ABSTRACT
The following three papers challenge what Bowie claims to be a prevailing assumption that Tai states, and especially the Thai state, have been characterised by ethnic and cultural homogeneity. From this generalization we clearly have to exempt the Lao case reviewed above. Here the focus is primarily on the region that is now known loosely as 'northern Thailand' whose regional capital is indisputably Chiang Mai. The Lanna (or Lan Na, or Lannat(h)ai) Kingdonl, is currently used to refer to a succession of states centred largely on Chiang Mai from about 1263 AD, with periods of Burmese overrule and from 1775 increasingly under Siamese sovereignty, up to the final extinction of the royal line and residual ruling function in 1939. The extent of this state varied and gave rise to what has been called a 'greater Lan Na cultural zone' which included at times parts of the Shan states, Sipsongpanna, and Miiang Nan.
