[7] The term is extant to Old Burmese, first attested to a Bagan era inscription from 1120, where it referred to Tai-speaking populations east of the kingdom.

The Shan also have a number of exonyms in other minority languages, including Pa'O: ဖြဝ်ꩻ, Western Pwo Karen: ၥဲၫ့, and Mon သေံဇၞော်listenⓘ (seṃ jnok).

Some of these groups in fact speak Tibeto-Burman and Mon-Khmer and Assamese language, although they are assimilated into Shan society.

The Shan constitute one of the four main Buddhist ethnic groups in Burma; the others are the Bamar, the Mon and the Rakhine.

Shans were a major part of Burmese forces in the First Anglo-Burmese War of 1824–1826, and fought valiantly—a fact even the British commanders acknowledged.

[25] In the latter half of the 19th century Shan people migrated into Northern Thailand reaching Phrae Province.

[28] After World War II, the Shan and other ethnic minority leaders negotiated with the majority Bamar leadership at the Panglong Conference, and agreed to gain independence from Britain as part of Union of Burma.

General Ne Win's coup d'état overthrew the democratically elected government in 1962, and abolished Shan saopha system.

A Shan independence movement has been active and engaged in armed struggle, leading to intermittent civil war within Burma for decades.

Some of the worst fighting in recent times occurred in 2002 when the Burmese army shelled the Thai border town of Mae Sai, south of Tachileik, in an attempt to capture members of the SSA's Southern Faction who had fled across the Nam Ruak.

[citation needed] The horrific conditions inside Burma have led to a massive exodus of young Shan males to neighbouring Thailand, where they are not given refugee status.

[37] Prince Hso Khan Pha (sometimes written as Surkhanfa in Thai), son of Sao Nang Hearn Kham of Yawnghwe lived in exile in Canada.

The declaration of independence was rejected by most other ethnic minority groups, many Shan living inside Burma, and the country's leading opposition party, Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy.

Despite the domestic opposition to the declaration, the Burmese Army is rumoured to have used it as a reason to crack down on Shan civilians.

[39][40] Shan civil society organisations are concerned about the lack of international response on the recent conflict.