HISTORY OF LAOS
This newsletter is going to deal with the
history of Laos,
since
its origins until today.
Laos is a very nice country but you will
see that the history was not always straight and quiet.Laos emerged from the French Colonial Empire as an independent country in 1953. Laos exists in truncated form from the thirteenth century Lao kingdom of Lan Xang. Lan Xang existed as a unified kingdom from 1357-1707, divided into the three rival kingdoms of Luang Prabang, Vientiane, and Champasak from 1707-1779, fell to Siamese suzerainty from 1779-1893, and was reunified under the French Protectorate of Laos in 1893. The borders of the modern state of Laos were established by the French colonial government in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Prehistory in Laos
Ancient human fossil remains from Tam Pa Ling
cave
The Mekong River valley region is one of
the cradles of human civilization. Anatomically modern humans have inhabited
the regions around modern Laos since the late Pleistocene to early Holocene
eras. In 2009 an ancient skull was recovered from Tam Pa Ling Cave in the Annamite
Range of northern Laos which was dated between 46,000 and 63,000 years old,
making it the oldest fully modern human remains found to date in Southeast Asia. The
findings are critical to understanding the migration patterns of early humans,
who traveled in
successive waves moving west to east following the coastlines, but also moving
further inland and further north than previously theorize
Archaeological exploration in Laos has
been limited due to rugged and remote topography, a history of twentieth
century conflicts which have left over two million tons of unexploded ordnance
throughout the country, and local sensitivities to history which involve the
Communist government of Laos, village authorities and rural poverty. The first
archaeological explorations of Laos began with French explorers acting under
the auspices of the École française d'Extrême-Orient.
However, due to the Lao Civil War it is only since the 1990s that serious
archaeological efforts have begun in Laos. Since 2005, one such effort, The
Middle Mekong Archaeological Project (MMAP) has excavated and surveyed numerous
sites along the Mekong and its tributaries around Luang Prabang in
northern Laos, with the goal of investigating early human settlement of the
Mekong River Valleys.Archaeological evidence suggests that agriculture and later metallurgy developed in Laos during the Middle Holocene (6000-2000 BCE). During this period the first evidence of ceramics, and farming practices emerged. Hunting and gathering Hoabinhian societies began to settle and rice cultivation was introduced from southern China. The earliest inhabitants of Laos belonged to the Austro-Asiatic Language Family. These earliest societies are the ancestors of the upland Lao ethnicities known collectively as “Lao Theung,” with the largest ethnic groups being the Khamu of northern Laos, and the Brao and Katang in the south.
The Plain of Jars
From the 8th century BCE to as late as the 2nd century CE an inland trading society emerged on the Xieng Khouang Plateau, near Lao’s most remarkable megalithic remains on a site called the Plain of Jars. The Plain of Jars was nominated to the tentative list as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1992, and unexploded ordnance has continued to be removed from the site since 1998. The jars are stone sarcophagi dating from the early Iron Age (500BCE to 800CE) and contained evidence of human remains, burial goods and ceramics. Some sites contain more than 250 individual jars. The tallest jars are more than 3 meters in height. Little is known about the megalithic culture which produced the jars, but the jars and prevalence of iron ore in the region suggest that people who created the site grew wealthy from overland trade routes.
Early
Kingdoms
The first recorded indigenous kingdom to
emerge in Southeast Asia was recorded in Chinese histories as the Kingdom of Funan and
was located in the area of modern Cambodia, and the coasts of southern Vietnam
and southern Thailand during the 1st century CE. Funan was part of Greater India, and was
heavily influenced by early Hindu civilization. By the 2nd century CE,
Malayo-Polynesian settlers in what is today south Vietnam had established a
rival indic
kingdom known as Champa. The
Cham people established the first settlements near modern Champasak,
Laos. Funan
forced the Cham people out of the Champasak region by the sixth century CE, where
the Chenla a
proto-Khmer people would establish the earliest kingdom in Laos.
The capital of early Chenla was Shrestapura
which was located in the vicinity of Champasak and the UNESCO World Heritage Site of
Wat Phu. Wat
Phu is a
vast temple complex in southern Laos which combined natural surroundings with
ornate sandstone structures, which were maintained and embellished by the Chenla
peoples until 900 CE, and were subsequently rediscovered and embellished by the
Khmer in the 10th century. By the 8th century CE Chenla had divided into “Land Chenla”
located in Laos, and “Water Chenla” founded by Mahendravarman near
Sambor Prei Kuk
in Cambodia. Land Chenla was
known to the Chinese as “Po Lou” or “Wen Dan” and dispatched a trade mission to
the Tang Dynasty court in 717 CE. Water Chenla, would come under repeated attack from Champa, the
Medang sea
kingdoms in Indonesia based in Java, and finally pirates. From the instability
the Khmer emerged, and under the king Jayavarman II the Khmer Empire began to take shape
in the 9th century CE.
