![]() ![]() Fa Ngum's eldest son, Oun Heuan, ascended to the throne under the name Samsenethai and reigned for 43 years. His ministers, unable to tolerate his ruthlessness, forced him into exile to the present-day Thai province of Nan in 1373, where he died. He made Theravada Buddhism the state religion, and Lan Xang prospered. Ngum was descended from a long line of Lao kings that traced back to Khoun Boulom. Fa Ngum, with 10,000 Khmer troops, conquered many Lao principalities in the Mekong river basin, culminating in the capture of Vientiane. 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, : 223 whose father had his family exiled from the Khmer Empire. In the Lao language, the country's name is Muang Lao ( ເມືອງລາວ) or Pathet Lao ( ປະເທດລາວ), both of which literally mean 'Lao Country'. In English, the 's' is pronounced, and not silent. 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. 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. 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. Mon-Khmer groups, the Hmong, and other indigenous hill tribes live in the foothills and mountains. The politically and culturally dominant Lao people make up 53.2% of the population, mostly in the lowlands. 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. Laos applied for membership of the World Trade Organization in 1997 on 2 February 2013, it was granted full membership. Laos is a member of the Asia-Pacific Trade Agreement, the ASEAN, East Asia Summit, and La Francophonie. Laos was then dependent on military and economic aid from the Soviet Union until its dissolution in 1991. After the Vietnam War ended in 1975, the communist Pathet Lao came to power, ending the civil war. 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. Laos became independent in 1953, with a constitutional monarchy under Sisavang Vong. ![]() It briefly gained independence in 1945 after Japanese occupation but was re-colonised by France until it won autonomy in 1949. In 1893, the three territories came under a French protectorate and were united to form what is now known as Laos. After a period of internal conflict, Lan Xang broke into three separate kingdoms: Luang Phrabang, Vientiane and Champasak. Because of its central geographical location in Southeast Asia, the kingdom became a hub for overland trade and became wealthy economically and culturally. 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. Its capital and largest city is Vientiane. 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. Laos ( / ˈ l ɑː oʊ s/ ( listen) ), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao PDR or LPDR), is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |