Laos 

(/ˈlɑːoʊs/ ( listen)[9][d]), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic (Lao PDR or LPDR),

[e]
 is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia. At the heart of the Indochinese Peninsula, Laos is
bordered by Myanmar and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the southeast,
and Thailand to the west and southwest.[12] Its capital and largest city is Vientiane.
Present-day Laos traces its historic and cultural identity to Lan Xang, which existed from the 13th
century to the 18th century as one of the largest kingdoms in Southeast Asia.[13] Because of its
central geographical location in Southeast Asia, the kingdom became a hub for overland trade and
became wealthy economically and culturally.[13] After a period of internal conflict, Lan Xang broke into
three separate kingdoms: Luang Phrabang, Vientiane and Champasak. In 1893, the three territories
came under a French protectorate and were united to form what is now known as Laos. It briefly
gained independence in 1945 after Japanese occupation but was re-colonised by France until it won
autonomy in 1949. Laos became independent in 1953, with a constitutional
monarchy under Sisavang Vong. A post-independence civil war began, which saw the communist
resistance, supported by the Soviet Union, fight against the monarchy that later came under
influence of military regimes supported by the United States. After the Vietnam War ended in 1975,
the communist Pathet Lao came to power, ending the civil war. Laos was then dependent on military
and economic aid from the Soviet Union until its dissolution in 1991.
Laos is a member of the Asia-Pacific Trade Agreement, the ASEAN, East Asia Summit, and La
Francophonie. Laos applied for membership of the World Trade Organization in 1997; on 2 February
2013, it was granted full membership.[14] It is a one-party socialist republic, espousing Marxism–
Leninism and governed by the Lao People's Revolutionary Party, under which non-governmental
organisations have routinely characterised the country's human rights record as poor, citing repeated
abuses such as torture, restrictions on civil liberties and persecution of minorities.
The politically and culturally dominant Lao people make up 53.2% of the population, mostly in the
lowlands. Mon-Khmer groups, the Hmong, and other indigenous hill tribes live in the foothills and
mountains. Laos's strategies for development are based on generating electricity from rivers and
selling the power to its neighbours, namely Thailand, China and Vietnam, as well as its initiative to
become a "land-linked" nation, as evidenced by the construction of four new railways connecting
Laos and neighbours.[15][16] Laos has been referred to as one of Southeast Asia and Pacific's fastest
growing economies by the World Bank with annual GDP growth averaging 7.4% since 2009.[17][18]

Etymology[edit]
The word Laos was coined by the French, who united the three Lao kingdoms in French Indochina in
1893 and named the country as the plural of the dominant and most common ethnic group, the Lao
people.[19] In English, the 's' is pronounced, and not silent.[19][20][21][22][23] In the Lao language, the country's
name is Muang Lao (ເມືອງລາວ) or Pathet Lao (ປະເທດລາວ), both of which literally mean 'Lao
Country'.[24]

History[edit]
Main article: History of Laos

Prehistory and early history[edit]

Pha That Luang in Vientiane is the national symbol of Laos.

An ancient human skull was recovered in 2009 from the Tam Pa Ling Cave in the Annamite
Mountains in northern Laos; the skull is at least 46,000 years old, making it the oldest modern
human fossil found to date in Southeast Asia.[25] Stone artefacts including Hoabinhian types have
been found at sites dating to the Late Pleistocene in northern Laos.[26] Archaeological evidence
suggests an agriculturist society developed during the 4th millennium BC.[27] Burial jars and other
kinds of sepulchers suggest a complex society in which bronze objects appeared around 1500 BC,
and iron tools were known from 700 BC. The proto-historic period is characterised by contact with
Chinese and Indian civilisations. According to linguistic and other historical evidence, Tai-
speaking tribes migrated southwestward to the modern territories of Laos and Thailand
from Guangxi sometime between the 8th and 10th centuries.[28]