In what is modern northern and central
Laos, and northeast
Thailand the
Mon people established their own kingdoms during the 8th century CE, outside
the reach of the contracting Chenla kingdoms. By the 6th century in the Chao
Phraya River Valley, Mon peoples had coalesced to create the Dvaravati
kingdoms. In the north, Haripunjaya (Lamphun)
emerged as a rival power to the Dvaravati. By the 8th century the Mon had pushed
north to create city states, known as “muang,” in Fa Daet (northeast Thailand), Sri Gotapura (Sikhottabong)
near modern Tha Khek,
Laos, Muang Sua (Luang Prabang),
and Chantaburi
(Vientiane). In the 8th century CE, Sri Gotapura (Sikhottabong) was
the strongest of these early city states, and controlled trade throughout the
middle Mekong region. The city states were loosely bound politically, but were
culturally similar and introduced Therevada Buddhism from Sri Lankan missionaries
throughout the region.
The Chinese Han Dynasty chronicles of the
southern military campaigns provide the first written accounts of Tai–Kadai
speaking peoples who inhabited the areas of modern Yunnan China and Guangxi.
The Lao are the culturally and politically dominant ethnicity in modern Laos
and are a subgroup within the Tai-Kadai family. The Tai peoples (which include
Tai-Lao, Tai-Syam or
Tai-Thai, Shan, Tai-Daeng,
Tai-Dam, Tai-Yai,
Tai-Leu,
Tai-Phuan and
others) began moving south and westward from their ancestral homelands in
southern China and northwest Vietnam in the 8th century CE.
In the 750s CE the Kingdom of Nanzhao
managed to defeat four invading Chinese armies, creating a buffer state from
Chinese expansion into Southeast Asia for approximately 150 years. As a
consequence the Tai were able to put pressure on the settled Mon areas, while
the Khmer Empire expanded north and westward from Angkor to absorb most of the
Indochinese peninsula from the 8th-12th centuries CE. By the 12th century CE
the Khmer Empire had reached its zenith, moving as far north as Chandapuri
(Vientiane) and had established trading outposts at Xay Fong
on the Khorat
Plateau.
The Mongol invasions of Yunnan China
(1253-1256) led to an influx of Tai peoples into areas of northern Laos, where they had
been slowly expanding since the 8th century.
The Tai kingdom of Lanna was
founded in 1259 (in the north of modern Thailand).
The Sukhothai Kingdom was founded in 1279 (in modern
Thailand) and expanded eastward to take the city of Chantaburi and
renamed it to Vieng Chan Vieng Kham (modern Vientiane) and northward to
the city of Muang Sua
which was taken in 1271 and renamed the city to Xieng Dong
Xieng
Thong or “City of
Flame Trees beside the River Dong,” (modern Luang Prabang,
Laos). The Tai peoples had firmly established control in areas
to the northeast of the declining Khmer Empire. Following the death of the Sukhothai king
Ram Khamhaeng, and internal disputes within the kingdom of Lanna,
both Vieng Chan
Vieng Kham (Vientiane) and Xieng Dong
Xieng
Thong (Luang Prabang)
were independent city-states until
the founding of Lan Xang in
1354.
The Legend of Khun
Borom
The history of the Tai migrations into
Laos were preserved in myth and legends. The Nithan Khun Borom or "Story of Khun Borom"
recalls the origin myths of the Lao, and follows the exploits of his seven sons
to found the Tai kingdoms of Southeast Asia. The myths also recorded the laws
of Khun Borom,
which set the basis of common law and identity among the Lao. Among the Khamu the
exploits of their folk hero Thao Hung are recounted in the Thao Hung Thao Cheuang
epic, which dramatizes the struggles of the indigenous peoples with the influx
of Tai during the migration period. In later centuries the Lao themselves would
preserve the legend in written form, becoming one of the great literary
treasures of Laos and one of the few depictions of life in Southeast Asia prior
to Therevada
Buddhism and Tai cultural influence.
Lan
Xang
(1354-1707)
Lan Xang (1353-1707) was one of the largest
kingdoms in Southeast Asia. Also known as the "Land of a million elephants
under the white parasol" the kingdom's name alludes to the power of the
kingship and formidable war machine of the early kingdom. The founding of Lan Xang was
recorded in 1353, after a series of conquests by Fa Ngum.
From 1353-1560 the capital of Lan Xang was Luang Prabang (known alternately as Muang Sua and Xieng Dong
Xieng
Thong). Under successive kings the kingdom expanded its sphere of influence
over an area that now incorporates all of modern Laos, the Sipsong Chu
Tai of Vietnam, Sipsong
Panna of Southern China, Khorat
Plateau region of Thailand, and the Stung Treng region of Northern Cambodia.
Lan Xang existed as a sovereign kingdom for over
350 years. The first serious foreign invasion came from the Dai Viet in 1479,
which was defeated, though leaving the capital of Luang Prabang
largely destroyed. The first half of the sixteenth century allowed for the
power, prestige and cultural influence of the kingdom to be restored under a
series of strong kings (see Souvanna Balang, Vixun, Photisarath). In the 1540s a series of succession
disputes in the neighboring
Kingdom of Lanna,
created a regional rivalry between Burma, Ayutthaya and Lan Xang. In
1540 Lan Xang
defeated an incursion from Ayutthaya. By 1545 the Kingdom of Lanna was
attacked by the Burmese and then Ayutthaya. Lan Xang entered into an alliance with Lanna, and
aided in the defense of
the kingdom. In 1547 the kingdoms of Lan Xang and Lanna were briefly unified under Photisarath of
Lan Xang and
his son Setthathirath in Lanna. Setthathirath
would go on to become the king of Lan Xang on the death of his father, and become
one of the greatest kings of Lan Xang.
