Laos
In 2009, archaeologists recovered an anatomically modern human skull from the Tam Pa Ling Cave in the Annamite Mountains of northern Laos. This fossil is at least 46,000 years old and stands as the oldest modern human skeleton found to date anywhere in Southeast Asia. Stone tools known as Hoabinhian types have also been discovered at sites dating back to the Pleistocene epoch within the same region. Archaeological evidence suggests that an agriculturist society developed during the fourth millennium before the common era. Bronze objects appeared around 1500 BCE while iron tools became known by 700 BCE. Tai-speaking tribes migrated southwestward from Guangxi into the territories of modern-day Laos and Thailand between the eighth and tenth centuries. These movements established the proto-historic period characterized by contact with Chinese and Indian civilizations.
A Lao prince named Fa Ngum founded the kingdom of Lan Xang, meaning million elephants, in the thirteenth century. His family had been exiled from the Khmer Empire by his father. Fa Ngum led ten thousand Khmer troops to conquer several Lao principalities along the Mekong river basin. He captured Vientiane and made Theravada Buddhism the state religion. Ministers unable to tolerate his ruthlessness forced him into exile in what is now the Thai province of Nan in 1373. He died there shortly after being removed from power. His eldest son Oun Heuan ascended the throne under the name Samsenethai and reigned for forty-three years. Lan Xang became a trade center during this reign but collapsed into warring factions nearly a century after his death in 1421. King Photisarath moved the capital from Luang Prabang to Vientiane in 1520 to avoid a Burmese invasion. Setthathirath ordered the construction of That Luang after becoming king in 1548 following his father's death. He disappeared in the mountains on his way back from a military expedition into Cambodia. The kingdom fell into more than seventy years of instability involving civil war and foreign invasions.
France rescued King Oun Kham when Luang Prabang was ransacked by the Chinese Black Flag Army in the nineteenth century. They added Luang Phrabang to the protectorate of French Indochina along with the Kingdom of Champasak and the territory of Vientiane. King Sisavangvong of Luang Phrabang became ruler of a unified Laos while Vientiane once again served as the capital. By 1940, around six hundred French citizens lived in Laos producing tin rubber and coffee. The country never accounted for more than one percent of French Indochina's exports. Under French rule Vietnamese people were encouraged to migrate to Laos to solve labor shortages. By 1943 the Vietnamese population stood at nearly forty thousand forming the majority in some cities including Thakhek and Pakse. On March ninth 1945 a nationalist group declared Laos independent with Luang Prabang as its capital. Two battalions of Japanese troops occupied the city four days later. The king secretly sent Prince Kindavong to represent Laos to Allied forces while sending another prince to the Japanese. When Japan surrendered Lao nationalists declared independence but French troops reoccupied the country by 1946. France granted autonomy to Laos on October twenty-second 1953 when it gained full independence as a constitutional monarchy.
Between 1964 and 1973 the United States dropped two million tons of bombs on Laos. This amount is nearly equal to the 2.1 million tons of bombs the US dropped on Europe and Asia during all of World War II. It made Laos the most heavily bombed country in history relative to the size of its population. Some eighty million bombs failed to explode and remain scattered throughout the country today. Unexploded ordnance including cluster munitions and mines kill or maim approximately fifty Laotians every year. Aerial bombardments against PAVN Pathet Lao forces were carried out to prevent collapse of the Kingdom of Laos central government. These operations also aimed to deny use of the Ho Chi Minh Trail to attack US forces in South Vietnam. The New York Times noted this was nearly a ton for every person in Laos. Due to the impact of cluster bombs during this war Laos became an advocate of the Convention on Cluster Munitions to ban these weapons. The nation hosted the First Meeting of States Parties to the convention in November 2010.
