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Kawthoolei (S'gaw Karen: ကီၢ်သူလ့ၤ, lit. 'land without darkness'; Burmese: ကော့သူးလေ or ကော်သူးလေ) is the endonym for a proposed state that the Karen nationalists have sought to establish in Myanmar since the beginning of the Karen conflict in the late 1940s.[1]
Kawthoolei corresponds to the territory partially administered by the Karen National Union, which, as of 2017, comprised the Kayin State and parts of the following: Mon State, Tanintharyi Region, Bago Region, and the Ayeyarwady Region.[2]
The name "Kaw-thu-lay" was used by the government of the Union of Burma in the drafting of its 1948 constitution, which made provisions for an autonomous region for the Karenni people.[3]
It is unclear as to why the name Kawthoolei was adopted. Kawthoolei is not the only name used to refer to a Karen country: the Pwo Karen use the phrase "Kan Su Line", meaning literally, "land cool cave".[4] The flag was adopted in 1974.[5]
The precise meaning of Kawthoolei is disputed even by the Karen themselves.
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