Lan Xang[edit]
Main article: Lan Xang

Fa Ngum, founder of the Lan Xang Kingdom

Laos traces its history to the kingdom of Lan Xang ('million elephants'), which was founded in the
13th century by a Lao prince, Fa Ngum,[29]: 223  whose father had his family exiled from the Khmer
Empire. Fa Ngum, with 10,000 Khmer troops, conquered many Lao principalities in the Mekong river
basin, culminating in the capture of Vientiane. Ngum was descended from a long line of Lao kings
that traced back to Khoun Boulom.[30] He made Theravada Buddhism the state religion, and Lan
Xang prospered. His ministers, unable to tolerate his ruthlessness, forced him into exile to the
present-day Thai province of Nan in 1373,[31] where he died. Fa Ngum's eldest son, Oun Heuan,
ascended to the throne under the name Samsenethai and reigned for 43 years. Lan Xang became
an important trade centre during Samsenthai's reign, but after his death in 1421 it collapsed into
warring factions for nearly a century.[32]
In 1520, Photisarath came to the throne and moved the capital from Luang Prabang to Vientiane to
avoid a Burmese invasion. Setthathirath became king in 1548, after his father was killed, and
ordered the construction of what became the symbol of Laos, That Luang. Settathirath disappeared
in the mountains on his way back from a military expedition into Cambodia, and Lan Xang fell into
more than seventy years of instability, involving both Burmese invasion and civil war.[33]
In 1637, when Sourigna Vongsa ascended the throne, Lan Xang further expanded its frontiers. His
reign is often regarded as Laos's golden age. When he died without an heir, the kingdom split into
three principalities. Between 1763 and 1769, Burmese armies overran northern Laos and
annexed Luang Prabang, while Champasak eventually came under Siamese suzerainty.[34]
Chao Anouvong was installed as a vassal king of Vientiane by the Siamese. He encouraged a
renaissance of Lao fine arts and literature and improved relations with Luang Phrabang. Under
Vietnamese pressure, he rebelled against the Siamese in 1826. The rebellion failed, and Vientiane
was ransacked.[35] Anouvong was taken to Bangkok as a prisoner, where he died.[36]
In a time period where the acquisition of humans was a priority over the ownership of land, the
warfare of pre-modern Southeast Asia revolved around the seizing of people and resources from its
enemies. A Siamese military campaign in Laos in 1876 was described by a British observer as
having been "transformed into slave-hunting raids on a large scale".[37]

French Laos (1893–1953)[edit]

Main articles: French protectorate of Laos and First Indochina War

Local Lao soldiers in the French Colonial guard, c. 1900

In the late 19th century, Luang Prabang was ransacked by the Chinese Black Flag Army.[38] France
rescued King Oun Kham and added Luang Phrabang to the protectorate of French Indochina.
Shortly after, the Kingdom of Champasak and the territory of Vientiane were added to the
protectorate. King Sisavang Vong of Luang Phrabang became ruler of a unified Laos, and Vientiane
once again became the capital.[39] Laos never held any importance for France[40] other than as a buffer
state between Thailand and the more economically important Annam and Tonkin.
Laos produced tin, rubber, and coffee, but never accounted for more than one percent of French
Indochina's exports. By 1940, around 600 French citizens lived in Laos.[41] Under French rule, the
Vietnamese were encouraged to migrate to Laos, which was seen by the French colonists as a
rational solution to a labour shortage within the confines of an Indochina-wide colonial space.[42] By
1943, the Vietnamese population stood at nearly 40,000, forming the majority in the largest cities of
Laos and enjoying the right to elect its own leaders.[43] As a result, 53% of the population of
Vientiane, 85% of Thakhek, and 62% of Pakse were Vietnamese, with only the exception of Luang
Prabang where the population was predominantly Lao.[43] As late as 1945, the French drew up an
ambitious plan to move massive Vietnamese population to three key areas, i.e., the Vientiane
Plain, Savannakhet region, and the Bolaven Plateau, which was only derailed by the Japanese
invasion of Indochina.[43] Otherwise, according to Martin Stuart-Fox, the Lao might well have lost
control over their own country.[43]
During World War II in Laos, Vichy France, Thailand, Imperial Japan and Free France occupied
Laos.[44] On 9 March 1945, a nationalist group declared Laos once more independent, with Luang
Prabang as its capital, but on 7 April 1945 two battalions of Japanese troops occupied the city.[45] The
Japanese attempted to force Sisavang Vong (the King of Luang Phrabang) to declare Laotian
independence, but on 8 April he instead simply declared an end to Laos's status as a French
protectorate. The king then secretly sent Prince Kindavong to represent Laos to the Allied
forces and Prince Sisavang as representative to the Japanese.[45] When Japan surrendered, some
Lao nationalists (including Prince Phetsarath) declared Laotian independence, but by early-1946,
French troops had reoccupied the country and conferred limited autonomy on Laos.[46]
During the First Indochina War, the Indochinese Communist Party formed the Pathet
Lao independence organisation. The Pathet Lao began a war against the French colonial forces with
the aid of the Vietnamese independence organisation, the Viet Minh. In 1950, the French were
forced to give Laos semi-autonomy as an "associated state" within the French Union. France
remained in de facto control until 22 October 1953, when Laos gained full independence as
a constitutional monarchy.[47][46]