In 1975 the Pathet Lao overthrew the royalist government forcing King Savang Vatthana to abdicate on December second. He later died in a re-education camp while between twenty thousand and sixty-two thousand Laotians died during the civil war. On that same date after taking control of the country the Pathet Lao government under Kaysone Phomvihane renamed it the Lao People's Democratic Republic. The government signed agreements giving Vietnam the right to station armed forces and appoint advisers to assist in overseeing the country. In 1979 there were fifty thousand PAVN troops stationed in Laos and as many as six thousand civilian Vietnamese officials including one thousand directly attached to ministries in Vientiane. The conflict between Hmong rebels and Laos continued in areas like Saysaboune Closed Military Zone near Vientiane Province and Xiangkhouang Province. As many as two hundred thousand Hmong went into exile in Thailand with some ending up in the United States. Other Hmong fighters hid out in mountains for years until a remnant emerged from the jungle in 2003. A communist newspaper promised the party would hunt down American collaborators and their families to the last root.
The Lao People's Revolutionary Party serves as the founding and ruling party of the Lao People's Democratic Republic since 1975. Its leading role over state and society is enshrined in the constitution stating rights are exercised through the functioning of the political system with the LPRP as its leading nucleus. All Lao state organs operate under the leadership of the LPRP because all party members in state organs must implement decisions of the Central Committee. On January fifteenth 2021 the first Plenary Session elected Thongloun Sisoulith as general secretary and Vilay Lakhamfong as permanent member. The highest organ of the LPRP is the party congress which meets at least every fifth year. It elects members and candidates of the LPRP Central Committee who then choose the Politburo Secretariat Inspection Commission and Defence and Public Security Commission. The National Assembly currently in its ninth electoral term formally holds unified powers of the state but operates under controlled elections where candidates are vetted by the National Election Committee. The president concurrently serves as chairman of the DPSC maintaining direct united and full control of the armed forces.
In December 2021 the 422-kilometer long Boten-Vientiane railway opened connecting the capital Vientiane to Boten at the northern border with China. This line was built as part of China's Belt and Road Initiative after a three-kilometer long metre-gauge railway had connected southern Vientiane to Thailand since 2009. In 2016 China became the biggest foreign investor in the Laotian economy having invested over five billion dollars since 1989 according to official reports. Thailand invested nearly four point five billion dollars while Vietnam contributed over three billion dollars making them second and third largest investors respectively. Tourism numbers topped five million in 2024 contributing over one billion dollars to the economy. The country participates in the Greater Mekong Subregion economic cooperation programme focusing on cross-border infrastructure and energy projects. The World Bank has recognized Laos as one of Southeast Asia and Pacific's fastest growing economies with annual GDP growth averaging seven point four percent since 2009. Rice dominates agriculture with about eighty percent of arable land used for growing it while forty percent of the country is arable land.
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Common questions
When was the oldest modern human skeleton found in Laos discovered?
Archaeologists recovered an anatomically modern human skull from the Tam Pa Ling Cave in 2009. This fossil is at least 46,000 years old and stands as the oldest modern human skeleton found to date anywhere in Southeast Asia.
Who founded the kingdom of Lan Xang in Laos during the thirteenth century?
A Lao prince named Fa Ngum founded the kingdom of Lan Xang meaning million elephants in the thirteenth century. His family had been exiled from the Khmer Empire by his father before he led ten thousand Khmer troops to conquer several Lao principalities along the Mekong river basin.
How many tons of bombs did the United States drop on Laos between 1964 and 1973?
Between 1964 and 1973 the United States dropped two million tons of bombs on Laos. This amount is nearly equal to the 2.1 million tons of bombs the US dropped on Europe and Asia during all of World War II.
On what date did King Savang Vatthana abdicate in Laos in 1975?
King Savang Vatthana was forced to abdicate on December second 1975 when the Pathet Lao overthrew the royalist government. He later died in a re-education camp while between twenty thousand and sixty-two thousand Laotians died during the civil war.
When did France grant full independence to Laos as a constitutional monarchy?
France granted autonomy to Laos on October twenty-second 1953 when it gained full independence as a constitutional monarchy. The country had previously been part of French Indochina with around six hundred French citizens living there by 1940 producing tin rubber and coffee.