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Tboung Khmum Kingdomត្បូងឃ្មុំ (Khmer)
14th – 16th centuries
Territory of the Tboung Khmum Kingdom in the 14th-16th centuries
Capital	Tboung Khmum
Common languages	Kuy language
Monarchy
• 1470s	Chao Kuy
Historical era	Post-classical era
• Decline of the Angkor	14th century
• Establishment	14th century
• Sent embassy to Ayutthaya	15th century
• Mentioned in Longvek Chronicle	1470s
• Annexed to Cambodia	16th century
Preceded by Succeeded by Khmer Empire Nakhon Kalachambak Mueang Ramrak Ongkarn Cambodia Ayutthaya
Today part of	Cambodia, Laos, Thailand

Tboung Khmum Kingdom (Khmer: ត្បូងឃ្មុំ [tɓoːŋ kʰmum]) was a former political entity of the Kuy people that existed around the 14th to 16th centuries in the central Mekong Valley, covering some parts of present-day northeast Cambodia, southern Laos, and northeastern Thailand. Its capital was annexed by Cambodia in the 16th century, while the remaining communities in the north evolved into the multi-ethnolinguistic polities that later became part of Laos and Thailand.

Records of the Tboung Khmum Kingdom are limited. The only surviving evidence is the Longvek Chronicle, written by the Khmer king Ang Eng, and it is sporadically mentioned in the Siamese royal text in the Ayutthaya and early Rattanakosin periods.

Location

Tboung Khmum Kingdom was located in the north of the present-day Kampong Thom province of Cambodia and was said to cover Stung Treng and eastern Preah Vihear provinces of present-day Cambodia, Salavan and the other 3 southernmost provinces of modern Laos, and some parts of Si Sa Ket and Ubon Ratchathani provinces of Thailand. It bordered Phimai of the Ayutthaya Kingdom at the Khayung Creek (ห้วยขะยูง) to the west and reached the Annamite Range to the east. To the north met a group of Khottrabun [th] polities and adjoined Cambodia to the south and southwest.

History

Independent kingdom

The Tboung Khmum Kingdom of the Kuy people was first mentioned in the Khmer Longvek Chronicle, which was given to the Siamese king Rama I by his adopted Khmer son Ang Eng in 1786. The chronicle was translated to Thai and was kept in the Royal Library [th] near the Amarindra Winitchai Throne Hall [th]. But now the original Khmer language version has been lost. The latter part of the chronicle mentions the struggle for the throne by the Khmer royal family after the death of King Noreay Ramathuppdey [fr] in 1468. One of Noreay Ramathuppdey's lineage, Thommo Reachea I [fr], requests help from the King of Tboung Khmum against Soriyoteï II [fr].

..ฝ่ายพระธรรมราชา ขณะเมื่อหนีไปอยู่ทำเลอมนั้น ได้เปนมิตรสันถวะกันกับเจ้ากวย ครั้นได้พระนครหลวงแล้ว จึงให้มีหนังสือกำหนดไปขอกองทัพเจ้ากวยณเมืองตบงขมุมให้ยกมาช่วยรบพระศรีโสไทย ณ เมืองลแวก ครั้นได้กำหนด กองทัพเจ้าพญาธรรมราชากับกองทัพกวยก็ยกไปรบพระศรีโสไทย พระศรีโสไทยทานมิได้ก็ทิ้งครัวเสียหนีไป...

..As for Thommo Reachea I, while he was fleeing to live in the north, he was on good terms with the Chao Kuy. When he had captured the capital, he then sent a letter requesting the army of Chao Kuy from the city of Tboung Khmum to fight Soriyoteï II at the city of Longvek. When the time came, the army of Thommo Reachea and the Kuy army went to fight Soriyoteï. Soriyoteï lost, abandoned his family, and fled...

— Ang Eng, Longvek Chronicle

According to the text given in the chronicle, Chao Kuy (เจ้ากวย) is potentially referred to the king of the Kuy people who enthroned in the city of Tboung Khmum located in the south of the present-day Champasak and this also indicates that the kingdom of the Kuy people was the independent polity at least in the 15th century. During this period, Kuy kingdom also engaged in trade relationship with Siam as its embassy were sent to the Ayutthaya court. As per the Royal Criminal Law, the Kuy people had a very high social status in the early Ayutthaya period, comparable to the people of French, English, Chinese, Portuguese, Dutch, Shan, Javanese, Malay, Arab, and Vietnamese descent. Moreover, some of the Kuy people became government officers in the Ayutthaya court, especially in the elephant-related segments since they are known as skilled mahouts, or elephant trainers, and many Kuy villages are employed in finding, taming, and selling elephants.

