| YEAR |
EVENTS |
| 2500 BC |
Various migrant groups from Siberia enter northeastern China; one group, the Hmong, continue south to the Huang He (Yellow) River. Hmong become horticulturists, perhaps under the influence of Yangshao and Lungshan cultures, early Neolithic societies of northern China. |
| 1500 BC |
Shang dynasty established intensive agricultural/agrarian state in China. Hmong migrate to mountainous areas to escape political and cultural incorporation into Chinese culture. |
| 400 AD |
Hmong, after a thousand years of fighting various Chinese dynasties, have reorganized politically into a chiefdom, often with some traits of political states. Various chiefs often had to reach a consensus on major issues. By 600 AD local matters were left to Hmong to decide, although they technically paid taxes to the Chinese Empire and were subject to Chinese law. |
| 900 AD |
China attempts to annihilate the Hmong culture and assimilate all Hmong to Chinese culture, as part of a larger campaign to subdue all ethnic minorities. Chiefdom organization disappears, and the dispersed and powerless Hmong resume a tribal organization. They live primarily in mountainous areas in southern China. Interaction with Chinese continues to be mostly hostile. |
| 1650 |
Qing Dynasty (sometimes called the Manchu dynasty) after considerable fighting, place all ethnic areas, including the Hmong, under direct Chinese administration. Insurrections were frequent. Hmong continue to migrate south and west to escape assimilation into Chinese culture. |
| 1750 |
Hmong begin migrating into Vietnam, and eventually into Laos and Thailand. Here they interact with other tribes as well as the majority kingdoms (intensive agriculture states) already well established in these three countries. Most Hmong, however, remain in southern China. |
| 1859 |
France, supposedly in retaliation for the persecution of French Catholic missionaries, sends nine warships to Saigon, in Vietnam. |
| 1863-1893 |
In order to gain control of the Mekong River, its natural resources such as timber, tin, coal, iron, and various opium fields, France conquers Cambodia in 1863. Vietnam falls to France in 1884, and Laos in 1893. In Laos, the Lao royal family remain the nominal head of the government. These three countries became known as French Indochina. Only Thailand manages to remain independent of French colonization. |
| 1900 |
The Hmong continue to resist the French, frequently refusing to pay taxes and leading rebellions against the colonial government. However, leaders of Hmong clans become increasingly likely to have attended French schools. Many are fluent in French and Vietnamese or Laotian, as well as Hmong. The French use leaders of some clans as political administrators. This helps some clans to become more important than others. |
| 1939 |
In Laos, a French-educated Hmong, Touby Lyfoung, becomes head of the Hmong. He begins to use his influence and power to demand Hmong schools and government positions. |
| 1940 |
France falls to Germany, and Japan invades Indochina. The provisional French government in Laos is permitted to continue as long as it does not hamper the Japanese occupation. |
| 1944 |
Paris is liberated in August. French commandos enter Laos, where with the help of Lyfoung and Hmong partisans, they harass Japanese forces. |
