Karenni States

Karenni States
Princely States of British Burma
18th century–1959

1917 map of the Karenni States
Area 
• 1901
8,106 km2 (3,130 sq mi)
Population 
• 1901
45,795
 • TypeMonarchy
History 
• Independence of the feudatory Karenni predecessor state.
18th century
• Abdication of the Kayah rulers
1959
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Shan States
Kayah State
Karenni princes at the Delhi Durbar in 1903. The rulers of Bawlake, Kantarawadi and Kyebogyi standing in the back row.
Territories claimed by Thailand in the Shan and Karenni States during World War II and Saharat Thai Doem northern province.

The Karenni States, also known as Red Karen States, was the name formerly given to the states inhabited mainly by the Red Karen, in the area of present-day Kayah State, eastern Burma. They were located south of the Federated Shan States and east of British Burma.

The British government recognised and guaranteed the independence of the Karenni States in an 1875 treaty with Burmese King Mindon Min, by which both parties recognised the area as belonging neither to Burma nor to Great Britain. Consequently, the Karenni States were never fully incorporated into British Burma. The Karenni states formed for a time the "Kayah State" in post-independent Burma,[1] but on 29 April 1959 both the Shan and the Kayah rulers formally surrendered their ruling powers to the Burmese government.[2]