Laos

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

Fa Ngum, founder of the Lan Xang Kingdom

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

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

Ruins of Muang Khoun, former capital of Xiangkhouang province, destroyed by the American bombing of Laos in the late 1960s

Mekong River flowing through Luang Prabang

Laos map of Köppen climate classification.

Flag of the ruling Lao People's Revolutionary Party

Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and ASEAN heads of state in New Delhi on 25 January 2018

Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith with Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2016

A proportional representation of Laos exports, 2019

Near the sanctuary on the main upper level of Vat Phou, looking back towards the Mekong River

Rivers are an important means of transport in Laos.

Pha That Luang in Vientiane. The Buddhist stupa that is a national symbol of Laos.

National University of Laos in Vientiane.

Lao dancers during the New Year celebration

Wat Nong Sikhounmuang - buddhist pagoda in Luang Prabang.

Socialist state and the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia.

- Laos

500 related topics

Laotian Civil War

Areas of Laos controlled by the Pathet Lao and bombed by the United States Air Force in support of the Kingdom of Laos.

French General Salan and Prince Sisavang in the Lao capital, Luang Prabang, 4 May 1953

The Ho Chi Minh trail was used by Vietnamese and Laotian people from the very beginning. Captured Viet Cong, circa 1959

The Laotian Armed Forces training Center at Khang Khai, Laos, March 1960

Anti-communist Hmong guerrilla troops in 1961.

Barrel Roll and Steel Tiger operational area, 1965.

Damage caused by a communist ground attack on Luang Prabang airfield, 1967

North Vietnamese troops march through Laos, 1967

Barrel Roll, Steel Tiger and Tiger Hound operational areas.

A U.S. Air Force Bell UH-1P from the 20th Special Operations Squadron "Green Hornets" at a base in Laos, 1970.

A Royal Lao Air Force (RLAF) North American T-28D-5 Trojan armed trainer loaded with bombs at Long Tieng airfield in Laos, September 1972

Pathet Lao soldiers in Vientiane, Laos, 1973

Hmong woman and child at Long Tieng, Laos military base in 1973.

Laotians hired to assist U.S. troops assigned with the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command sift then move tons of dirt on a mountain near Xépôn, Laos (July 2004)

Unexploded cluster sub-munition, probably a BLU-26 type. Plain of Jars, Laos. 2012

Anti-aircraft troops of the Laotian Peoples Liberation Army.

The Laotian Civil War (1959–1975) was a civil war in Laos which was waged between the Communist Pathet Lao (including many North Vietnamese of Lao ancestry) and the Royal Lao Government from 23 May 1959 to 2 December 1975.

Lao People's Revolutionary Party

The LPRP has a monopoly on state power in the country.

The Lao People's Revolutionary Party (LPRP) is the founding and sole ruling party of the Lao People's Democratic Republic.

Vietnam War

Clockwise from top left: U.S. combat operations in Ia Đrăng

ARVN Rangers defending Saigon during the 1968 Tết Offensive

Two A-4C Skyhawks after the Gulf of Tonkin incident

ARVN recapture Quảng Trị during the 1972 Easter Offensive

Civilians fleeing the 1972 Battle of Quảng Trị

Burial of 300 victims of the 1968 Huế Massacre

Ba Cut in Can Tho Military Court 1956, commander of religious movement the Hòa Hảo, which had fought against the Việt Minh, Vietnamese National Army and Cao Dai movement throughout the first war

Map of insurgency and "disturbances", 1957 to 1960

U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Secretary of State John Foster Dulles greet President Ngô Đình Diệm of South Vietnam in Washington, 8 May 1957

The Ho Chi Minh trail, known as the Truong Son Road by the North Vietnamese, cuts through Laos. This would develop into a complex logistical system which would allow the North Vietnamese to maintain the war effort despite the largest aerial bombardment campaign in history

The Ho Chi Minh trail required, on average, four months of rough-terrain travel for combatants from North Vietnam destined for the Southern battlefields.

President Kennedy's news conference of 23 March 1961

Ngô Đình Diệm after being shot and killed in a coup on 2 November 1963

A U.S. B-66 Destroyer and four F-105 Thunderchiefs dropping bombs on North Vietnam during Operation Rolling Thunder

ARVN Forces and a US Advisor inspect a downed helicopter, Battle of Dong Xoai, June 1965

A Marine from 1st Battalion, 3rd Marines, moves a suspected Viet Cong during a search and clear operation held by the battalion 15 mi west of Da Nang Air Base, 1965.

Peasants suspected of being Viet Cong under detention of U.S. Army, 1966

Heavily bandaged woman burned by napalm, with a tag attached to her arm which reads "VNC Female" meaning Vietnamese civilian

A US "tunnel rat" soldier prepares to enter a Viet Cong tunnel.

Viet Cong soldier crouches in a bunker with an SKS rifle

ARVN forces assault a stronghold in the Mekong Delta.

