I | INTRODUCTION |
Laos, officially Lao People’s Democratic Republic,
independent state of Southeast Asia. Formerly part of the Indochinese Union,
also known as French Indochina, Laos gained independence in 1953. The country
was drawn into the Vietnam War (1959-1975), and in 1975 a Communist
revolutionary movement overthrew Laos’s six-century-old monarchy and established
a people’s republic. Laos is a mountainous, landlocked country, bounded on the
north by China, on the east by Vietnam, on the south by Cambodia, and on the
west and northwest by Thailand and Myanmar (formerly known as Burma). It is rich
in resources and has an ethnically varied population. The official language is
Lao, and the capital and largest city is Vientiane (Viang Chan).
II | LAND AND RESOURCES |
Laos has a total area of 236,800 sq km (91,400
sq mi). From northwest to southeast its maximum length is about 1,080 km (about
670 mi), while its narrowest width is about 120 km (about 75 mi).
A | Natural Regions |
Topographically Laos has three distinct
features. The first is the steep, heavily forested mountains that lie
principally in the north but extend southeast as the Truong Son (Annam
Highlands). The spine of this mountain chain forms the border between Laos and
Vietnam. Elevations in the north reach 2,819 m (9,249 ft) at Phou Bia (Phu Bia),
the country’s highest peak. In the south, heights reach about 1,980 m (about
6,500 ft), and the limestone terraces mounting to the east are more sparsely
forested. Laos’s second distinctive topographic feature is the narrow but
fertile floodplains of the Mekong River, which traverses Laos’s entire
north-south length, and its tributaries. These plains are very narrow in the
north but are wider farther south. Finally, three high plateaus are
strategically situated through the country: the Plain of Jars in the north, the
Khammouan Plateau in the center, and the Bolovens Plateau in the south.
B | Rivers and Lakes |
Historically the Mekong River lay at the
center of the Lao world. People living on both of its banks shared a common
language and culture, and the river served as the major axis of communication
for these societies. Now the river forms most of Laos’s western border,
separating the Lao people on the east bank from their neighbors in Myanmar and
Thailand on the west bank. Nevertheless, the river still serves as an important
artery of transportation and communication. The river is navigable for most of
its course in Laos, from where it emerges at the gorges of southern China to
where it pours over the Khone Falls into Cambodia. Two series of rapids divide
the middle Mekong into three reaches, each of which corresponds to a distinct
region: the area centering on Louangphrabang in the north; the area around
Vientiane and Muang Khammouan (Thakhaek) in the center; and the region around
Champasak in the south. The Mekong is fed by a series of swift-flowing
tributaries draining the mountains in the north and east of the country. Laos
has only a few small lakes and natural wetlands, but hydroelectric dams form
huge artificial lakes. A notable example is the Nam Ngum dam near
Vientiane.
C | Plant and Animal Life |
When Laos gained independence in 1953,
about 70 percent of the land area was forested. Since then logging and
slash-and-burn agriculture have reduced that to 68 percent. Forests are broadly
of two kinds: dense tropical rain forests of broadleaf evergreens, and more
open, mixed forests of evergreens and deciduous trees. The forests form a
habitat for a great variety of animal life, including elephants and tigers,
which are both threatened with extinction in the wild; several species of deer;
pangolins (scaled anteaters); large rodents; snakes; and lizards.
III | ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS |
Many of Laos’s environmental problems are
related to the country’s rapid loss of natural forests. Commercial logging,
slash-and-burn agriculture, fuelwood gathering, and population growth have
contributed to the deforestation. The widespread clearing of trees has caused
soil erosion, and the resulting silt accumulation in waterways and irrigation
channels has polluted water resources. Deforestation is the most serious threat
to wildlife habitats in Laos. Illegal animal poaching and commerce in the exotic
meats market also threaten several animal species. In 2004, 91 species of
mammals, birds, reptiles, and fish were designated as threatened in the country.
The government has enacted legislation to
protect wildlife and has established a number of natural heritage areas, but
enforcement is limited. Officially, 16 percent (2007) of Laos’s total land area
is protected.
A | Natural Resources |
For centuries Laos’s most valuable
resource has been its forests. They not only provide valuable timbers, such as
teak, ironwood, and mahogany, but also serve as a source of forest products such
as benzoin (used in making perfumes) and sticklac (used in varnish). Laos has
substantial deposits of several minerals, including coal, limestone, and gypsum.
There is also small-scale tin mining in central Laos. Agricultural resources are
limited by the amount of arable land (only some 4 percent of total land area),
but coffee is grown on the Bolovens Plateau, and pasturelands support a growing
cattle industry. Laos also has plans to construct more dams in order to exploit
its enormous potential for hydroelectric power.
