Mnong people

Mnong

Total population
Vietnam 102,741 (2009)
Regions with significant populations
Vietnam: Đắk Lắk, Lâm Đồng, Bình Phước; Cambodia
Languages
Mnong, others
Religion
Christian, Theravada Buddhism, Animist

A longhouse in the Mnong village of Buôn Jun in the Central Highlands of Vietnam.

Mnong women near Buan Ma Thot

Mnong's elephant carer

The Mnong or M'nong (Vietnamese: M'Nông) are an ethnic group from Vietnam (92,451 in 1999). They can be subdivided into three groups:

• Central Mnong: around 88,000 people in the Đắk Lắk and Lâm Đồng provinces of the Central Highlands, mostly of the Christian religion
• Eastern Mnong: around 76,000 people in the Đắk Lắk and Lâm Đồng provinces of the Central Highlands
• Southern Mnong: around 55,000 people in the Bình Phước province of southeastern Vietnam

A number of Mnong live in the eastern Cambodian province of Mondulkiri.

Language

Every group speaks a variant of the Mnong language, which is in the Bahnaric languages group of the Mon–Khmer language family.

Literature

Epic

Epics (Mnong language: Ot N'rong- Ot: telling by singing the poem, N'rong: old story) take an important part in Mnong people's life. Many of these epics, such as Ghu sok bon Tiăng, are quite long.

Notable people

• N'Thu K'Nul, a Lao-Mnong person, a chieftain who established Bon Don, in Đắk Lắk Province- a famous elephant hunting and taming village. He caught a white elephant and gave it as a present to the Thai royal family in 1861, leading the king of Thailand to bestow upon him the name "Khunjunob" (literally "Elephant Hunting King")
• N'Trang Lơng, hero who led villagers against French colonizers
• Điểu Klung, epic teller
• Điểu Kâu, ethnologist

External links

• Mnong at www.peoplesoftheworld.org