Viet Cong before departing to participate in the Tet Offensive around Saigon-Gia Dinh

The ruins of a section of Saigon, in the Cholon neighborhood, following fierce fighting between ARVN forces and Viet Cong Main Force battalions

Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin with U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson at the Glassboro Summit Conference where the two representatives discussed the possibilities of a peace settlement

Propaganda leaflet urging the defection of Viet Cong and North Vietnamese to the side of the Republic of Vietnam

ARVN and US Special Forces, September 1968

An alleged Viet Cong captured during an attack on an American outpost near the Cambodian border is interrogated.

Soviet advisers inspecting the debris of a B-52 downed in the vicinity of Hanoi

American POWs recently released from North Vietnamese prison camps, 1973

Civilians in a NVA/Viet Cong controlled zone. Civilians were required to show appropriate flags, during the War of the flags

Memorial commemorating the 1974 Buon Me Thuot campaign, depicting a Montagnard of the Central Highlands, a NVA soldier and a T-54 tank

Victorious PAVN troops at the Presidential Palace, Saigon

Ho Chi Minh from the Việt Minh independence movement and Việt Cộng with East German sailors in Stralsund harbour, 1957

Leonid Brezhnev (left) was the Soviet Union's leader during the Vietnam War.

Soviet anti-air instructors and North Vietnamese crewmen in the spring of 1965 at an anti-aircraft training center in Vietnam

Vietnam People's Air Force pilots walk by their aircraft, the MiG-17. The development of the North Vietnamese Vietnam People's Air Force (VPAF) during the war was assisted by Warsaw Pact nations throughout the war. Between 1966 and 1972 a total of 17 flying aces was credited by the VPAF against US fighters.

Fidel Castro meeting with Võ Nguyên Giáp at the Vietnam Military History Museum

East German solidarity stamp depicting a Vietnamese mother and child with the text "Unconquerable Vietnam"

The Thai Queen's Cobra battalion in Phuoc Tho

Napalm burn victims during the war being treated at the 67th Combat Support Hospital

Interment of victims of the Huế Massacre

Master-Sergeant and pharmacist Do Thi Trinh, part of the WAFC, supplying medication to ARVN dependents

Memorial temple to Nguyễn Thị Định and the female volunteers of the Viet Cong whom she commanded. They came to call themselves the "Long-Haired Army".

A wounded African-American soldier being carried away, 1968

Guerrillas assemble shells and rockets delivered along the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

UH-1D helicopters airlift members of a U.S. infantry regiment, 1966

North Vietnamese SAM crew in front of SA-2 launcher. The Soviet Union provided North Vietnam with considerable anti-air defence around installations.

Bombs being dropped by the B-52 Stratofortress long-range strategic bomber.

B-52 wreckage in Huu Tiep Lake, Hanoi. Downed during Operation Linebacker II, its remains have turned into a war monument.

Vietnamese refugees fleeing Vietnam, 1984

A bombed Buddha statue in Laos. U.S. bombing campaigns made Vietnam the single most bombed country in history.

Captured U.S.-supplied armored vehicles and artillery pieces

A young Marine private waits on the beach during the Marine landing, Da Nang, 3 August 1965

A marine gets his wounds treated during operations in Huế City, in 1968

Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara and General Westmoreland talk with General Tee on conditions of the war in Vietnam.

U.S. helicopter spraying chemical defoliants in the Mekong Delta, South Vietnam, 1969

Handicapped children in Vietnam, most of them victims of Agent Orange, 2004

Cemetery for ten unmarried girls who volunteered for logistical activities, who died in a B-52 raid at Đồng Lộc Junction, a strategic junction along the Ho Chi Minh trail

Stone plaque with photo of the "Thương tiếc" (Mourning Soldier) statue, originally, installed at the Republic of Vietnam National Military Cemetery. The original statue was demolished in April 1975.

The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975.

Pathet Lao

The Pathet Lao (ປະເທດລາວ ), officially the Lao People's Liberation Army, was a communist political movement and organization in Laos, formed in the mid-20th century.

Southeast Asia

Geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of Australia.

Megalithic statue found in Tegurwangi, Sumatra, Indonesia 1500 CE

The Austroasiatic and Austronesian expansions into Maritime Southeast Asia.

Bronze drum from Sông Đà, northern Vietnam. Mid-1st millennium BC

Spread of Hinduism from South Asia to Southeast Asia

Borobudur temple in Central Java, Indonesia

Wapauwe Old Mosque is the oldest surviving mosque in Indonesia, and the second oldest in Southeast Asia, built in 1414

Fort Cornwallis in George Town marks the spot where the British East India Company first landed in Penang in 1786, thus heralding the British colonisation of Malaya

Duit, a coin minted by the VOC, 1646–1667. 2 kas, 2 duit

Southeast Asia map of Köppen climate classification

Komodo dragon in Komodo National Park, Indonesia

Wallace's hypothetical line divides Indonesian Archipelago into 2 types of fauna, Australasian and Southeast Asian fauna. The deepwater of the Lombok Strait between the islands of Bali and Lombok formed a water barrier even when lower sea levels linked the now-separated islands and landmasses on either side

The Port of Singapore is the busiest transshipment and container port in the world, and is an important transportation and shipping hub in Southeast Asia

Along with its temples Cambodia has been promoting its coastal resorts. Island off Otres Beach Sihanoukville, Cambodia

Population distribution of the countries of Southeast Asia (with Indonesia split into its major islands).