B | Climate |
Laos has a tropical monsoon climate, with
a summer rainy season from May to October followed by a cool dry period from
November to February, and a hotter dry period in March and April. Wide
variations in temperature are due more to differences in elevation than to
seasonal change. Temperatures range from as high as 40°C (104°F) in the Mekong
lowlands in April to as low as 5°C (41°F) in the mountains in winter. In
Vientiane, temperatures vary from an average of 29°C (84°F) in April to 22°C
(72° F) in January. Rainfall varies regionally but averages about 1,780 mm
(about 70 in) annually.
IV | POPULATION AND SOCIETY |
Laos has a population of 6,677,534 (2008
estimate), yielding a population density of 29 people per sq km (75 per sq mi).
The population is increasing rapidly at a rate of 2.34 percent per year. Births,
at 35 per 1,000, significantly exceed deaths, at 11 per 1,000, while life
expectancy at birth is 56 years. These trends have created a youthful nation:
More than 45 percent of Laos’s people are under the age of 15. If the current
rate of growth continues, Laos will have a population of nearly 10 million by
the year 2025. About one-quarter of Laos’s people live in mountainous regions.
The rest live in upland valleys or on the flood plains of the Mekong and its
tributaries. Just over three-quarters of the population live in rural areas,
although the proportion of people living in urban areas is steadily
increasing.
Vientiane is the capital and largest city of
Laos. Louangphrabang, the former royal capital, is an increasingly popular
tourist destination. Other major cities are the regional capitals of Savannakhét
in central Laos and Pakxé in the south.
A | Ethnic Groups |
More than a hundred indigenous ethnic
groups and subgroups inhabit Laos, many spilling across borders into neighboring
countries. Small minorities of Chinese, Vietnamese, and Indians also live in
Laos, mostly in urban areas.
The Lao government has classified Laos’s
many indigenous groups into three broad categories: the Lao Lum, the Lao Thoeng,
and the Lao Sung. The Lao Lum (lowland Lao) account for 66 percent of the
population and comprise those groups who live at lower altitudes, speak Tai
languages, and practice wet-rice cultivation. Major groups in this category
include the ethnic Lao, who make up just over 50 percent of the total population
of Laos; the Leu and the Phu-tai; and the Black Tai and the Red Tai, so called
because of the colors of their traditional costumes. Modern Lao and Tai ethnic
groups descended from Tai peoples who migrated to the Southeast Asian peninsula
from the north, arriving in the area of present-day Laos by the 10th century.
The Lao Thoeng (Lao of the mountain
slopes) make up 24 percent of the population, live at medium altitudes, speak
Mon-Khmer languages, and practice slash-and-burn agriculture. They are believed
to be Laos’s earliest inhabitants, having migrated to the area from the south in
prehistoric times. The principal members of this group are the Khamu and the
Lamet in northern Laos, and the Laven, Sedang, and Nyaheun of the Bolovens
region in southern Laos.
The Lao Sung (Lao of the mountaintops),
who make up the remaining 10 percent of the population, migrated to Laos
beginning in the early 19th century, making them the most recent arrivals among
the ethnic groups. They live at high altitudes in northern Laos, where they also
use slash-and-burn methods of farming, and speak either Tibeto-Burman or
Hmong-Mien languages. The Hmong (also known as the Meo or Miao) are the most
numerous and politically influential of the Lao Sung. Others include the Mien
(or Yao), Akha, and Phu Noi.
B | Language and Religion |
The official language of Laos is Lao,
which is written with an alphabet derived from a southern Indian script. The
indigenous languages of Laos fall into four major groups: the Daic or Tai-Kadai
languages, Mon-Khmer (a subgroup of the Austro-Asiatic languages family),
Tibeto-Burman (a subgroup of the Sino-Tibetan languages family), and Hmong-Mien.
A number of the languages and dialects spoken in Laos have never been properly
studied by linguists. Some of these languages are spoken by only a few thousand
people.
As a state that nominally embraces
Communism, with its opposition to religion, Laos has no official religion.
Nevertheless, a large majority of the population practices Theravada Buddhism.
Even members of the ruling Lao People’s Revolutionary Party attend Buddhist
ceremonies. The wat (Buddhist temple and associated monastery) forms both
the religious and social center of most lowland Lao Lum villages. Animism (a
belief in spiritual forces) was once practiced throughout Southeast Asia and is
still practiced by many upland dwellers. Most Lao Thoeng and Lao Sung are
animists, although some have converted to Buddhism. Among the Lao Lum, only a
few Tai groups are animists. A few Lao practice Christianity, both Protestant
and Catholic, and there is a mosque in Vientiane for the tiny Indian Muslim
community (see Islam).