The Burmese Toungoo
Dynasty began a series of expansions during the late 1550s which culminated
under King Bayinnaung. Setthathirath
moved the capital of Lan Xang from
Luang Prabang to
Vientiane in 1560, to better defend against the threat of Burma and to more
ably administer the central and southern provinces. Bayinnaung
subjugated the Kingdom of Lanna and went on to destroy the kingdom and
city of Ayutthaya in 1564. King Setthathirath
fought two successful guerilla
campaigns against the Burmese invasions, leaving Lan Xang the
only independent Tai kingdom until his death in 1572, while on campaign against
the Khmer. The Burmese succeeded with the third invasion of Lan Xang
around 1573, and Lan Xang
became a vassal state until 1591 when the son of Setthathirath, Nokeo Koumane, was
able to successfully reassert independence.
Lan Xang recovered and reached the apex of its
political and economic power during the seventeenth century under King Sourigna
Vongsa, who became the longest reigning of Lan Xang’s monarchs (1637-1694). In the 1640s the
first European explorers to leave a detailed account of the kingdom arrived
looking to establish trade and secure Christian converts, both were ultimately
largely unsuccessful. Upon the death of Sourigna Vongsa a succession dispute erupted and
the kingdom of Lan Xang was
ultimately divided into constituent kingdoms in 1707.
Regional
Kingdoms (1707-1779)
Southeast Asia c.1707-1828 showing the
kingdoms of Vientiane, Luang Prabang, Champasak, and
the principality of Phuan (Xieng Khuang)
Beginning in 1707 the Lao kingdom of Lan Xang was
partitioned into regional kingdoms of Vientiane, Luang Prabang and later Champasak (1713). The Kingdom of Vientiane was the
strongest of the three, with Vientiane extending influence across the Khorat
Plateau (now part of modern Thailand) and conflicting with the Kingdom of Luang Prabang for
control of the Xieng Khouang
Plateau (on the border of modern Vietnam).
The Kingdom of Luang Prabang was
the first of the regional kingdoms to emerge in 1707, when King Xai Ong
Hue of Lan Xang was
challenged by Kingkitsarat, the
grandson of Sourigna
Vongsa. Xai Ong
Hue and his family had sought asylum in Vietnam when they were exiled during
the reign of Sourigna
Vongsa. Xai Ong
Hue gained the support of the Vietnamese Emperor Le Duy Hiep in
exchange for recognition of Vietnamese suzerainty over Lan Xang. At
the head of a Vietnamese army Xai Ong Hue attacked Vientiane and executed
King Nantharat
another claimant to the throne. In response Sourigna Vongsa’s grandson Kingkitsarat
rebelled and moved with his own army from the Sipsong Panna toward Luang Prabang. Kingkitsarat then
moved south to challenge Xai Ong
Hue in Vientiane. Xai Ong
Hue then turned toward the Kingdom of Ayutthaya for support, and an army was
dispatched which rather than supporting Xai Ong Hue arbitrated the division between Luang Prabang and
Vientiane.
In 1713, the southern Lao nobility
continued the rebellion against Xai Ong Hue under Nokasad, a nephew of Sourigna
Vongsa, and the Kingdom of Champasak emerged. The Kingdom of Champasak
comprised the area south of the Xe Bang River as far as Stung Treng
together with the areas of the lower Mun and Chi rivers on the Khorat
Plateau. Although less populous than either Luang Prabang or Vientiane, Champasak
occupied an important position for regional power and international trade via
the Mekong River.
Throughout the 1760s and 1770s the
kingdoms of Siam and Burma competed against each other in a bitter armed
rivalry, and sought out alliances with the Lao kingdoms to strengthen their
relative positions by adding to their own forces and denying them to their
enemy. As a result, the use of competing alliances would further militarize the
conflict between the northerly Lao kingdoms of Luang Prabang and Vientiane. Between the two major Lao
kingdoms if an alliance with one was sought by either Burma or Siam, the other
would tend to support the remaining side. The network of alliances shifted with
the political and military landscape throughout the latter half of the
eighteenth century.
Siam
and Suzerainty (1779-1893)
By 1779 General Taksin had
driven the Burmese from Siam, had overrun the Lao Kingdoms of Champasak and
Vientiane, and forced Luang Prabang to
accept vassalage (Luang Prabang had
aided Siam during the siege of Vientiane). Traditional power relationships in
Southeast Asia followed the Mandala model, warfare was waged to secure
population centers for corvee labor,
control regional trade, and confirm religious and secular authority by
controlling potent Buddhist symbols (white elephants, important stupas,
temples, and Buddha images). To legitimize the Thonburi Dynasty, General Taksin
seized the Emerald Buddha and Phra Bang images from Vientiane. Taksin also
demanded that the ruling elites of the Lao kingdoms and their royal families
pledge vassalage to Siam in order to retain their regional autonomy in
accordance with the Mandala model. In the traditional Mandala model, vassal
kings retained their power to raise tax, discipline their own vassals, inflict
capital punishment, and appoint their own officials. Only matters of war, and
succession required approval from the suzerain. Vassals were also expected to
provide annual tribute of gold and silver (traditionally modeled into
trees), provide tax and tax in-kind, raise support armies in time of war, and
provide corvee labor for
state projects.
