February 6, 2004: "Among the peoples who live in Burma today, the Mons are considered to be the oldest. The Mon people established their own sovereign kingdoms and enjoyed freedom and prosperity for many centuries before the modern era began. Their civilization was among the most distinctive and influential in pre-colonial Southeast Asia. Significant aspects of the language, art and architecture, political and legal arrangements, and, above all, the religion of the great Burman and Thai civilizations were derived from the Mon society which preceded them and which acted as a vector in the transmission of Theravada Buddhism and Indianized political culture to the region..."