong bronze gongs

According to a Muong epic tale, the Muong learnt to build their wooden houses on high stilts which was modelled after a tortoise that was caught.

Since the Later Le dynasty, some aspects of ethnic Muong culture in Vietnam was influenced by ethnic Kinh's culture such as using chopsticks, ancestral altar praying with Chinese incense sticks and celebrating Tet.

Eating with chopsticks inside a stilt house

Muong writing

The Muong doesn't have their own traditional ancient writing script. This is a video of the Muong language.

Muongic subgroups

The Muong people is a subgroup of the Muongic branch who are the natives of the Annamese mountains in central Vietnam and also central Laos. Refer to the map below.

There are three main branches of the Muongic people.

East: Muong, Nguon, Malieng, Ruc, Sach
Central: Pong, Toum, Cuoi
West: Thavung, Pakatan

Muongic subgroups

The list of subgroups above are not meant to be comprehensive. The Kinh are not Muongic people genetically and their real origin is detailed in 'Ethnic origin of Kinh' in this blog.

Closest ethnic relative

The ethnic Muong are part of the Austro-Asiatic tribes and their closest genetic relatives are the Katuic aka Co Tu people.

Katuic people traditionally live in the mountains in Thua Thien-Hue province and Quang Nam province that is adjacent to the south of the homeland of the Muong people in Vietnam. Refer to the map in the 'Early Muong kingdom' section above.

The ethnic Muong's closest ethnic relative is not the ethnic Kinh as commonly mistaken due to the merger of the language of the Kinh with the language of the Muong a few hundred years ago.

Conclusion

Ethnic Muong are not the natives of Red River Delta in northern Vietnam and also not genetically related to ethnic Kinh as wrongly reported elsewhere. They were called Trai (塞) or 'Outlier' by the ethnic Kinh during the Tran dynasty in the 13th century.

Ethnic Muong are part of Austroasiatic tribes who originated in central Laos and central Vietnam before migrating to northeastern Vietnam. They belong to the South-East Asian group with darker skin than the ethnic Kinh.

Ethnic Muong with traditional gongs

Sources

Indigenous Peoples and Development in Laos: Ideologies and Ironies. Author: Jan Ovesen
A History of the Vietnamese. Author: Keith Taylor, pgs. 113, 177, 186.
Chamberlain, James R. (2000). "The origin of the Sek: implications for Tai and Vietnamese history". In Burusphat, Somsonge. Proceedings of the International Conference on Tai Studies, July 29–31, 1998 (PDF). Bangkok, Thailand: Institute of Language and Culture for Rural Development, Mahidol University. pp. 97–127. Section 4.3, The Vietic homeland. ISBN 974-85916-9-7. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
Ethnic Muong 芒族 (Chinese article) https://kknews.cc/zh-hk/news/n9jzv5.html
Kra-Dai and the proto-history of South China and Vietnam. Author: James Chamberlain
The Muong epic cycle of ‘The Birth of the Earth and Water’. By Nina Grigoreva

East Asian origin, history, language, culture

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