Chak people

Not to be confused with Chakma people.

The Chaks (Bengali: চাক Bengali pronunciation: [tʃak]), are a community inhabiting the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh, northeastern states of India. In Myanmar, they are known as Thet people (သက်) classified under Rakhine subgroup.

Chak

Sak
Chak women (Thet) in Myanmar
Total population
3,077[1] (2022)
Languages
Sak language[2]
Religion
Theravada Buddhism
Related ethnic groups
Kadu

History

By the mid-13th century, the Saks had diverged from the Kadu people, who now reside in northwestern Myanmar's Sagaing Region.^[3] The Chaks entered the Chittagong Hill Tracts in the 14th century after their kingdom was overrun by the Arakanese. Despite this, there are still Chaks living in Arakan.^[4]

Thet people

The Chak people are called Thet (Burmese: သက်) in Myanmar. They are considered a subgroup of the Rakhine people under Myanmar's 1982 ethnicity law.^[5][6] According to Arakanese regional medias, that there were nearly 6,000 ethnic Thet in Myanmar with 3,000-4,000 in Rakhine State alone.^[7]