Woman Leu Khmer with her son. Ratanakiri. The Khmer Loeu are the Mon–Khmer highland tribes in Cambodia. Although the origins of
Woman Leu Khmer with her son. Ratanakiri. The Khmer Loeu are the Mon–Khmer highland tribes in Cambodia. Although the origins of these groups are not clear, some believe that the Mon–Khmer-speaking tribes were part of the long migration of these people from the northwest. The Austronesian-speaking groups, Rade and Jarai, apparently came to coastal Vietnam and then moved west, forming wedges among some of the Mon–Khmer groups. The Khmer Loeu are found mainly in the northeastern provinces of Ratanakiri, Stung Treng, and Mondulkiri. The Cambodian government coined the word Khmer Loeu—literally "Highland Khmer"—in the 1960s in order to create a feeling of unity between the highland tribal groups and the ruling lowland ethnic Khmer. Previously they had been designated as 'Montagnards' by the colonial French administration. Traditionally the Khmer have referred to these groups as phnong and samre, both of which have pejorative meanings. Some of the highland groups, in fact, are related in language to the Khmer, but others are from a very different linguistic and cultural background. Khmer Loeu form the majority population in Ratanakiri and Mondulkiri provinces, and they also are present in substantial numbers in Kratié Province and Stung Treng Province. Their total population in 1969 was estimated at 90,000 people. In 1971 the number of Khmer Loeu was estimated variously between 40,000 and 100,000 people. Population figures were unavailable in 1987, but the total probably was nearly 100,000 people.
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