History of Mani of Thailand

History of Mani of Thailand

The Mani people are the original Homo sapiens that traveled from Africa and settled in Thailand many years ago. They moved with other Africans like Andamaneseof India, Aetas of Philippines, Semangs of Malaysia to their present residence in Thailand.

With the anthropological evidence the specialists have come to a belief that the modern Negrito represent the first modern human group to arrive in the Southeast Asian region.  After them they were followed by Veddoids in a second wave.

Whoever the first modern humans to enter the Malay Peninsula happens to be, they will certainly met Homo erectus, already in residence there for hundreds of thousands of years. There has been recent genetic evidence that have indicated that the Andamanese Negrito have been living in relative isolation for at least the last 30,000 to possibly 60,000 years. Sadly for the Mani there has been no such evidence as yet available for the Negritos of the Malay Peninsula.

Originally, the area we now know as the Malay Peninsula was known as the "Sakara Mazen Peninsula.”  The meaning behind the peninsula is "area of the salty sea". This old term was changed because there was a group of Indian people who earlier were to moving in Java that had also took possession of the Malay Peninsula.  The first Malay people or Proto-Malays who brought a Neolithic culture with them happened around 4,500 to 3,500 years ago.

 It is also said that around 4,500 years ago groups of people moved from Indochina into the Malay Peninsula and some think that these later became known as the Manis. Thus the people today referred to as the ancient Malays or Proto-Malays are people who represent a mixture of racial traits and cultures.

Different Names for the Mani People

Mani people have lots of different names they can go by.  Naming can be a method by a ruling group to demonstrate to a people their subservience, both physically and socially, while showing contempt for them and their culture or way of life. This unpleasant practice has been followed by people since ancient times.

1. Forest People

a.        Is another term used for the Mani by local people of Trang, Phatthalung and Satun provinces.

b.        The name, unusually, lays particular stress on the different environment that the Mani live in as compared to the general Thai population.

2. Goy

a.        Is another term for the Mani.

b.        The term appears first in a text by Thai king Rama V

                                                              i.       with the title "Mani of the Jungle".

c.        "Goy" should be thought of as archaic in the Mani language whose language is not written so that the pronunciation can change easily and quickly.

3. Negrito

a.        Is a collective term widely used among anthologists

b.        are people of generally short stature, dark to very dark complexion and with curly "peppercorn" black hair, speaking Asian languages.

4. Mani

a.        is what the Thai Negrito call themselves.

b.        The word is of Mon-Khmer origin and means "human being

c.        Negrito

                                                              i.      is a collective term widely used among anthropologists, meaning Asian tribal people with a black complexion, short stature and "peppercorn" curled hair besides other characteristics

5. Ngoh, Ngoh Pah, and Hoh

a.        The term "Ngoh" is used both as a name for the Thai Mani

                                                              i.      , for the Veddoid Senoi of Malaysia and in yet another alternative for all aboriginal populations on the Malay Peninsula

6. Sakai, Sakae, or Sakai-of-the-Jungle

a.        all mean "savage".

b.        the term "Sakai" is mainly used by the Buddhist Thai and is derived from the term "Sakae" used by Muslims when referring to the Mani.

c.        "Sakai" in Malay means subservient people of a colony or people under occupation.

7. "Orang Sakai"

a.        the term which means "slaves"

b.        The Mani are the original people of the Malay Peninsula, who, after Malays had come to occupy their lands, became their slaves.

8. Semang, Seemang and Siamang

a.        Are Malay terms meaning "Langur" (a kind of long-armed tree monkey).