However, by 1782 Taksin had been deposed and Rama I was king of
Siam, and began a series of reforms which fundamentally altered the traditional
Mandala. Many of the reforms took place to more closely administer and
assimilate the Khorat
Plateau(or Isan) which was traditionally and culturally part of the Lao
kingdoms’ tributary networks. In 1778, only Nakhon Ratchasima was a tributary
of Siam, yet by the end of the reign of Rama I Sisaket, Ubon, Roi Et, Yasothon, Khon Khaen, and Kalasin paid tribute directly to Bangkok.
According to Thai records, by 1826 (less than fifty years) the number of towns
and cities in Isan had grown from 13 to 35. Forced population transfers from
Lao areas were further reinforced by corvee labor projects and increased taxes. Siam
required labor to
help rebuild from repeated Burmese invasions, and growing sea trade. Increasing
the productivity and population living on the Khorat Plateau provided the labor and
material access to strengthen Siam.
Siribunnyasan the
last independent king of Vientiane had died by 1780, and his sons Nanthasen,
Inthavong, and Anouvong had
been taken to Bangkok as prisoners during the sack of Vientiane in 1779. The
sons would become successive kings of Vientiane (under Siamese suzerainty),
beginning with Nanthasen in
1781. Nanthasen was
allowed to return to Vientiane with the Phra Bang, the palladium of Lan Xang, the
Emerald Buddha remained in Bangkok and became an important symbol to the Lao of
their captivity.
One of Nanthasen’s first acts was to seize Chao Somphu a Phuan
prince from Xieng Khouang who
had entered into a tributary relationship with Vietnam, and released him only
when it was agreed that Xieng Khouang
would also acknowledge Vientiane as suzerain. In 1791, Anuruttha was
confirmed by Rama I as king of Luang Prabang. By 1792 Nanthasen had convinced Rama I that Anuruttha was
secretly dealing with the Burmese, and Siam allowed Nanthasen to
lead an army and besiege and capture Luang Prabang. Anuruttha was sent to Bangkok as a prisoner, and
only through diplomatic exchanges facilitated by China, was Anuruttha
released in 1795. Soon after Anuruttha’s release it was alleged that Nanthasen had
been plotting with the governor of Nakhon Phanom to rebel against Siam. Rama I ordered
the immediate arrest of Nanthasen, and
soon after he died in captivity. Inthavong (1795-1804) became the next king of
Vientiane, and dispatched armies to aide Siam against Burmese invasions in 1797
and 1802, and to capture the Sipsong Chau Tai (with his brother Anouvong as
general).
Anouvong’s Rebellion and Lao Nationalism
Anouvong is a symbolic and controversial figure
even today, his short lived rebellion against Siam from 1826-1829 ultimately
proved futile and led to the total annihilation of Vientiane as a kingdom and a
city, yet among the Lao he remains a potent symbol of unyielding defiance and
national identity. Thai and Vietnamese histories record that Anouvong
rebelled as the result of personal insult suffered at the funeral of Rama II in
Bangkok. Yet, the Anouvong
Rebellion lasted three years and engulfed the whole of the Khorat
Plateau for more complex reasons.
The history of forced population
transfers, corvee labor
projects, loss of national symbols and prestige (most notably the Emerald
Buddha) formed the backdrop to specific actions taken by Rama III to directly
annex the Isan region. In 1812 Siam and Vietnam were at odds over the
succession of the Cambodian king, the Vietnamese gained the upper hand with
their chosen successor and Siam compensated itself by annexing territory on the
Dangrek
Mountains and along the Mekong River in Stung Treng. As a result, Lao international trade
along the Mekong was effectively blockaded, and heavy duties were imposed on
Lao merchants who were viewed suspiciously by Siam for their trade with both
the Cambodians and Vietnamese.
In 1819 a rebellion in Champasak
provided Anouvong with
opportunity, and he dispatched an army under his son Nyo who
managed to suppress the conflict. In exchange Anouvong successfully made the case that his son
be crowned as king in Champasak,
which was confirmed by Bangkok. Anouvong had successfully expanded his influence
throughout Vientiane, Isan, Xieng Khouang and now Champasak. Anouvong dispatched a number of diplomatic
missions to Luang Prabang,
which were viewed suspiciously in light of his growing regional influence.
By 1825 Rama II had died, and Rama III
was consolidating his position against prince Mongkut (Rama IV). In the ensuing
power struggle before the accession of Rama III one of Anouvong’s grandsons was
killed. When Anouvong
arrived for the funerary services, he made several requests of the king Rama
III which were dismissed including the return of his sister who had been
captured in 1779, and Lao families which had been relocated to Saraburi near
Bangkok. Before returning to Vientiane, Anouvong’s son Ngau, the
crown prince, was forced to perform manual labor during which he was beaten.