C | Way of Life |
Rural Lao Lum traditionally live in
self-sufficient villages, typically made up of some 40 to 50 households. Houses
of timber, thatch, and split bamboo are constructed on wooden piles, with the
floor about 2 m (6 ft) above the ground. The agricultural year centers on the
cultivation of glutinous (short-grain) rice, the preferred variety among the Lao
Lum. Villagers use buffalo for plowing and oxen for pulling carts. Lao Lum form
close-knit communities, but families are nuclear—consisting of two parents and
their children—not extended. Marriage requires payment of a bride-price (a
payment made by the groom to the bride’s family), and the groom normally resides
at first with his wife’s parents. When the couple can afford it, they build
their own house. Wealthier urban Lao Lum live in spacious villas. In the past,
some Lao Lum men took two or more wives, a practice called polygyny, but this
practice is now illegal and therefore less common.
Lao Thoeng villages are generally smaller
than those of the lowland Lao but are constructed of similar materials. The Lao
Thoeng are slash-and-burn farmers, who clear an area of the forest to build a
village and plant crops. In 15 to 20 years, when the surrounding forest has been
cut and the nutrients in the soil have been depleted, they may move the village
to a new area. Lao Thoeng men must choose wives from a clan other than their
own. After marriage, a wife resides with her husband’s family until the shared
house becomes too crowded and the couple constructs their own. Polygyny is rare
among the Lao Thoeng.
Lao Sung villages are similar in size to
those of the Lao Thoeng, and like them may be relocated when soils are
exhausted. Unlike other Lao, the Lao Sung construct their houses on the ground
with a stamped earth floor. They raise numerous pigs and chickens and use hardy
mountain ponies for transportation. Their principal cash crop traditionally has
been opium, though production is now officially outlawed. Extended families made
up of parents, sons and their wives, and grandchildren may number up to 20
people. Polygyny, while formerly widespread, is now illegal.
D | Education |
Education for the Lao Lum traditionally
took place in the wat, where Buddhist monks taught boys the basics of
reading, writing, arithmetic, and religion. Other ethnic groups did not have
traditions of formal education. Under French rule, from 1893 to 1953, education
was limited to an urban elite. From 1953 to 1975, the royal Lao government
developed a modern education system with a Lao curriculum, but even so it
catered to only about one-third of the school-age population. When the Lao
People’s Revolutionary Party came to power in 1975, it placed great emphasis on
education, especially on eradication of illiteracy. It had few resources,
however, and standards fell.
By 2000, the literacy rate stood at 64.8
percent. Almost all Lao Lum children of school age attend primary school for six
years, and 44 percent continue on to secondary school for an additional six
years. The school attendance rates for Lao Thoeng and Lao Sung children are
considerably lower, however, and the goal of universal education is still some
way off.
Laos has one university, the National
University of Laos (1997), located in Vientiane. Regional technical colleges are
located in Louangphrabang, Savannakhét, and Pakxé.
E | Health and Welfare |
The infant mortality rate in Laos stood at
80 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2008, compared with 57 in Cambodia and 24 in
Vietnam. Children who survived had a life expectancy of only 56 years, one of
the lowest of any Southeast Asian country. Malaria is widespread in Laos, as are
other diseases, parasites, and intestinal disorders such as diarrhea. The
infection rate of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that causes acquired
immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) increased in the 1990s. While the number of
health-care professionals is increasing, the health infrastructure remains
inadequate. There is only one doctor for about every 1,700 people. Hospitals are
concentrated in urban centers, and village first aid posts lack proper
resources.
Laos does not have a developed social
welfare program. In rural areas the country’s bountiful climate ensures that no
one starves, even in times of drought, as there are always wild tubers to eat
and fish and small animals to catch. At times, people do experience real
hardship and poverty for which there is no government relief. Welfare is
communal, as people help each other to survive. The government pays a small
pension to retired civil servants, but there are no unemployment benefits and
only minimal disability payments for war veterans.
V | CULTURE |
Ethnic Lao culture is closely entwined with
Buddhism, but the country’s ethnic diversity produces a corresponding cultural
diversity. Painting is not a highly developed art form, but music, dance,
weaving, and embroidery are.
A | Literature and Poetry |
Universal to the literature and poetry of
Laos, as well as to its dance, music, and sculpture, are oral myths and legends
based on the Phra Lak Phra Lam, the Lao version of the Hindu epic, the
Ramayana. This tale of Rama, a prince and the seventh incarnation
of the Hindu god Vishnu, is known and loved throughout Southeast Asia. Other
popular Lao literature includes the Jatakas, stories of previous incarnations of
the Buddha. Both the Phra Lak Phra Lam and the Jataka tales
contain moral metaphors enacted through rigorous battles in which good always
triumphs over evil. Favorite stories tell how heroic princes defeat powerful
demons. During the Vietnam War, popular literature told of love and the heroism
of young soldiers. Since 1975 political censorship has limited the flowering of
Lao literature.
B | Architecture and Sculpture |
The precepts of Theravada Buddhism dictate
the principles of Lao architecture and inspire the scenes that are often carved
or painted in murals on temple walls. A typical temple compound includes a
structure for ordaining new monks, a library for storing scriptures, living
quarters for the monks, and various shrines for storing relics of the Buddha.