Independence and Communist rule (1953–present)[edit]

Main articles: History of Laos since 1945 and Laotian Civil War

French General Salan and Prince Sisavang Vatthana in Luang Prabang, 4 May 1953

The First Indochina War took place across French Indochina and eventually led to French defeat
and the signing of a peace accord for Laos at the Geneva Conference of 1954. In 1960, amidst a
series of rebellions in the Kingdom of Laos, fighting broke out between the Royal Lao Army (RLA)
and the communist North Vietnamese and Soviet Union-backed Pathet Lao guerillas. A second
Provisional Government of National Unity formed by Prince Souvanna Phouma in 1962 was
unsuccessful, and the situation steadily deteriorated into large scale civil war between the Royal
Laotian government and the Pathet Lao. The Pathet Lao were backed militarily by the People's Army
of Vietnam (PAVN) and the Viet Cong.[47][46]
Ruins of Muang Khoun, former capital of Xiangkhouang province, destroyed by the American bombing of
Laos in the late 1960s

Laos was a key part of the Vietnam War since parts of Laos were invaded and occupied by North
Vietnam since 1958 for use as a supply route for its war against South Vietnam. In response, the
United States initiated a bombing campaign against the PAVN positions, supported regular and
irregular anti-communist forces in Laos, and supported Army of the Republic of Vietnam incursions
into Laos.[47][46]
In 1968, the PAVN launched a multi-division attack to help the Pathet Lao fight the RLA. The attack
resulted in the RLA largely demobilising, leaving the conflict to irregular ethnic Hmong forces of the
"Secret Army" backed by the United States and Thailand, and led by General Vang Pao.[citation needed]
Massive aerial bombardments against the PAVN/Pathet Lao forces were carried out by the United
States to prevent the collapse of the Kingdom of Laos central government, and to deny the use of
the Ho Chi Minh Trail to attack US forces in South Vietnam.[47] Between 1964 and 1973, the US
dropped two million tons of bombs on Laos, nearly equal to the 2.1 million tons of bombs the US
dropped on Europe and Asia during all of World War II, making Laos the most heavily bombed
country in history relative to the size of its population; The New York Times notes this was "nearly a
ton for every person in Laos".[48]
Some 80 million bombs failed to explode and remain scattered throughout the country, rendering
vast swaths of land impossible to cultivate. Currently unexploded ordnance (UXO), including cluster
munitions and mines, kill or maim approximately 50 Laotians every year.[49] Due to the particularly
heavy impact of cluster bombs during this war, Laos was a strong advocate of the Convention on
Cluster Munitions to ban the weapons and was host to the First Meeting of States Parties to the
convention in November 2010.[50]

Pathet Lao soldiers in Vientiane, 1972

In 1975 the Pathet Lao overthrew the royalist government, forcing King Savang Vatthana to abdicate
on 2 December 1975. He later died under suspicious circumstances in a re-education camp.
Between 20,000 and 62,000 Laotians died during the civil war.[47][51] The royalists set up a government
in exile in the United States.[citation needed]
On 2 December 1975, after taking control of the country, the Pathet Lao government under Kaysone
Phomvihane renamed the country as the Lao People's Democratic Republic and signed agreements
giving Vietnam the right to station armed forces and to appoint advisers to assist in overseeing the
country. The close ties between Laos and Vietnam were formalised via a treaty signed in 1977,
which has since provided direction for Lao foreign policy, and provides the basis for Vietnamese
involvement at all levels of Lao political and economic life.[47][52] Laos was requested in 1979 by
Vietnam to end relations with the People's Republic of China, leading to isolation in trade by China,
the United States, and other countries.[53] In 1979, there were 50,000 PAVN troops stationed in Laos
and as many as 6,000 civilian Vietnamese officials including 1,000 directly attached to the ministries
in Vientiane.[54][55]
The conflict between Hmong rebels and Laos continued in key areas of Laos, including in
Saysaboune Closed Military Zone, Xaisamboune Closed Military Zone near Vientiane Province
and Xiangkhouang Province. From 1975 to 1996, the United States resettled some 250,000 Lao
refugees from Thailand, including 130,000 Hmong.[56]
On 3 December 2021, the 422-kilometre Boten-Vientiane railway, a flagship of the Belt and Road
Initiative (BRI) was opened.[57]

Source: Wikipedia