The Karen are a major ethnic group of Burma, though several hundred thousand live in northern Thailand. Linguistically Tibeto-Burman, the Karen maintain a legend that dates them back to the Gobi Desert of Mongolia. There are several branches of Karen?he Red Karen (Karenni), Sgaw Karen and Pwo Karen. There is also the hilltribe of Padaung, better known as 'Long-neck Karen'. In present-day Myanmar, the Karen rebel army, the KNU, has continuously fought a bloody civil war with the central Burman government since 1948.