Thaton kingdom

Kingdom of Thaton
သထုံခေတ်
သုဝဏ္ဏဘူမိ
400 BC–AD 1057
StatusKingdom
CapitalThaton
Common languagesMon
Religion
Theravada Buddhism
GovernmentMonarchy
History 
 Founding of dynasty
400 BC
 End of kingdom
AD 1057
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Tou Yuan
Dvaravati
Pagan kingdom

The Thaton kingdom, Suwarnabhumi, or Thuwunnabumi (Burmese: သထုံခေတ် [θətʰòʊɰ̃ kʰɪʔ] or သုဝဏ္ဏဘူမိ [θṵwəna̰ bʊ̀mḭ]) was a Mon kingdom, believed to have existed in Lower Burma from at least the 4th century BC to the middle of the 11th century AD. One of many Mon kingdoms that existed in modern-day Lower Burma and Thailand, the kingdom was essentially a city-state centered on the city of Thaton.:63,77 It traded directly with South India and Sri Lanka, and became a primary center of Theravada Buddhism in South-East Asia. Thaton, like other Mon kingdoms, faced the gradual encroachment of the Khmer Empire. But it was the Pagan kingdom from the north that conquered the fabled kingdom in 1057.