Early in his reign, Rama III ordered a
census of all peoples on the Khorat Plateau, the census involved the forced
tattooing of each villager’s census number and name of their village. The aim
of the policy was to more tightly administer Lao territories from Bangkok and
was facilitated by the nobility Siam had installed in the newly created cities
throughout the region. Popular resentment against the forced tattooing and
increased taxes became casus belli for rebellion.
Toward the end of 1826 Anouvong was
making military preparations for armed rebellion. Anouvong’s strategy involved
three objectives, first was to repatriate all ethnic Lao living in Siam to the
right bank of the Mekong and execute any Siamese engaged in the tattooing of
Lao, the second objective was to consolidate Lao power by forging an alliance
with Chiang Mai and Luang Prabang, the
third and final goal was to gain international support from either the
Vietnamese, Chinese, Burmese or British. In January hostilities commenced, and
the Lao armies were sent from Vientiane to capture Nakhon Ratchasima, Kalasin, and
Lomsak.
From Champasak
forces rushed to take Ubon and Suvannaphum,
while pursuing a scorched-earth policy ensuring the Lao time to retreat.
Anouvong’s forces pushed south eventually
to Saraburi to
free the Lao there, but the flood of refugees pushing north slowed the armies’
retreat. Anouvong also
severely underestimated the Siamese arms stockpile, which under the terms of
Burney Treaty had provided Siam with weaponry from the Napoleonic Wars in
Europe. A Lao defense was
staged at Nong Bua Lamphu the
traditional Lao stronghold in the Isan, but the Siamese emerged victorious and leveled the
city. The Siamese pushed north to take Vientiane and Anouvong fled
southeast to the border with Vietnam. By 1828 Anouvong had been captured, tortured and sent to
Bangkok with his family to die in a cage. Rama III ordered Chao Bodin to
return and level the city of Vientiane, and forcibly move the entire population
of the former Lao capital to the Isan region.
Aftermath and Vietnamese Intervention
Following the Anouvong
Rebellion Siam and Vietnam were increasingly at odds over control of the
Indochinese Peninsula. In 1831 Emperor Minh Mang sent Vietnamese troops to
seize Xieng Khouang and
annexed the area as the province of Tran Ninh. Also in 1831 and again in 1833 King Mantha Tourath sent
a tributary mission to the Vietnamese, which were quietly ignored so as not to
antagonize the Siamese further. In 1893 these tributary missions from Luang Prabang were
used by the French as part of a legal argument for all the territories on the
east bank of the Mekong. In late 1831 Siam and Vietnam had a series of wars
(Siamese-Vietnamese War 1831-1834, and Siamese-Vietnamese War 1841-1845) over
control of Xieng Khouang and
Cambodia.
In the aftermath of Vientiane's
destruction the Siamese divided the Lao lands into three administrative
regions. In the north, the king of Luang Prabang and a small Siamese garrison controlled Luang Prabang, the
Sipsong
Panna, and Sipsong Chao
Tai. The central region was administered from Nong Khai and extended to the borders of Tran Ninh (Xieng Khouang) and
south to Champasak. The
southern regions were controlled from Champasak and extended to areas bordering Cochin
China and Cambodia. From the 1830s through the 1860s small rebellions took
place across Lao lands and the Khorat Plateau, but they lacked both the scale
and coordination of the Anouvong
Rebellion. Importantly, at the end of each rebellion Siamese troops would
return to their administrative centers, and no Lao region was allowed to have a
buildup of
force which could have been used in rebellion.
Population Transfers and Slavery
Population transfers of ethnic Lao to Siam began in
1779 with Siamese suzerainty. Artisans and members of the court were forcibly
moved to Saraburi near
Bangkok, and several thousand farmers and peasant who were transported
throughout Siam to Phetchaburi, Ratchaburi, and Nakhon Chaisi in
the southwest and to Prachinburi and Chanthaburi in
the southeast. However, massive deportations estimated between 100,000-300,000
people began following the defeat of King Anouvong in 1828, and would continue until the
1870s. From 1828-1830 over 66,000 people were forcibly relocated from
Vientiane. In 1834 the first of several relocations of the Phuan
areas of Xieng Khouang
began, transferring more than 6,000 people. Most of those relocated were
settled in the Isan region and were considered that cha loei or
“war slaves” who were to serve as serfs in underpopulated areas for the Thai
elite. The result changed the demographics and cultural traditions of Thailand
and Laos and continues today with a five-fold disparity between the ethnic Lao
living on the West Bank of the Mekong and those left in the East in what is
today Laos.
Although slavery existed in Lao areas
before the rebellion in 1828, the defeat and subsequent removal of most ethnic
Lao left a depopulated and vulnerable position for the remaining people of the
East Bank of the Mekong. Lao Theung hill tribes which had little involvement
in the 1828 rebellion bore the brunt of organized slave raids into Laos and
became known collectively and pejoratively in Thai and Lao as kha or
“slaves.” Lao Theung were
hunted or sold into slavery frequent organized raiding parties from Vietnam,
Cambodia, Siam, Laos and China. Larger tribes of Lao Theung,
such as the Brao,
would conduct slave raids against weaker tribes. The raids continued throughout
the remainder of the nineteenth century, a Siamese military campaign in Laos in
1876 was described by a British observer as having been "transformed into
slave-hunting raids on a large scale."
