Research & Article

This paper analyses the administrative and social systems of Lan Na in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries with special focus on demographic factors. Tight control of manpower was crucial to this sparsely populated, mountainous region. It is argued that the nai sip system of organising the workforce was probably introduced under Chinese or Mongolian influence prior to the founding of Lan Na. The territorial administration of Lan Na was characterised by the panna, administrative units below the müang level. Lacking a centralised administration, centrifugal tendencies intensified during the first half of the fifteenth century that eventually precipitated the disintegration of the kingdom in 1558. Among several factors, shortage of manpower was decisive for the manifold problems that Lan Na encountered during her internal crisis.