Temples have high-peaked, tiered, outward-curving roofs, which in the northern
style descend to within 2 m (6 ft) of the ground. The form of the Lao temple and
its roof decoration reflect the influence of Thai architecture. Lao innovations
include the tiered roof style that curves near to the ground, and a bronze roof
ornament with five spires that symbolizes the Hindu Mount Meru. Laos’s most
sacred Buddhist shrine is the 16th-century That Luang stupa in Vientiane.
Sculpture, too, has been mainly in the form
of images of Buddha, from huge temple statues to small images done in gold or
silver. While standing Buddha images assimilate Khmer (Cambodian) and Thai
influences, seated images reveal characteristics that are uniquely Lao, such as
extended earlobes, tightly curled hair, and long hands and fingers.
C | Arts and Crafts |
For centuries Laos has been renowned for
the fineness and intricacy of its silk weaving with its use of gold and silver
threads. Hmong and Mien peoples produce embroidery with figured and geometric
designs. Whole villages may specialize in a particular craft, such as making
pottery or working silver. For example, people living in the mountains make an
array of silver jewelry from coins to wear with their traditional dress, and
people in the Vientiane region make silver boxes for betel chewing, bowls, and
other items decorated with scenes from the Phra Lak Phra Lam.
D | Music and Dance |
The classical music and dance of Laos was
inspired by the court dances of India, Cambodia, and Thailand. Its themes draw
from Hindu mythology, the Buddhist Jataka tales, and local legends. The
royal entourage of Lao kings traditionally included musicians, and a typical
orchestra improvised songs with sets of tuned gongs, xylophones, a bamboo flute,
and other wind instruments.
Folk music and dance are favorite pastimes
in rural Laos, and each ethnic group has its own folk dances, which frequently
portray scenes drawn from daily life, nature, and love. Couples usually dance
the slow and graceful lamvong, though young Lao prefer a faster beat. The
most popular folk music instrument is the khaen, a large bamboo mouth
organ.
E | Theater |
Lao theater also reflects influence from
India and Cambodia. Ballet for the court accompanied by an orchestra developed
in the 16th and 17th centuries. Dancers wearing elaborate costumes and
headdresses with masks portrayed scenes from the myths and tales of the Phra
Lak Phra Lam. Lao folk theater with narrative, singing, and music is popular
at temple fairs.
F | Museums and Libraries |
The former Royal Palace in Louangphrabang
has been turned into a museum. It contains a collection of Buddha images from
the 15th to the 17th centuries as well as personal possessions of the last Lao
monarch. Ho Phakeo in Vientiane is the national museum and houses a collection
representing the variety and originality of Lao culture from the 6th to the 20th
centuries. Wat Sisaket in Vientiane also contains a collection of Lao art. The
National Library in Vientiane is poorly stocked, although it does house a
collection of palm-leaf manuscripts.
VI | ECONOMY |
The traditional Lao economy was based on
agriculture, handicraft production, and trade. Indeed, for centuries before
Europeans arrived, flourishing local and long-distance trade networks had linked
Southeast Asia with East and South Asia. It was the prospect of controlling the
lucrative Asian trade in spices and other luxury goods that initially lured the
French and other Europeans to Southeast Asia in the 17th and 18th centuries.
Later they also hoped to exploit the region’s natural resources. However, French
efforts to develop Laos economically in the late 19th and early 20th centuries
came to little, as they quickly concluded that Laos’s terrain made commercial
agriculture and mining difficult. The civil war that followed independence in
1953 further impeded economic development. Even today, a large majority of Lao
still engage in subsistence agriculture. Industry is limited to small-scale
manufacturing of consumer products, though clothing and textile products have
become a significant export. Government revenue is insufficient to cover
expenditure and investment in infrastructure development, leaving the deficit to
be met by foreign aid. The principal aid donors are Japan, France, Sweden, and
Australia. In the late 1980s the government opened the economy to foreign
investment. As a result, the average growth rate between and was percent, and by
2006 Laos’s gross domestic product (GDP) had climbed to $3.4 billion. Average
GDP per capita rose to $596.80, compared to $725.30 in Vietnam and $511.30 in
Cambodia. Like the economies of other countries in the region, the Lao economy
suffered badly when the value of several Asian currencies fell sharply in the
late 1990s.
A | Labor |
Laos has a total labor force of 2.4
million, of whom 85 percent are in agriculture, 4 percent are in industry, and
11 percent are in the service sector. Rural underemployment and urban
unemployment remain high, though statistics are not available. There is an
official Federation of Trade Unions, but independent unions are banned.
B | Agriculture |
Agriculture is the principal economic
activity in Laos, contributing 42 percent of GDP. Only 4 percent of Laos’s total
land area is cultivated, but 80 percent of the cultivated land is planted in
rice (both glutinous and white). Other crops include corn, coffee (the only
substantial export crop), soybeans, sugarcane, and sweet potatoes. Cotton,
tobacco, and cardamom are also grown. The government encourages animal
husbandry, and livestock numbers have steadily increased since the late 1970s.
