The story
Coined by Dutch historian Willem van Schendel in 2002 on the basis of the Kuki-Chin roots zo ‘hill’ and mi ‘person’.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Zomia
Today it means: Highland areas of the Indochina region of peninsular Southeast Asia that are historically outside the control of governments based in the population centres in the lowlands. Full definition →