Overcome by the more powerful Han tribe after a 2000-year ongoing battle, they migrated down to Southern China and eventually to northern Vietnam and Laos, then parts the French colony Indochina. A small group moved on to Thailand and present-day Myanmar.
Before 1975, approximately 300,000 Hmongs lived in Laos. Another 100,000 lived in Thailand. An estimated 800,000 Hmongs currently live in Northern Vietnam.
Stay tuned for Parts 2 and 3 of our series on the Hmong people in the upcoming weeks.