Lao farmers raise water buffalo, cattle, pigs, horses, goats, and poultry.
C | Forestry and Fishing |
Timber is a major export for Laos, with
production estimated at 6.1 million cu m (217 million cu ft) in 2006. Some
timber is processed as sawn boards and plywood, but most is exported in the form
of logs. Despite government attempts to regulate and manage the industry,
illegal logging and smuggling of timber remain widespread. Fish is an important
item in the Lao diet, but the catch of 107,800 metric tons (in 2005) is
sufficient only for local consumption.
D | Mining, Manufacturing, and Energy |
Laos produces few minerals, although
mining yields small amounts of tin, gypsum, rock salt, and coal. Exploration has
located reserves of coal, iron ore, lead, zinc, silver, and gemstones, as well
as small deposits of other minerals. Manufacturing is limited to sawmilling,
rice milling, brick making, and production of consumer products such as
cigarettes, detergents, matches, plastics, beer, and soft drinks. Foreign
investment spurred growth in the garment industry: In the 1990s more than 40
garment factories opened in the Vientiane area. Energy production offers the
best prospect for increasing exports. Laos already exports to Thailand most of
the 1 billion kilowatt-hours of power that it currently generates, 97 percent of
it in the form of hydroelectricity.
E | Transportation and Communications |
Laos has no railroads and an inadequate
road system totaling only 31,210 km (19,393 mi). Maintenance is poor, and most
roads are not paved. However, Laos is strategically situated in the middle of
the Southeast Asian peninsula, and international funding is helping to upgrade
roads linking Thailand with Vietnam and southern China through Laos. River
transport remains important, and Laos has 4,620 km (2,870 mi) of navigable
inland waterways. In 1995 Laos and Thailand opened the first bridge between
their countries across the Mekong River. Air transport links all provincial
capitals, and Lao Aviation offers a limited international service. Radio and
television broadcasting are government monopolies, supplying programs to 145
radio receivers and 9 television sets per 1,000 people. The country’s three
daily newspapers are state owned, with a combined circulation of only 18,000.
Only 13 in every 1,000 people have telephones.
F | Tourism |
Laos was virtually closed to foreign
tourists from 1975 until the late 1980s, but then began to actively encourage
tourism. Numbers of foreign visitors increased rapidly to more than 100,000 by
the late 1990s. Favored destinations include Louangphrabang, Vientiane, and the
southern part of the country.
G | Currency, Banking, and Trade |
The unit of currency in Laos is the
kip, which until the Asian financial crisis of 1997 was valued at 920 kip
to U.S.$1. Laos has a central bank, the Bank of the Lao People’s Democratic
Republic, and six state-owned commercial banks. Foreign banks have been allowed
to operate in Laos since 1989. The Foreign Trade Bank handles foreign exchange
and trade. Lao exports in 2000 were valued at $315 million, while imports stood
at $521 million. Principal exports included timber, hydroelectricity, coffee,
and tin; principal imports included food, petroleum products, vehicles,
machinery, and steel. Laos’s most important trading partners are Thailand,
Japan, and China. In 1997 Laos joined the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN), which has a commitment to establish free trade among member states by
2008.
VII | GOVERNMENT |
The present government of Laos is a
republic, effectively controlled by the Communist Lao People’s Revolutionary
Party (LPRP). The Lao People’s Democratic Republic was proclaimed on December 2,
1975, replacing the Kingdom of Laos, which gained independence from France in
1953. From 1975 to 1991, power nominally resided in an interim Supreme People’s
Assembly but was actually wielded by the Political Bureau of the LPRP. In 1989
national elections were held for the first time, and in 1991 Laos’s first
constitution was enacted. All citizens who are aged 18 years or older may
vote.
A | Executive |
Under the 1991 constitution, executive
power is vested in a president, who is chosen by the National Assembly for a
five-year term. The president is assisted by a vice president. The president
appoints a prime minister, whose cabinet must be approved by the National
Assembly. The prime minister and his government also serve a five-year
term.
B | Legislature |
Legislative power rests with the National
Assembly. Its 109 members are elected every five years. The National Assembly
has the power to amend the constitution, pass laws, and approve the budget.
C | Judiciary |
Justice is administered by the Supreme
People’s Court and by provincial and district people’s courts. Both the
president of the Supreme People’s Court and the public prosecutor general are
appointed by the National Assembly. Judges are appointed by the Ministry of
Justice.
D | Local Government |
Laos is divided into 16 provinces, the
special region of Xaisomboun, and the municipality of Vientiane. Provinces are
divided into districts comprising towns and villages. All are administered by
people’s administrative committees, whose activities are closely monitored at
the district and provincial levels by parallel committees of the LPRP.
