Moken
Encyclopedia
Austronesian people
The Austronesian-speaking peoples are various populations in Oceania and Southeast Asia that speak languages of the Austronesian family. They include Taiwanese aborigines; the majority ethnic groups of East Timor, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Brunei, Madagascar, Micronesia, and Polynesia,...
ethnic group
Ethnic group
An ethnic group is a group of people whose members identify with each other, through a common heritage, often consisting of a common language, a common culture and/or an ideology that stresses common ancestry or endogamy...
with about 2,000 to 3,000 members who maintain a nomad
Nomad
Nomadic people , commonly known as itinerants in modern-day contexts, are communities of people who move from one place to another, rather than settling permanently in one location. There are an estimated 30-40 million nomads in the world. Many cultures have traditionally been nomadic, but...
ic, sea-based culture
Culture
Culture is a term that has many different inter-related meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...
. They speak their own language which belongs to the Austronesian
Austronesian languages
The Austronesian languages are a language family widely dispersed throughout the islands of Southeast Asia and the Pacific, with a few members spoken on continental Asia that are spoken by about 386 million people. It is on par with Indo-European, Niger-Congo, Afroasiatic and Uralic as one of the...
language family.
Nomenclature
They refer to themselves as Moken. The name is used for all of the proto-Malayan speaking tribes who inhabit the coast and islands in the Andaman SeaAndaman Sea
The Andaman Sea or Burma Sea is a body of water to the southeast of the Bay of Bengal, south of Burma, west of Thailand and east of the Andaman Islands, India; it is part of the Indian Ocean....
on the west coast of Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
, the provinces of Satun
Satun Province
Satun is one of the southern provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Trang, Phatthalung and Songkhla...
, Trang
Trang Province
Trang is one of the southern provinces of Thailand, at the western shore of the Malay Peninsula to the Andaman Sea. Neighboring provinces are Krabi, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Phatthalung and Satun....
, Krabi
Krabi Province
Krabi is one of the southern provinces of Thailand, at the shore of the Andaman Sea. Neighbouring provinces are Phang Nga, Surat Thani, Nakhon Si Thammarat and Trang. The Phuket province to the west is also neighbouring, but without any land boundary...
, Phuket
Phuket Province
Phuket , formerly known as Thalang and, in Western sources, Junk Ceylon , is one of the southern provinces of Thailand...
, Phang Nga
Phang Nga Province
Phang Nga is one of the southern provinces of Thailand, on the shore to the Andaman Sea. Neighboring provinces are Ranong, Surat Thani and Krabi. To the south is the Phuket province, but without land boundary to Phang Nga....
, and Ranong
Ranong Province
Ranong is one of the southern provinces of Thailand, on the coast of the Andaman Sea. It is the province with the fewest citizens. Neighboring provinces are Chumphon, Surat Thani and Phang Nga...
, up through the Mergui Archipelago
Mergui Archipelago
The Mergui Archipelago is an archipelago in far southern Myanmar . It consists of more than 800 islands, varying in size from very small to hundreds of square kilometres, all lying in the Andaman Sea off the western shore of the Malay Peninsula near its landward end where it joins the rest of...
of Burma http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/environment/going-green-environment/conservation-in-action/this-bulb-ngv.html(Myanmar). The group includes the Moken proper, the Moklen (Moklem), the Orang Sireh (Betel-leaf people) and the Orang Lanta. The last, the Orang Lanta are a hybridized group formed when the Malay people settled the Lanta islands where the proto-Malay Orang Sireh had been living.
The Burmese
Burmese language
The Burmese language is the official language of Burma. Although the constitution officially recognizes it as the Myanmar language, most English speakers continue to refer to the language as Burmese. Burmese is the native language of the Bamar and related sub-ethnic groups of the Bamar, as well as...
call the Moken Selung, Salone, or Chalome. In Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
they are called Chao Ley (people of the sea) or Chao nam (people of the water), although these terms are also used loosely to include the Urak Lawoi
Urak Lawoi
Urak Lawoi are an ethnic group residing on the islands of Phuket, Phi Phi, Jum, Lanta, Bulon and on Lipe and Adang, in the Adang Archipelago, off the western coast of Thailand...
and even the Orang Laut
Orang Laut
The Orang Laut, or Bajau Laut are a group of Malay people living in the Riau Islands of Indonesia. It also may refer to any Malay origin people living on coastal islands, including those of Andaman Sea islands in Thailand and Burma, commonly known as Moken.-Etymology:The Malay term orang laut...