Ati woman in Aklan – the Negritos were the earliest inhabitants of Southeast Asia.

Spirit houses are common in areas of Southeast Asia where Animism is a held belief.

The Mother Temple of Besakih, one of Bali's most significant Balinese Hindu temples.

Thai Theravada Buddhists in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

The prayer hall of the Goddess of Mercy Temple, the oldest Taoist temple in Penang, Malaysia.

Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin Mosque in Brunei, an Islamic country with Sharia rule.

Roman Catholic Cathedral-Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, the metropolitan see of the Archbishop of Manila, Philippines.

A Protestant church in Indonesia. Indonesia has the largest Protestant population in Southeast Asia.

Jewish Surabaya Synagogue in Indonesia, demolished in 2013.

The Royal Ballet of Cambodia (Paris, France 2010)

Angklung as a Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity

Thai manuscript from before the 19th-century writing system

Sign in Balinese and Latin script at a Hindu temple in Bali

1) Mainland Southeast Asia, also known as the Indochinese Peninsula, comprising Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Peninsular Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam.

French protectorate of Laos

A French government official and Lao children in Luang Prabang, 1887

A typical example of French colonial architecture (now a health centre) in Luang Prabang

Statue of Sisavang Vong, King of Luang Prabang 1904–46, King of Laos 1946–59 (In the grounds of the Royal Palace Museum, Luang Prabang)

The French protectorate of Laos (Protectorat français du Laos) was a French protectorate in Southeast Asia of what is today Laos between 1893 and 1953—with a brief interregnum as a Japanese puppet state in 1945—which constituted part of French Indochina.

Lao people

The Lao people are a Tai ethnic group native to Southeast Asia, who speak the eponymous language of the Kra–Dai languages.

Map showing linguistic family tree overlaid on a geographic distribution map of Tai-Kadai family. This map only shows general pattern of the migration of Tai-speaking tribes, not specific routes, which would have snaked along the rivers and over the lower passes.

Lan Xang's zone of influence and neighbours, c. 1540

The French forced the Siamese to renounce their claims to Lao territory in 1893, thus signalling the genesis of the modern Lao state.

Offering of food to monks to make merit at a temple in Vientiane

A spirit house near Wat Kham Chanot, Udon Thani Province, Thailand

A statue of Lord Brahma (background) at a temple in Vientiane.

A dish of Tam mak hoong, ping gai, and khao nio, a very common Lao meal.

They are the majority ethnic group of Laos, making up 53.2% of the total population.

Lao language

Kra–Dai language of the Lao people.

Map showing the general migration patterns and diversification of the Tai peoples and languages from the original Tai Urheimat of southeastern China.

Wat Phra That Phanom in Nakhon Phanom. Built in the 16th century over earlier Khmer ruins when Isan was part of Lan Xang, the temple is an important place of pilgrimage, attracting Lao from Laos as well as Isan to its temple festivals.

Temple mural of Wat Photaram in Maha Sarakham Province. Dating to the reign of Siamese Ruler Rama III (1788-1851), the writing is in the Tai Noi script, an old form of the Lao alphabet.

A bilingual Lao-French street sign in Vientiane. Although the influence of French on the Lao language has waned considerably, hundreds of words of French origin are used in Laos.

Lao script on a sign at Wat That Luang, Vientiane.

An example of the Tai Tham alphabet formerly used in Laos for religious literature.

A sutra in the Khom script. This Khmer script was used to write Buddhist, Brahmanic and ritual texts.

It is spoken in Laos, where it is the official language for around 7 million people, as well as in northeast Thailand, where it is used by around 23 million people, usually referred to as Isan.

Hmong people

Flower Hmong women in traditional dress at the market in Bắc Hà, Vietnam

Likely routes of early rice transfer, and possible language family homelands (archaeological sites in China and SE Asia shown)

Hmong girls meet possible suitors while playing a ball-throwing game in Laos.

A typical rammed earth house building technique of Flower Hmong in Vietnam

Hmong people at the Can Cau market, Si Ma Cai, Vietnam

Hmong girl (aged 15) preparing wedding dress, Phố Cáo commune, Hà Giang province, Vietnam

Hmong girls in Thoeng District, Thailand

The Hmong people (RPA: Hmoob, Nyiakeng Puachue:, Pahawh Hmong: , ) are indigenous people that mainly live in Southwest China (Guizhou, Yunnan, Sichuan, Chongqing, and Guangxi), Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, and Myanmar.

Mueang

Mueang (เมือง mɯ̄ang, ), Muang (ເມືອງ mɯ́ang, ; Tai Nuea: ᥛᥫᥒᥰ muang), Mong ( mə́ŋ, ), Meng or Mường (Vietnamese), were pre-modern semi-independent city-states or principalities in mainland Southeast Asia, adjacent regions of Northeast India and Southern China, including what is now Thailand, Laos, Burma, Cambodia, parts of northern Vietnam, southern Yunnan, western Guangxi and Assam.