The population transfers and slave raids
ameliorated toward the end of the nineteenth century when European observers
and anti-slavery groups made their presence increasingly difficult for the
Bangkok elite. In 1880 both slave raiding and trading became illegal, although
debt slavery would persist until 1905 by decree of King Chulalongkorn. The
French would use the existence of slavery in Siam as one of the major professed
motivations for establishing a Protectorate of Laos during the 1880s and 1890s.
The Haw Wars
In the 1840s sporadic rebellions, slave
raids, and movement of refugees throughout the areas that would become modern
Laos left whole regions politically and militarily weak. In China the Qing
Dynasty was pushing south to incorporate hill peoples into the central
administration, at first floods of refugees and later bands of rebels from the
Taiping Rebellion pushed into Lao lands. The rebel groups became known by their
banners and included the Yellow (or Striped) Flags, Red Flags and the Black
Flags. The bandit groups rampaged throughout the countryside, with little
response from Siam.
During the early and mid-nineteenth
century the first Lao Sung including the Hmong, Mien, Yao and other
Sino-Tibetan groups began settling in the higher elevations of Phongsali
province and northeast Laos. The influx of immigration was facilitated by the
same political weakness which had given shelter to the Haw bandits and left
large depopulated areas throughout Laos.
By the 1860s the first French explorers
were pushing north charting the path of the Mekong River, with hope of a
navigable waterway to southern China. Among the early French explorers was an
expedition led by Francis Garnier, who was killed during an expedition by
Haw rebels in northern Laos. The French would increasingly conduct military
campaigns against the Haw in both Laos and Vietnam (Tonkin) until the 1880s.
Colonialism
and the French Protectorate of Laos (1893-1953)
French colonial interests in Laos began
with the exploratory missions of Doudart de Lagree and Francis Garnier
during the 1860s in the hopes of utilizing the Mekong River as a passage to
southern China. Although the Mekong is unnavigable due to a number of rapids,
the hope was that the river might be tamed with the help of French engineering
and a combination of railways. In 1886 Britain secured the right to appoint a
representative in Chiang Mai, in northern Siam. To counter British control in
Burma and growing influence in Siam, that same year France sought to establish
representation in Luang Prabang, and
dispatched Auguste Pavie to
secure French interests.
Pavie and French auxiliaries arrived in Luang Prabang in
1887, in time to witness an attack on Luang Prabang by Chinese and Tai bandits, hoping to
liberate the brothers of their leader Đèo Văn Trị, whowere being held prisoner by the
Siamese. Pavie
prevented the capture of the ailing King Oun Kham by ferrying him away from the
burning city to safety. The incident won the gratitude of the king, provided an
opportunity for France to gain control of the Sipsong Chu Thai as part of Tonkin in French
Indochina, and demonstrated the weakness of the Siamese in Laos. In 1892 Pavie
became Resident Minister in Bangkok, where he encouraged a French policy which
first sought to deny or ignore Siamese sovereignty over Lao territories on the
east bank of the Mekong, and secondly to suppress the slavery of upland Lao Theung and
population transfers of Lao Loum by the Siamese as a prelude to
establishing a protectorate in Laos. Siam reacted by denying French trading
interests, which by 1893 had increasingly involved military posturing and
gunboat diplomacy. France and Siam would position troops to deny each other’s
interests, resulting in a Siamese siege of Khong Island in the south and a series of
attacks on French garrisons in the north. The result was the Paknam
Incident, the Franco-Siamese War and the ultimate recognition of French
territorial claims in Laos.
The French were aware that the east-bank
territories of the Mekong were “a depopulated, devastated country,” the Siamese
forced population transfers following the Anouvong Rebellion left only a fifth of the
original population on the east-bank, the majority of Lao Loum and Phuan
peoples had been resettled to the areas around the Khorat
Plateau. Territorial gains in 1893 were only a springboard to secure French
control of the Mekong, deny Siam as much territorial control as possible by
acquiring the Mekong’s west bank territories including the Khorat
Plateau, and negotiating stable borders with British Burma along the former
territories which paid tribute to the Kingdom of Luang Prabang. France settled a treaty with China in
1895, gaining control of Luang Namtha and Phongsali.
British control of the Shan States and French control of the upper Mekong
increased tensions between the colonial rivals. A joint commission completed
its work in 1896 and the city of Muang Sing was gained by France, in exchange
France recognized Siamese sovereignty over the areas of the Chaophraya
River basin. However, the issue of Siamese control over the Khorat
Plateau, which was ethnically and historically Lao, was left open for the
French as was Siamese control over the Malay Peninsula which favored
British interests. Political events in Europe would shape French Indochinese
policy however, and between 1896 and 1904 a new political party took power
which viewed Britain as much more of an ally than a colonial rival. In 1904 the
Entente Cordiale was signed as part of the alliance against Germany and
Austria-Hungary that fought the First World War. The agreement established
respective spheres of influence in Southeast Asia, although French territorial
claims would continue until 1907 in Cambodia.