Post Tboung Khmum era

Khmer's Longvek used their political power to subdue several ethnic groups and also annexed the Tboung Khmum Kingdom in the 16th century. The remaining Kuy people then moved northward to settle in the present-day Champasak and the southern Isan region east of Ayutthaya's Phimai, which were a wasteland and remains unclaimed by any state at that time. According to the Champasak Chronicle, the Kuy-Cham-Lao communities in the Champasak region and the Bolaven Plateau later evolved to the city-state of Nakhon Kalachambak Nagaburi Sri (นครกาลจำบากนาคบุรีศรี), which continued to the formation of the Champasak Kingdom in 1713. Meanwhile, the Kuy communities in the Mun River basin in the west were loyal to Ayutthaya, with Phimai as the head of the region, and it was collectively called in the Rattanakosin period as Hua Mueang Khamen Pa Dong (หัวเมืองเขมรป่าดง), which can be interpreted as meaning "cities of the Khmer forest people." The later immigration of Lao and Khmer peoples reduced the proportion of Kuy people in the area to about 10-20% of the total population.

The development of the Kuy communities after the 17th century is shown below.

Region/Territory	Kuy's political entities
	Early era	Transitional era		Modern era
Northeast Cambodia	Tboung Khmum Kingdom	Completely annexed to Cambodia since the 16th century.			Modern Cambodia
Southern Laos		Nakhon Kalachambak Nagaburi Sri and Mueang Ramrak Ongkarn	Champasak Kingdom (Lao domination)		Modern Laos
Ubon Ratchathani		Occupied by Lao people	Champasak Kingdom	Lao domination	Modern Thailand
Surin	wasteland (The area was sparse in population after the decline of the Angkor.)	Ban Khu Patay	Mueang Prathaysaman	Mueang Surin
		Ban Kud Wai	Mueang Sri Nakhon Tao	Mueang Rattanaburi
		Ban Atchapueng	Mueang Sangkha
Si Sa Ket		Ban Lamduan	Mueang Khukhan
		Ban Jaraphuet	Mueang Sikhoraphum

References

1. ^ Longvek Chronicle
2. ^ "ประวัติศาสตร์ความเป็นมาของชาติพันธุ์กูย" [History of the Kuy ethnic group]. Indigenous Media Network (in Thai). 19 December 2022. Retrieved 2 January 2025.
3. ^ Salee, Banyat (2015). "กูย : ว่าด้วยกลุ่มชาติพันธุ์ ภาษา และตำนาน" [Kui : The Study on Ethnic Group, Language and Myth]. Journal of Human and Social Studies (in Thai). 1 (1). Archived from the original on 1 January 2025. Retrieved 2 January 2025 – via Thai Journal Online.
4. ^ Fine Arts Department (1941), "ตำนานเมืองนครจำปาศักดิ์" [Tamnan Mueang Nakhon Champasak], ประชุมพงศาวดาร ภาคที่ ๗๐ [Collection of Historical Archives] (PDF) (in Thai), Phra Nakhon [th]: Phra Chan, retrieved 2024-10-26{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
5. Santi Pakdeekham. "เอกสารกัมพูชากับการศึกษาประวัติศาสตร์อยุธยา" [Cambodian documents and the study of Ayutthaya history] (PDF). Damrong Wichakan (in Thai). Retrieved 2 January 2025.
6. สุจิตต์ วงษ์เทศ. "ชาวกูย โขง, ชี, มูล ค้าช้างสมัยอยุธยา" [The Kuy people of Mekong, Chi, and Mun traded elephants during the Ayutthaya period.]. Matichon (in Thai). Retrieved 2 January 2025.
7. สุจิตต์ วงษ์เทศ (30 June 2023). "ชาวกูย จาก 'โขง-ชี-มูล' รับราชการ 'งานช้าง' ในอยุธยา" [The Kuy people from 'Mekhong-Chi-Mun' work as government officials in 'Elephant Work' in Ayutthaya.]. Matichon (in Thai). Retrieved 2 January 2025.
8. Pongsak, Nakprada, The "Elephants Return to Homeland" Project Management for Provincial Economic Development in Surin Province (PDF), The Government of Thailand, retrieved 7 November 2015
9. 2006 Mahidol University Study, cited in Ethnologue
10. 2019 Indigenous Peoples Organization, cited in
11. 2005 Lao Census, cited in Ethnologue
12. Chit Phumisak (2013). ความเป็นมาของคำสยาม, ไทย ลาว และขอม และลักษณะทางสังคมของชื่อชนชาติ [The origin of the words Siam, Thai, Lao and Khom, and the social characteristics of the names of the ethnic groups] (in Thai). Bangkok: Chonniyom.
13. "ประวัติชาติพันธุ์ "กูย" ก่อนดราม่า "กุน ขแมร์" โยงเชื้อสาย"บัวขาว"". PPTV (in Thai). 25 April 2023. Retrieved 2 January 2025.

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