The upper Black River country round Thuận Châu and Sơn La: the polity Vietnamese sources call Ngưu Hống, independent in practice and outside any Ly administration in 1200 (board).
Rice bowls in the valleys and long hill ridges between. The Tai Dam chronicle (Quam To Muong) and the Muong origin tales were written down centuries after 1200; we read them as a guide to the ground, not as dated evidence.
Who holds it
- Title
- Tai chao muong (valley lords) and their kin
- Confidence
- low
Tai chronicles and Vietnamese notices as reported second hand; board
Overlord
Thăng Long claims tribute in name when strong.
Wealth
Rice, cattle, forest goods.
Threats
- A tribute demand from Thang Long when a king is strong enough to ask
What the year holds
What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.
- Tran period, after 1225 (the campaign board gives no year)Dai Viet armies raid the Black Tai of Nguu Hong on the upper Black River.Depends on: A Tran court strong enough to send armies up the Black River. Stopped by: No strong court at Thang Long, or a Tai lord who pays tribute.
Places of note
- Muong Muoi: Thuan Chau
- Son La: Basin
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: The campaign board entry description and a polygon built from modern districts; nothing in our sources dates the unit to 1200.
"The campaign board" is OMNIA's working map. These notes record where its earlier claims were checked against the sources.
On the map: A union of modern districts standing for the country; the real edge was not a line (a raiding belt or a day's walk of hills).
Primary sources for Tai and Muong of the north-west
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- The Complete Annals of Dai Viet, Ngo Si Lien, drawing on Le Van Huu's Dai Viet su ky (1272) and Phan Phu Tien; continued by Pham Cong Tru and Le Hi (1479; printed 1697 in the standard Chinh Hoa edition). The main narrative source for Dai Viet in 1200, compiled in 1479 from Le Van Huu's lost history of 1272. Read online
- The Unofficial History of Nanzhao, Yang Shen; revised by Hu Wei (16th century, revised 1775, from Dali and Yunnan traditions and lost local histories). The kingdom of Dali has no surviving text of 1200: its own records were destroyed in the Mongol conquest and after, and the Song shi's Dali entry ends in 1175. Read online
Sources and studies
- OMNIA board notes for the Vietnam and Champa area (a lead, not a source)
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.