The French Protectorate of Laos
established two and at times three administrative regions governed from Vietnam
in 1893. It was not until 1899 that Laos became centrally administered by a
single Resident Superieur
based in Savannakhet, and
later in Vientiane. The French chose to establish Vientiane as the colonial
capital for two reasons, firstly it was more centrally located between the
central provinces and Luang Prabang, and
secondly the French were aware of the symbolic importance of rebuilding the
former capital of the Lan Xang Kingdom which the Siamese had destroyed.
As part of French Indochina both Laos and
Cambodia were seen as a
source of raw materials and labor for the more important holdings in
Vietnam. French colonial presence in Laos was light; the Resident Superieur was responsible for all colonial
administration from taxation to
justice and public works. The French maintained a military presence in
the colonial capital under the Garde Indigene made up of Vietnamese soldiers
under a French commander. In important provincial cities like Luang Prabang, Savannakhet, and Pakse there would be an assistant resident, police, paymaster, postmaster,
schoolteacher and a doctor.
Vietnamese filled most upper level and mid-level
positions within the bureaucracy, with Lao being employed as junior
clerks, translators, kitchen staff and general laborers.
Villages remained under the traditional authority
of the local headmen or chao muang.
Throughout the colonial administration in
Laos the French presence never amounted to more than a few thousand Europeans. The French
concentrated on the development of infrastructure, the abolition of slavery
and indentured servitude (although corvee labor was still in effect), trade including
opium production, and most importantly the
collection of taxes.
The Lao response to French colonialism
was mixed, although the French were viewed as preferable to the Siamese by the
nobility, the majority of Lao Loum, Lao Theung, and Lao Sung were burdened by
regressive taxes and demands for corvee labor to establish colonial outposts. The
first serious resistance to the French colonial presence began in southern
Laos, as the Holy Man’s Rebellion led by Ong Keo, and would last until 1910. The
rebellion began in 1901 when a French commissioner in Salavan was
attempting to pacify Lao Theung
tribes for taxation and corvee labor, Ong
Keo
provoked anti-French sentiment and in response the French burned a local
temple. The commissioner and his troops were massacred and a general uprising
began throughout the Bolaven
Plateau. Ong Keo
would be killed by French forces, but for several years his harassment and
protests gained popularity in the southern Laos. It was not until the movement
spread to the Khorat
Plateau and threatened to become an international incident involving Siam that
several French columns of the Garde Indigene converged to put down the
rebellion. In the north Tai Lu groups from the areas around Phongsali and Muang Sing
also began to rebel against French attempts at taxation and corvee labor.
In 1914 the Tai Lu king had fled to the
Chinese portions of the Sipsong Panna, where he began a two-year guerilla
campaign against the French in northern Laos, which
required three military expeditions to
suppress and resulted in direct French control of Muang Sing. In northeast Laos, Chinese and Lao Theung
rebelled against French attempts to tax the opium trade
which resulted in another rebellion from 1914-1917. By 1915 most of
northeast Laos was controlled by Chinese and Lao Theung
rebels. The French dispatched the largest military presence yet to Laos
which included 160 French officers and 2500 Vietnamese
troops divided in two columns.
The French drove the Chinese led rebels
across the Chinese border and placed Phongsali under direct colonial control. Yet northeastern Laos
was still not entirely pacified and a Hmong shaman
named Pa Chay Vue attempted to establish a Hmong homeland through a
rebellion (pejoratively termed the Madman’s War) which lasted from
1919-1921.
Market
in Luang
Prabang (1900)
By 1920 the majority of French Laos was
at peace and colonial order had been established. In 1928 the first school for
the training of Lao civil servants was established, and allowed for the upward
mobility of Lao to fill positions occupied by the Vietnamese. Throughout the
1920s and 1930s France attempted to implement Western, particularly French,
education, modern healthcare and medicine, and public works with mixed success.
The budget for colonial Laos was secondary to Hanoi, and the worldwide Great Depression
further restricted funds. It was also in the 1920s and 1930s that the first stirings of
Lao nationalist identity emerged due to the work of Prince Phetsarath Rattanavongsa and
the French Ecole Francaise d’Extreme
Orient to restore ancient monuments, temples, and conduct general research into
Lao history, literature, art and architecture. French interest in indigenous
history served a dual purpose in Laos it reinforced the image of the colonial
mission as protection against Siamese domination, and was also a legitimate
route for scholarship.
World War II
Developing Lao national identity gained
importance in 1938 with the rise of the ultranationalist prime minister Phibunsongkhram in
Bangkok. Phibunsongkhram
renamed Siam to Thailand, a name change which was part of a larger political
movement to unify all Tai peoples under the central Thai of Bangkok. The French
viewed these developments with alarm, but the Vichy Government was diverted by
events in Europe and World War II. Despite a non-aggression treaty signed in
June 1940, Thailand took advantage of the French position and initiated the
Franco-Thai War. The war concluded unfavorably for Lao interests with the Treaty of
Tokyo, and the loss of trans-Mekong territories of Xainyaburi and
part of Champasak. The
result was Lao distrust of the French and the first overtly national cultural
movement in Laos, which was in the odd position of having limited French
support. Charles Rochet the French Director of Public Education in Vientiane,
and Lao intellectuals led by Nyuy Aphai and Katay Don Sasorith began the Movement for National
Renovation.