E | Political Parties |
The ruling Lao People’s Revolutionary
Party (LPRP), known until 1972 as the Lao People’s Party, came to power in 1975.
It is the only legal political party in Laos. The party president presides over
the main organ of political power, the Political Bureau (or Politburo). The
Central Committee, charged with leading the party between party congresses,
elects the Politburo. Though nominally a Communist party founded on the
principles of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, the LPRP is more concerned with
maintaining a monopoly of political power than with ideology. In 1990 the
LPRP-dominated government stamped out attempts to establish an opposition party
by giving ringleaders long prison sentences.
F | Defense |
In 1976 the guerrilla forces that
overthrew the royal Lao regime became the Lao People’s Army (LPA). In 2004 the
LPA had 25,600 members, equipped with aging tanks and artillery. The air force
numbered 3,500 men and also was equipped with aging equipment, including MiG-21
fighters, helicopters, and transport planes. A tiny 600-strong navy patrols the
Mekong River. Lao men must serve in the military for a minimum of 18 months.
G | International Organizations |
Laos became a member of the United
Nations (UN) in December 1955. It joined the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN) in July 1997.
VIII | HISTORY |
The first inhabitants of Laos were early
Stone Age people, who left the remains of their polished axes. By the middle of
the 1st millennium bc, people on
the Plain of Jars who probably spoke an Austro-Asiatic language created a
flourishing Bronze Age culture. This culture was characterized by huge stone
funerary urns (the 'jars' after which the plateau is named) and by bronze tools
and weapons. Eventually its people learned to use iron smelted from ores mined
nearby. Historians believe that Laos’s earliest inhabitants were the ancestors
of the Lao Thoeng, who today live on Laos’s mountain slopes.
By the early centuries ad, small kingdoms were becoming
established in mainland Southeast Asia. One of these, the kingdom of Zhenla,
arose in the 7th century and extended from northern Cambodia into southern Laos.
Later, small kingdoms were established in the regions of Vientiane and
Louangphrabang and elsewhere on the middle Mekong.
In the meantime, the Lao and other Tai
peoples had been slowly moving south and southeast from southern China and
northwestern Vietnam, cultivating upland valleys and pushing out the Lao Thoeng.
Lao myths tell of this expansion, which reached Louangphrabang perhaps as early
as the 10th century. There the Lao established their first small principality in
what is now Lao territory. In the 12th century this principality was absorbed
into the Khmer (Cambodian) Empire (see Khmer Kingdoms), and in the late
13th century it came under the control of the Mongol Empire. During this
turmoil, Tai peoples carved out their first substantial kingdoms, first in
central and northern Thailand and then in Laos.
A | The Lao Kingdom of Lan Xang |
A Lao prince named Fa Ngum founded the
kingdom of Lan Xang in the mid-14th century. The name Lan Xang, which
means “a million elephants,” was chosen to inspire fear among lesser rulers at a
time when elephants were the principal engines of war. Fa Ngum had been exiled
by his grandfather, the ruler of the principality of Louangphrabang under the
Mongols, and raised in the Cambodian capital of Ângkôr. In 1351 he was given a
Khmer princess in marriage and a Khmer army with which to reconquer his rightful
heritage. On his line of march, Fa Ngum drew together all the small Lao
principalities (meuang) to form a powerful kingdom that could hold its
own against the surrounding powers of Burma (now Myanmar), Vietnam, the Thai
kingdom of Ayutthaya, and Cambodia.
Fa Ngum set about organizing and
strengthening his kingdom. Theravada Buddhism, which was already known to the
Lao, gained royal support from Fa Ngum’s Khmer queen, though animist cults
worshiping local spirits (phi) were still strong. Buddhism legitimized
kingship by characterizing the monarch as one having great merit, while kings
reciprocated by endowing Buddhist monasteries. But Fa Ngum became too autocratic
and demanding, and was deposed in favor of his son.
In the 15th century Lan Xang suffered
from internal weakness, and in 1478 a Vietnamese army invaded Lan Xang, seizing
and sacking the capital before being driven out. The kingdom was restored by
King Vixun, a powerful and capable ruler. Vixun brought a golden Buddha image
known as the Phra Bang to his capital city. The king’s Buddha became a
symbol of the Lao state, and his capital came to be called Louangphrabang, or
Great Phra Bang, in honor of the Buddha. Vixun was a great patron of the arts
and of Buddhism. Poetry, literature, music, and dance flourished during his
reign.