. In Thailand, acculturated Moken are called Thai Mai (new Thais).
The Moken are also called Sea Gypsies
Sea Gypsies
Sea Gypsies may refer to:In geography, it can refer to any of several groups in southeast Asia:* Bajau, an indigenous ethnic group residing in Sabah, eastern Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia, the Philippines, and parts of Sarawak, sometimes including the people who speak Makassar, and Bugis.* Moken,...
, a generic term that applies to a number of peoples in southeast Asia. The Urak Lawoi
Urak Lawoi
Urak Lawoi are an ethnic group residing on the islands of Phuket, Phi Phi, Jum, Lanta, Bulon and on Lipe and Adang, in the Adang Archipelago, off the western coast of Thailand...
are sometimes classified with the Moken, but they are linguistically and ethnologically distinct, being much more closely related to the Malay people.
Way of life
Their knowledge of the sea enables them to live off its faunaFauna
Fauna or faunæ is all of the animal life of any particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is flora.Zoologists and paleontologists use fauna to refer to a typical collection of animals found in a specific time or place, e.g. the "Sonoran Desert fauna" or the "Burgess shale fauna"...
and flora
Flora
Flora is the plant life occurring in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring or indigenous—native plant life. The corresponding term for animals is fauna.-Etymology:...
by using simple tools such as nets and spears to forage for food. What is not consumed is dried atop their boats, then used to barter
Barter
Barter is a method of exchange by which goods or services are directly exchanged for other goods or services without using a medium of exchange, such as money. It is usually bilateral, but may be multilateral, and usually exists parallel to monetary systems in most developed countries, though to a...
for other necessities at local markets. During the monsoon
Monsoon
Monsoon is traditionally defined as a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation, but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with the asymmetric heating of land and sea...
season, they build additional boats while occupying temporary huts. Because of the amount of time they spend diving for food, Moken children are able to see better underwater due to accommodation
Accommodation (eye)
Accommodation is the process by which the vertebrate eye changes optical power to maintain a clear image on an object as its distance changes....
of their visual focus
Focus (optics)
In geometrical optics, a focus, also called an image point, is the point where light rays originating from a point on the object converge. Although the focus is conceptually a point, physically the focus has a spatial extent, called the blur circle. This non-ideal focusing may be caused by...
.
Some of the Burmese Moken are still nomadic people who roam the sea most of their lives in small hand-crafted wooden boats called kabang, which serve not just as transportation, but also as kitchen, bedroom, and living area. However, much of their traditional life, which is built on the premise of life as outsiders, is under threat and appears to be diminishing.
Governmental control
The Burmese and ThaiThailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
governments have made attempts at assimilating the people into their own culture, but these efforts have met with limited success. Thai Moken have been permanently settled in villages located in the Surin Island
Surin Island
The Surin Islands is an archipelago of five islands of the Andaman Sea, located 55 km from the Thai mainland. Administratively, the islands are part of Tambon Ko Phra Thong, Amphoe Khura Buri, in the Phang Nga Province of Thailand....
s (Mu Ko Surin National Park), in Phuket Province
Phuket Province
Phuket , formerly known as Thalang and, in Western sources, Junk Ceylon , is one of the southern provinces of Thailand...
, on the northwestern coast of Phuket Island, and on the nearby Phi Phi islands of Krabi province
Krabi Province
Krabi is one of the southern provinces of Thailand, at the shore of the Andaman Sea. Neighbouring provinces are Phang Nga, Surat Thani, Nakhon Si Thammarat and Trang. The Phuket province to the west is also neighbouring, but without any land boundary...
.
