 Moken girl wearing thanaka on her face | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 2,000 to 3,000 (2013)[1] | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 Thailand Myanmar | |
| Languages | |
| Moken, Malay, Thai, Burmese, others | |
| Religion | |
| Ancestor worship, Buddhism, Islam | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Malay, Orang Laut, Bajau |
The Moken (also Mawken or Morgan; Burmese: ဆလုံ လူမျိုး; Thai: ชาวเล, romanized: chao le, lit. 'sea people') are an Austronesian people of the Mergui Archipelago, a group of approximately 800 islands claimed by both Myanmar and Thailand, and the Surin Islands. Most of the 2,000 to 3,000 Moken live a semi-nomadic hunter-gatherer lifestyle heavily based on the sea, though this lifestyle is increasingly under threat.
The Moken identify in a common culture; there are 1500 men and 1500 women who speak the Moken language, a distinct Austronesian language. Attempts by both Myanmar and Thailand to assimilate the Moken into the wider regional culture have met with very limited success.[3] However, the Moken face an uncertain future as their population decreases and their nomadic lifestyle and unsettled legal status leave them marginalized by modern property and immigration laws, maritime conservation and development programs, and tightening border policies.[4][5][6][7]
- ^ "The lost world: Myanmar's Mergui Islands". Financial Times. 19 April 2013. Retrieved 2017-11-10.
- ^ David E. Sopher (1965). "The Sea Nomads: A Study Based on the Literature of the Maritime Boat People of Southeast Asia". Memoirs of the National Museum. 5: 389–403. doi:10.2307/2051635. JSTOR 2051635. S2CID 162358347.
- ^ Ivanoff, Jacques; Bountry, Maxime. "Moken sea-gypsies" (PDF). Lampi Marine National Park. International Scientific Network Tanaosri. Retrieved 2023-07-14.
- ^ Some classifications do not include Moken under the Malayan languages, or even under the Aboriginal Malay group of languages. "Ethnologue report for Moken/Moklen" Ethnologue. Moken is considered part of, but isolated within, the (Nuclear) Malayo-Polynesian family, displaying no particular affinities to any other (Nuclear) Malayo-Polynesian language. Moreover, it has undergone strong areal influence from neighbouring Mon–Khmer languages, comparable to, but apparently independently from the Chamic languages.
- ^ "'The ocean is our universe' - Survival International". Survivalinternational. Retrieved January 8, 2017.
- ^ "The Moken of Burma and Thailand". Human Rights Watch. 25 June 2015. Retrieved January 8, 2017.
- ^ "The Moken". Projectmoken.com. Retrieved January 8, 2017.