The Ahoms, (Thai: ไทอาหม Tai Aohm) who ruled Assam for six centuries are the descendants of ethnic Tai people who accompanied the Tai prince Sukaphaa into Assam. And for this reason people of this community call themselves the Tai-Ahom. Sukaphaa established the Ahom kingdom (1228-1826) and the Ahom dynasty ruled and expanded the kingdom for about 600 years. Many of those who accompanied Sukaphaa were unaccompanied males who married into the local communities. Some ethnic communities, like the Tibeto-Burman speaking Borahi people, were completely subsumed into the Ahom community. Members of other communities, based on their allegiance to the Ahom kingdom and their talents, were accepted as Ahoms. The kingdom the Ahom people established gave Assam its name.

In early 13th century, Sukaphaa, a Shan (Mong Mao) prince began his journey with about 9000 _{(Edward Gait)} followers, mostly men. He crossed the Patkai hills and reached the Brahmaputra valley in 1228. He moved from place to place, searching for a seat. He decided not to attack the Morans and Borahis but befriend them instead. His followers, much depleted from the original 9000, married into the Borahi and the Moran ethnic groups. The Borahis, a Tibeto-Burman people, were subsumed into the Ahom fold, though the Moran maintained their independent ethnicity. Sukaphaa finally established his capital at Charaideo near present-day Sivasagar in 1253 and began the task of state formation.