Briefly in the mid-16th century, the
kingdom of Lan Na, centered on Chiang Mai in northern Thailand, was absorbed
into Lan Xang. But the Lan Xang king at the time, Xetthathirat, was renowned
more for his valiant defiance of the Burmese than for ruling Lan Na. Twice
during Xetthathirat’s reign, Burmese armies ravaged Lan Xang, and twice they
were driven from Lao soil. Xetthathirat moved the Lao capital south to
Vientiane, a site more defensible than Louangphrabang and more central, for by
this time Lao settlers had migrated into southern Laos (Champasak) and across
the Khorat Plateau into what is now northeastern Thailand. Xetthathirat
beautified his capital by building the great That Luang stupa and a temple to
house his own favorite Buddha image, the Emerald Buddha. At the height of his
power, however, Xetthathirat went too far in his military ambitions. He invaded
Cambodia and disappeared when his army was routed. In the ensuing anarchy, Laos
fell to the Burmese.
The Lao kingdom recovered in the 17th
century under the great king Surinyavongsa. Early in his long reign, Europeans
first visited Laos. A Dutch merchant and a Jesuit missionary both reached
Vientiane and left admiring descriptions of the kingdom. Both Europeans were
amazed at the wealth of the capital and the number of its monks, for Vientiane
was a center of Buddhist studies. When Surinyavongsa died in 1695 without an
heir, Lan Xang split into three separate kingdoms: Louangphrabang, Vientiane,
and Champasak, all of which fell under the suzerainty of the kingdom of
Ayutthaya (also known as Siam, later Thailand) during the next century.
In 1767 Burmese armies invaded Ayutthaya
and seized and sacked the capital. The Siamese people rallied under King Phraya
Taksin, who drove out the Burmese. Taksin was determined to increase the wealth
and power of Siam, and to enforce his will over the Lao kingdoms. In 1778 he
seized Vientiane and carried off the Emerald Buddha. Both Louangphrabang and
Champasak agreed to pay Taksin tribute. When the last king of Vientiane, Chau
Anu, tried to reassert his independence in 1827, Thai armies destroyed
Vientiane.
B | French Colonization |
France seized control of most of
present-day Laos from Siam in 1893 and gained the rest in 1907. The French
administered the kingdom of Louangphrabang indirectly through its king, while
French officials directly administered the rest of the country. They did little
to develop Laos, which became the sleepy backwater of Indochina.
During World War II (1939-1945) Japan
stationed troops in Indochina under an agreement with the French, who maintained
their administration throughout most of the war. In the last six months of the
war the Japanese seized control of Indochina and interned French officials and
troops. The Japanese granted Laos nominal independence in 1945.
After Japan and its allies lost the
war, a nationalist movement known as the Lao Issara (Free Laos) formed an
independent government in Laos. However, France reoccupied Laos the following
year, and the nationalists fled to Thailand. The French unified their Lao
territories into a single country with the king of Louangphrabang, Sisavang
Vong, as head of state. Under French supervision, the new government adopted a
constitution and joined the French Union. In 1949 France granted Laos partial
independence and extended an offer of amnesty to the nationalists in exile, most
of whom returned to the country. A few dissidents under the leadership of Prince
Souphanouvong, however, allied themselves with the forces of the pro-Communist
Vietnamese liberation movement known as the Viet Minh, who were still fighting
the French. The Lao dissidents called their movement Pathet Lao (Lao State).
When Viet Minh forces invaded Laos in 1953, they handed over large areas of the
country to the Pathet Lao. France accorded Laos full independence in 1953 as a
constitutional monarchy, the Kingdom of Laos. Delegates to the 1954 Geneva
Conference, who were negotiating France’s withdrawal from Indochina at the end
of the First Indochina War (1946-1954), endorsed the country’s independent
status.
C | The Kingdom of Laos |
By 1954 the Communist and non-Communist
blocs of the Cold War era had begun to take shape. The United States, as the
leader of the non-Communist countries, was particularly concerned with limiting
the advances of Communism in Southeast Asia. Furthermore, France wished to
maintain the power of the Lao elite who had cooperated with the French colonial
government. Under the terms of the Geneva Accords, the Pathet Lao and the
territories they controlled were to be integrated into the rest of the country
under the rule of the royal Lao government. The accords declared a cease-fire
between the forces of the French Union and those of the Pathet Lao, and called
for the Pathet Lao to withdraw their forces to the two northern provinces under
their control. An International Control Commission was set up to monitor the
truce. Meanwhile, negotiations were begun to include the Pathet Lao in the
political life of the country. In November 1957 the neutralist prime minister,
Prince Souvanna Phouma, at last reached an agreement with his half-brother,
Prince Souphanouvong, to form a coalition government that would include two
Pathet Lao ministers. The two Pathet Lao provinces were returned to royal
government administration. By this time French influence in Laos was waning, and
the United States, opposed to any accommodation of the pro-Communist Pathet Lao,
backed a right-wing, anti-Communist group that ousted Souvanna Phouma’s
government and rigged new elections. The ouster led the Pathet Lao to resume
guerrilla warfare in 1959.