Yet the wider impact of World War II had
little effect on Laos until February 1945, when a detachment from the Japanese
Imperial Army moved into Xieng Khouang. The
Japanese preempted that
the Vichy administration of French Indochina under Admiral Decoux
would be replaced by a representative of the Free French loyal to Charles DeGaulle and
initiated Operation Meigo Sakusan. The
Japanese succeeded in the internment of the French living in Vietnam and
Cambodia, but in the remote areas of Laos the French were able with the help of
the Lao and Garde
Indigene to establish jungle bases which were supplied by British airdrops from
Burma. However, French control in Laos had been sidelined.
Lao Issara and Independence
1945 was a watershed year in the history
of Laos, under Japanese pressure King Sisavangvong
declared independence in April. The move allowed the various independence
movements in Laos including the Lao Seri and Lao Pen Lao to coalesce into the
Lao Issara or
“Free Lao” movement which was led by Prince Phetsarath and opposed the return of Laos to the
French. The Japanese surrender on 15 August 1945 emboldened pro-French factions
and Prince Phetsarath was
dismissed by King Sisavangvong.
Undeterred Prince Phetsarath
staged a coup in September and placed the royal family in Luang Prabang
under house arrest. On 12 October 1945 the Lao Issara government was declared under the civil
administration of Prince Phetsarath. In
the next six months the French rallied against the Lao Issara and
were able to reassert control over Indochina in April 1946. The Lao Issara
government fled to Thailand, where they maintained opposition to the French
until 1949, when the group split over questions regarding relations with the
Vietminh and the communist Pathet Lao was formed. With the Lao Issara in
exile, in August 1946 France instituted a constitutional monarchy in Laos
headed by King Sisavangvong, and
Thailand agreed to return territories seized during the Franco-Thai War in
exchange for a representation at the United Nations. The Franco-Lao General
Convention of 1949 provided most members of the Lao Issara with
a negotiated amnesty and sought appeasement by establishing the Kingdom of Laos
a quasi-independent constitutional monarchy within the French Union. In 1950
additional powers were granted to the Royal Lao Government including training
and assistance for a national army. On October 22, 1953, the Franco–Lao Treaty
of Amity and Association transferred remaining French powers to the independent
Royal Lao Government. By 1954 the defeat at Dien Bien Phu brought eight years of fighting with the
Vietminh, during the First Indochinese War, to an end and France abandoned all
claims to the colonies of Indochina.
The
Kingdom of Laos and the Lao Civil War (1953-1975)
Elections were held in 1955, and the first
coalition government, led by Prince Souvanna Phouma, was formed in 1957. The coalition
government collapsed in 1958. In 1960 Captain Kong Le staged a coup when the
cabinet was away at the royal capital of Luang Prabang and demanded reformation of a neutralist
government. The second coalition government, once again led by Souvanna Phouma, was
not successful in holding power. Rightist forces under General Phoumi Nosavan
drove out the neutralist government from power later that same year. The North
Vietnamese invaded Laos between 1958–1959 to create the Ho Chi
Minh Trail.
A second Geneva conference, held in
1961-62, provided for the independence and neutrality of Laos, but the
agreement meant little in reality and the war soon resumed. Growing North
Vietnamese military presence in the country increasingly drew Laos into the
Second Indochina War (1954-1975). As a result, for nearly a decade, eastern
Laos was subjected to some of the heaviest bombing in the history of warfare,
as
the U.S. sought to destroy the Ho Chi Minh Trail that passed through Laos
and defeat the Communist forces. The North Vietnamese also heavily backed the Pathet Lao
and repeatedly invaded Laos. The government and army of Laos were backed by the
USA during the conflict. The United States trained both regular Royal Lao
forces and irregular forces among whom many were the Hmong and other ethnic
minorities.
Shortly after the Paris Peace Accords led
to the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Vietnam, a ceasefire between the Pathet Lao
and the government led to a new coalition government. However, North Vietnam
never withdrew from Laos and the Pathet Lao remained little more than a proxy
army for Vietnamese interests. After the fall of South Vietnam to communist
forces in April 1975, the Pathet Lao with the backing of North Vietnam
were able to take total power with little resistance. On December 2, 1975, the
king was forced to abdicate his throne and the Lao People's Democratic Republic
was established.
The
Lao People's Democratic Republic (1975-Present)
The new communist government led by Kaysone Phomvihane
imposed centralized economic decision-making and incarcerated many members of
the previous government and military in "re-education camps" which
also included the Hmongs.
While nominally independent, the communist government was for many years
effectively little more than a puppet regime run from Vietnam.
The government's policies prompted about
10 percent of the Lao population to leave the country. Laos depended heavily on
Soviet aid channeled
through Vietnam up until the Soviet collapse in 1991. In the 1990s the
communist party gave up centralised management of the economy but still has a
monopoly of political power.
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