Mon Kingdom , also Named the Hanthawaddy Kingdom , kingdom of the Mon people, the from the 9th to the 11th and from the 13th to the 16th centuries and for a short time in the mid-18th century in Myanmar (Burma) powerful . The Mon migrated south from western China and settled around the 6th century n . Chr . In Catchment area of Chao Phraya (in southern Thailand) . Your early kingdoms Dvaravati and Haripunjaya ( qq.v. ) had ties to the ancient Cambodian kingdom of Funan and China, and were also heavily influenced by the Khmer civilization.
After the mon in the following centuries west into the Irrawaddy delta in southern Myanmar, they acquired the Theravāda Buddhism, their state religion, from Ceylon and southern India and adopted the Indian Pāli script. By 825 they were firmly established in southern and southeastern Myanmar and the cities of Pegu and Thaton founded.
Around the same time, south-migrating Burmans took over lands in central Myanmar and established the kingdom pagan . In 1057, Pagan defeated the Mon kingdom, captured the Mon capital Thaton, and kidnapped 30,000 Mon captives to Pagan. This event would prove culturally pivotal for the Burmans, as the Mon captives included many Theravāda Buddhist monks, who converted the Burmans to Theravāda Buddhism. Pāli replaced Sanskrit as the language of sacred literature , and the Burmans adopted the Mon alphabet.
After the fall of the heathen (1287) to the invading Mongols, the Mon at gained Wareru regained their independence and conquered Martaban and Pegu, effectively controlling their previously held territory. There was constant warfare between the Mon and the Burmans for the next 200 years, but the Mon maintained their independence until 1539, when they came under the rule of Toungoo Myanmar . In the mid-18th century, the Mon rose in rebellion and reestablished their kingdom of Pegu, but it only lasted about 10 years. The Burmans permanently triumphed over the Mon when their leader Alaungpaya destroyed Pegu in 1757. Many of the Mon were killed while others fled to Siam (now Thailand). The Mon are still centered in southeastern Myanmar, although their numbers are small compared to the ethnic Burmans.