In the renewed fighting, the Pathet Lao
enjoyed the support of Communist bloc countries, while the United States
supplied military aid to the right-wing forces. As the political situation
deteriorated, a Lao army paratroop commander in the neutralist camp, Captain
Kônglae, overthrew the U.S.-backed government and brought Souvanna Phouma back
to power. The United States encouraged a rightist Lao military strongman,
General Phoumi Nosavan, to drive Kônglae’s forces out of Vientiane and establish
a rival government. Kônglae thereupon allied with the Pathet Lao, and together
the neutralists and Communists soon gained control of more than half the
country. Faced with this catastrophe, U.S. president John F. Kennedy agreed to
accept the neutralization of Laos. A cease-fire was arranged, and a new
14-nation conference convened at Geneva in 1961. After prolonged negotiations
the leaders of the three main Lao political factions (Pathet Lao, neutralist,
and pro-Western) agreed to form a second coalition government led by Souvanna
Phouma. The coalition government took power in 1962.
During the next two years Souvanna
Phouma’s government came under increasing pressure from both the left and the
right. Consequently, the neutralists themselves split, left-wing ministers left
the government, and by 1965 the country had returned to civil war. As the war in
Vietnam escalated, Laos became increasingly important to both North Vietnam and
the United States. Both sides violated the neutrality of Laos: the North
Vietnamese by infiltrating troops and supplies down the so-called Ho Chi Minh
Trail through eastern and southern Laos; and the United States by secretly
bombing the trail and by recruiting, financing, and training a mercenary force
of Hmong tribesmen to fight the Pathet Lao in northern Laos (see Secret
Bombing of Cambodia). As the war dragged on, the bombing of Laos became heavier
and the Hmong 'secret army' sustained terrible casualties and had to be
reinforced by Thai mercenaries. Both North Vietnamese and Pathet Lao forces also
suffered terrible losses.
As the United States sought a way to
end the Vietnam War, the Pathet Lao strengthened their position in Laos and
negotiations began for a cease-fire. Early in 1973 the Lao political factions
agreed to a cease-fire and, in April 1974, formed a third coalition government,
this time with equal representation from the right and left. Soon, however, the
Pathet Lao gained political dominance. After Cambodia and South Vietnam fell to
Communist forces in April 1975, the Pathet Lao used the opportunity to seize
power in Laos.
D | The Lao People’s Democratic Republic |
In December 1975 the Pathet Lao made
their move. They forced the king to abdicate and proclaimed the Lao People’s
Democratic Republic, modeled closely on other Communist states. Continuing the
tradition of close cooperation between the Pathet Lao and the North Vietnamese,
the new regime developed a “special relationship” with Vietnam, depending
heavily on their larger neighbor for military and economic aid and closely
coordinating their government policies. Vietnam also stationed troops in Laos to
bolster the new regime. Souphanouvong became president, but real power lay in
the hands of Kaysone Phomvihan, the secretary general of the Lao People’s
Revolutionary Party (LPRP), which had guided the Pathet Lao to victory. As prime
minister, Kaysone moved quickly to create a one-party Communist state. The
government collectivized agriculture and nationalized industry. As peasant
resentment grew, tens of thousands of Lao fled to Thailand to be resettled in
the United States, France, and Australia. With the economy collapsing, the
government halted collectivization, and in 1981 it launched the country’s first
five-year plan. The plan, however, failed to meet its targets, and in 1986,
after intense Party debate, Laos decided to liberalize the economy and allow
foreign investment. The Communist economic model of centralized planning gave
way to an open-market economy in which the government did not control all prices
and production.
In the late 1980s the LPRP was
disconcerted by the collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe and the dissolution
of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), which had been an important
ally, trade partner, and source of economic aid. Around the same time, Vietnam
decided to withdraw its troops from Laos, due in part to reduced Soviet support
and internal reforms. To secure new sources of aid and investment, Laos began
working to improve relations with foreign countries such as Thailand, China, and
Japan.
The LPRP, however, held firmly to
power. In 1989 the government held the first elections for a National Assembly,
whose first task was to endorse a constitution. After the new constitution came
into effect in 1991, Kaysone gave up the office of prime minister for that of
president. At the same time, the LPRP office of secretary general was abolished,
and Kaysone became party president. When Kaysone died in November 1992, a smooth
succession divided his power between Nouhak Phoumsavan as state president and
Khamtai Siphandon as party president and prime minister. Sisavat Kaeobunphan was
appointed vice president.
In the 1990s Laos freed itself from its
“special relationship” with Vietnam. Laos continued its drive to open to the
outside world, joining the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN),
normalizing relations with the United States, and participating in regional
integration projects. The economy grew rapidly throughout most of the decade. In
1998 Khamtai replaced Nouhak as state president and Sisavat became prime
minister. Only the Asian economic crisis of the late 1990s marred an otherwise
hopeful future.
The Culture section of this article was
contributed by Dawn F. Rooney. The remainder of the article was contributed by
Martin Stuart-Fox.
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