The Andaman Sea
Andaman Sea
The Andaman Sea or Burma Sea is a body of water to the southeast of the Bay of Bengal, south of Burma, west of Thailand and east of the Andaman Islands, India; it is part of the Indian Ocean....
off the Tenasserim coast was the subject of keen scrutiny from Burma's regime during the 1990s due to offshore petroleum
Petroleum
Petroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and other liquid organic compounds, that are found in geologic formations beneath the Earth's surface. Petroleum is recovered mostly through oil drilling...
discoveries by multinational corporation
Multinational corporation
A multi national corporation or enterprise , is a corporation or an enterprise that manages production or delivers services in more than one country. It can also be referred to as an international corporation...
s including Unocal, Petronas
Petronas
PETRONAS, short for Petroliam Nasional Berhad, is a Malaysian oil and gas company that was founded on August 17, 1974. Wholly owned by the Government of Malaysia, the corporation is vested with the entire oil and gas resources in Malaysia and is entrusted with the responsibility of developing and...
and others. Reports from the late 1990s told of forced relocation by Burma's military regime of the 'Sea Gypsies' to on-land sites. It was claimed most of the Salone had been relocated by 1997, which is consistent with a pervasive pattern of forced relocation of suspect ethnic, economic and political groups, conducted throughout Burma during the 1990s.
2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami
The islands where the Moken live received much media attention in 2005 during the Southeast Asia Tsunami2004 Indian Ocean earthquake
The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake was an undersea megathrust earthquake that occurred at 00:58:53 UTC on Sunday, December 26, 2004, with an epicentre off the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. The quake itself is known by the scientific community as the Sumatra-Andaman earthquake...
recovery, where hundreds of thousands of lives were lost in the disaster. As they are keenly aware of the sea, the Moken in some areas knew the tsunami that struck on December 26, 2004 was coming, and managed to preserve many lives.
However in the coastal villages of Phang Nga Province
Phang Nga Province
Phang Nga is one of the southern provinces of Thailand, on the shore to the Andaman Sea. Neighboring provinces are Ranong, Surat Thani and Krabi. To the south is the Phuket province, but without land boundary to Phang Nga....
, such as Tap Tawan, the Moken suffered severe devastation to housing and fishing boats in common with other Moken communities.
Further reading
- Bernatzik, H. A.Hugo BernatzikHugo Adolf Bernatzik , was an Austrian anthropologist and photographer.Bernatzik was the founder of the concept of alternative anthropology.-Biography:...
, & Ivanoff, J. (2005). Moken and Semang: 1936–2004, persistence and change. Bangkok: White Lotus. ISBN 9744800828 - Ivanoff, J. (2001). Rings of coral: Moken folktales. Mergui archipelago project, no. 2. Bangkok, Thailand: White Lotus Press. ISBN 9747534711
- Ivanoff, J. (1999). The Moken boat: symbolic technology. Bangkok: White Lotus Press. ISBN 9748434907
- Ivanoff, J., Cholmeley, F. N., & Ivanoff, P. (1997). Moken: sea-gypsies of the Andaman Sea, post-war chronicles. Bangkok: Cheney. ISBN 9748496651
- Lewis, M. B. (1960). Moken texts and word-list; a provisional interpretation. Federation museums journal, v.4. [Kuala Lumpur]: Museums Dept., Federation of Malaya.
- White, W. G. (1922). The sea gypsies of Malaya; an account of the nomadic Mawken people of the Mergui Archipelago with a description of their ways of living, customs, habits, boats, occupations, etc. London: Seeley, Service & Co.
- White, W. G. (1911). An introduction to the Mawken language. Toungoo: S.P.G. Press.
External links
- Salons: Sea Gypsies @ Enchanting Myanmar
- Moken: Sea Gypsies @ National Geographic (Subscription Required)
- Moken: Sea Gypsies @ National Geographic (Tsunami Extra)
- Phuket Magazine: The Moken – Traditional Sea Gypsies
- ProjectMaje.org – Burma "Sea Gypsies" Compendium
- Moken language and verbs
- Ethnologue report for Moken
- The Sea Gypsies of Surin Island – Expeditions, Research in Applied Anthropology
- "The Sea Gypsies of Surin Island" by Antonio Graceffo
- Tourist view on the Moken in Burma/Myanmar
- Ten most frequently asked questions about the Moken
- images of Moken children underwater
See also
- Sea GypsiesSea GypsiesSea Gypsies may refer to:In geography, it can refer to any of several groups in southeast Asia:* Bajau, an indigenous ethnic group residing in Sabah, eastern Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia, the Philippines, and parts of Sarawak, sometimes including the people who speak Makassar, and Bugis.* Moken,...
, a disambiguation page - SeafarersSeafarersSeafarers can refer to ethnic groups living by the sea in Southeast Asia, and also other sea-living ethnic groups in the world. The ethnic group name refers to a large distribution area, reaching from the islands of Indonesia to Burma...
, an expanded disambiguation page