Origin of Ahom people
The first Thai speakers emerged in the Guangxi region of China, from where they moved to mainland Southeast Asia in the mid-11th century after a long and fierce war with the Chinese. The Tai-Ahoms are descended from Mong Mao in southern China or from the Hukawng Valley in Myanmar.
Sukaphaa, a Tai prince of Mong Mao, and a group of followers arrived in Assam in 1228 with the intention of settling there. They came up with higher existing wet-rice farming technology and traditions of writing, record keeping, and state formation. They settled in the area south of the Brahmaputra River and east of the Dikho River; Today the Ahom people are concentrated in this area. Sukaphaa, the leader of the Tai group, and his 9,000 followers founded the kingdom of Ahom (1228-1826 AD), which controlled much of the Brahmaputra valley until 1826.
In the early stages, Sukaphaa’s loyal group moved for nearly thirty years and mingled with the locals. He moved from place to place, looking for a seat. He made peace with the Borahi and Moran ethnic groups, and he and his mostly male followers married them, creating a mixed population group identified as the Ahoms. and start the Ahomization process. The Borahis, a Tibeto-Burmese people, are fully included in the Ahom group, although the Morans have retained their independent ethnicity. Sukapha established his capital at Charaideo near present-day Sivasagar in 1253 and began his quest to establish the state.
Ahom Kingdom
The Ahom or Tai-Ahom, are an ethnic group from the Indian states of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. Members of this group are mixed descendants of the Tai people who arrived in Brahmaputra’s Assam Valley in 1228, and local indigenous peoples have joined them throughout history. Sukaphaa, leader of the Tai group, and his 9,000 followers founded the kingdom of Ahom (1228–1826 AD), which controlled much of the Brahmaputra valley in modern Assam until 1826.
Map of Ahom Kingdom