A “Bangladeshi” Descendant Muslim Community in Northern Thailand
Its formation process
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14456/arv.2025.6Keywords:
Muslims, Bangladesh, Bengal, migration, British colonial era, community formation, northern ThailandAbstract
Thailand is a majority Buddhist country. However, there is a Muslim population in some parts of the country. One such community is a so-called "Indian" Muslim community in northern Thailand. In fact, they originally came from East Bengal, now Bangladesh, not India. A large community of such Bangladeshi descendants can be found in Chiang Mai and other groups of them live in some smaller towns in northern Thailand.
This paper discusses the migration processes, routes, and settlement processes of a group in northern Thailand. When the author started researching them, they declared themselves "Bangladee" (Thai pronunciation of Bangladesh), but they added that they did not know where their ancestors came from, only knowing place names like Chittagong or Noakhali. This paper will focus on an examination of their settlement processes and community formation. It will also emphasize the importance of the land route connection between South Asia and Southeast Asia.
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