Kula people (Asia)

Kula
Pailin Peacock Dance is a traditional Kula dance from Pailin province in Cambodia.
Regions with significant populations
Cambodia, Thailand
Languages
Burmese, Shan, Pa'O, Mon, Khmer, Thai, Isan
Religion
Theravada Buddhism, Animism
Related ethnic groups
Bamar, Shan, Pa'O, Mon, Jingpo

The Kula people (Thai: กุลา; Khmer: កុឡា, Kŏla [kolaː]; also spelt Gula and Kola) are the descendants of migrants from Burma[1] who settled in the Pailin-Chanthaburi region along the Cambodia–Thailand border during the 19th century. To which Burmese ethnic group the Kulas belong remains uncertain,[2] with some speculating a Bamar,[3] Shan[4] or multi-ethnic heritage.[5]

  1. ^ Grabowsky, Volker; Cornelio, Jayeel (2019). "Shaping Alternative Identities in Southeast Asia: Generations, Transnationalism, and Violence". HAL Open Science. Retrieved 17 February 2024. Yet while the Kula gem migrants were undoubdtedly refugees from late 19th century troubles plaguing the Shan States and upper Burma
  2. ^ Koizumi, Junko (1990). "Why the Kula Wept: A Report on the Trade Activities of the Kula in Isan at the End of the 19th Century" (PDF). Southeast Asians Studies. Retrieved 17 February 2024. Who the Kula/ Tongsoo were is still an unanswered question.
  3. ^ Grabowsky, Volker; Cornelio, Jayeel (2019). "Shaping Alternative Identities in Southeast Asia: Generations, Transnationalism, and Violence". HAL Open Science. Retrieved 17 February 2024. During the early 1880s, most of the minors working in Pailin were Birmans known as Koulahs (Kulas)
  4. ^ Grabowsky, Volker; Cornelio, Jayeel (2019). "Shaping Alternative Identities in Southeast Asia: Generations, Transnationalism, and Violence". HAL Open Science. Retrieved 17 February 2024. The study by Natasha Pairaudeau (Cambdrige University) of Kula or Shan gem minors
  5. ^ Pairaudeau, Natasha (August 2021). "Researching a Shan gem mining community in Cambodia". Archives of economic life in South and Southeast Asia. Retrieved 17 February 2024. For nearly a century it was a gem mining centre run by migrant Shan prospectors and Burmese traders who first discovered rich sources of ruby and sapphire here in the 1870s. They were known locally as Kola (Kula, Colah, Coulah, Cola) -- a derivation of the Burmese word for 'foreigner'.