A history of the great Lao kingdom that flourished in the middle Mekong region between the 14th and 18th centuries. Chapters deal with prehistory of Laos, the Tai-Lao migrations, Vietnamese and Burmese invasions and the arrival of the first Europeans, the breakup of the Lao kingdom, the significance of the Lao-Siamese war of 1827-28, and the French annexation of Lao territories in 1893.

Describes the changes in society over 600 years as Lan Xang was gradually dismembered and became a French colony. Most importantly, it shows the essence of the Lao and why, despite all that has happened, they possess their own social and cultural values that mark them as distinctive.

Chronicles the history of Laos, discussing such topics as its early kingdoms, French rule, the Royal Lao Government, and the impact of the Vietnam War.

This Book Studies The Iconography Of The Design Elements Typically Employed By Craftspersons Of Tai Textiles From The Laos, Lan Na And Isan Areas. With Numerous Splendid Illustrations Of The Designs, It Deals With Their Art Of Weaving, Various Textile Forms To Be Found In The Region And The Suitable And Inherently Powerful Motifs Woven.

During the Cold War, the Central Intelligence Agency’s biggest and longest paramilitary operation was in the tiny kingdom of Laos. Hundreds of advisors and support personnel trained and led guerrilla formations across the mountainous Laotian countryside, as well as running smaller road-watch and agent teams that stretched from the Ho Chi Minh Trail to the Chinese frontier. Added to this number were hundreds of contract personnel providing covert aviation services. It was dangerous work. On the Memorial Wall at the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, nine stars are dedicated to officers who perished in Laos. On top of this are more than one hundred from propriety airlines killed in aviation mishaps between 1961 and 1973. Combined, this grim casualty figure is orders of magnitude larger than any other CIA paramilitary operation. But for the Foreign Intelligence officers at Langley, Laos was more than a paramilitary battleground. Because of its geographic location as a buffer state, as well as its trifurcated political structure, Laos was a unique Cold War melting pot. All three of the Lao political factions, including the communist Pathet Lao, had representation in Vientiane. The Soviet Union had an extremely active embassy in the capital, while the People’s Republic of China—though in the throes of the Cultural Revolution—had multiple diplomatic outposts across the kingdom. So, too, did both North and South Vietnam. All of this made Laos fertile ground for clandestine operations. This book comprehensively details the cloak-and-dagger side of the war in Laos for the first time, from agent recruitments to servicing dead-drops in Vientiane.

This authoritative and wide-ranging 1997 history traces events in this little-known country from ancient monarchy, through its establishment as a French colony, to independence in 1953, the People's Democratic Republic, and the present one-party authoritarianism. The book highlights Laos' complex and shifting political alliances. The struggle for independence from France was followed by a struggle for unity and neutrality in the face of persistent foreign intervention, as the country was drawn into the war in Vietnam. Only with the end of the Cold War and the withdrawal of Vietnamese troops has Laos been able to reassert its neutral foreign policy and develop a market economy. This book is an impressive political, social, cultural and economic history. It will be essential for anyone wanting to understand Laos as it joins ASEAN, faces great economic challenges and struggles to maintain its cultural identity.

The first full history of a great commercial and political center that rose in Asia over almost five centuries.

An attempt at describing the French colonization policies in Southeast Asia.

I would like to share a part of my ancestral culture and history using a story I have written of a beloved elephant. The elephant graces the once-royal flag and is the old symbol of a soon-to-be-forgotten monarchy of the country of Lao. The Southeast Asian wars of the nineteen hundreds were fought by brave souls who were misled by greedy and corrupt men who only wanted to seek absolute power and control and ended the reign of the Lan Xang Kingdom. For seven hundred years, many different ethnicities have settled in this lush jungle paradise. It was never the land of any particular group as many shared its majestic mountains and tropical lowlands, and all called their home the land of a million elephants. Enjoy the story.