[1][3] The Lawa are sometimes mistaken for being the same people as the Lua of northern Laos and of Nan Province, Thailand, who are speakers of the more distantly related Khmuic languages.
[3][4] Today, those Lawa who have not been integrated in mainstream Thai society, still live a traditional way of life, often professing animism.
[5][6] Other sources place the Lawa as the original inhabitants of Northern Thailand, pre-dating the Tai migration into these lands.
Chiang Mai, Thailand, was founded on the location of a 5th-century CE Lawa walled city, and legends state that Kengtung in Myanmar was taken from the Lawa in the 13th century CE through cunning and deceit by King Mangrai, the founder of the northern Thai Lanna Kingdom.
The 15th century CE book Cāmadevivaṃsa by the Chiang Mai monk Bodhiramsi, relates how the Mon Queen Camadevi, a princess of the Lavo Kingdom, established the city of Haripunchai (present-day Lamphun) in the 7th century CE and is attacked by Vilanga, king of the Lawa, with 80,000 soldiers.