Brine wells in a mountain valley, boiled down in pans, and the only salt in hundreds of miles of interior upland.
The workings are old and the trade in this salt is what gives the Nan valley chiefs something to sell; it goes out on backs and boats to the Yom, the Mekong and the Lao muang. Whoever holds the wells taxes everybody's cooking.
Who he is
- Title
- The families who work the brine wells
- Since
- not known
- Born
- not known
- Family
- None named.
- Confidence
- low
English Wikipedia (Bo Kluea, Nan Kingdom).
What it holds
- The brine wells at Bo Kluea (Bo Luang and Bo Mang)
- The boiling pans and the fuel woods
- The salt roads out
Allies and rivals
The Kha (Lua and Htin) villages, who gather fuel and trade; the Nan chiefs.
How things stand that morning
Active, we may assume; the sources we could reach date the use to the fourteenth century at least.
Wealth
Salt.
Threats
- A chief or muang taking the wells
Places of note
- Bo Kluea: brine wells
Where the sources disagree
- Board: "workings are old". Dated use is 14th century (Nan Kingdom article).
Evidence: The salt wells are real and old; dated use is later.
On the map: A polygon round the wells.
Primary sources for Yom and Nan
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 Glass Palace Chronicle of the Kings of Burma, The Royal Historical Commission of King Bagyidaw (Monywe Sayadaw and others), drawing on U Kala's Maha Yazawin (about 1724) and earlier chronicles (1829 to 1832). The standard Burmese court chronicle, compiled six centuries after 1200 from older chronicles now lost. Read online
- The later Tai, Lao and Mon chronicles of the north, Ratanapanna (Jinakalamali); Bodhiramsi (Chamadevivamsa); anonymous monks and court scribes (the Chamadevivamsa about 1410; the Jinakalamali 1516 to 1528; the Chiang Mai Chronicle in its surviving form 1827; the Nithan Khun Borom 16th to 17th century). There is no text of 1200 for the Mon kingdom of Haripunjaya, the Tai muang of Ngoenyang (Chiang Saen), Chiang Rung, the Yom and Nan valleys, or the Lao middle Mekong.
- The Inscriptions of Cambodia, Various (the Khmer kings and their officers), edited by George Coedes (inscriptions of the 6th to 14th centuries; edited 1937 to 1966). The Khmer empire of 1200 is known almost entirely from the great foundation stelae of Jayavarman VII (reigning from 1181), which Coedes edited: the Ta Prohm stele of 1186 (K. Read online
- The Customs of Cambodia, Zhou Daguan (after 1297, from a stay at Angkor in 1296 to 1297). A Chinese envoy's account of Angkor a century after Jayavarman VII, and the only description of the city and its court by an eyewitness. Read online
Sources and studies
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.