Laos's early history is a confusion of tribal wars and conquests between vassal states that ultimately unified because the powerful, but sparsely populated, kingdom of Lan Xang. After holding sway within the region for about three centuries, Lan Xang step by step fell to invaders, the Siamese from the south and the Burmese from the west.  

By the time the French arrived within the late 1800s, the region had reverted to a confused patchwork of Siamese, Burmese, Vietnamese and Chinese vassal states. During this period, most of Laos's temples and monuments have been destroyed - these of Luang Prabang being a notable exception. 

The French arrived in the direction of the top of the 19th century, gave the nation its present title, and began rolling again the boundaries of Laos by a collection of treaties with Siam. For the primary time, borders have been agreed with neighboring countries thereby establishing the integrity of the country. Apart from a short period of Japanese occupation in the direction of the top of WWII, French rule continued until 1953 when mounting problems in Vietnam led to full sovereignty for Laos. 

Like its smaller neighbor, Cambodia, Laos has been a pawn within the chess games between regional and international powers. Like Vietnam, it was closely bombed by the US in what has change into often known as the ‘Secret Struggle’. In the course of the ‘Rolling Thunder’ campaign between 1965 and 1968, American bombers dropped over seven million tonnes of excessive explosive on Laos and Vietnam, greater than twice the amount dropped throughout WWII.  

An intricate web of political manoeuvring, coups and counter-coups inspired by the US, China and North Vietnamese fragmented the nation into several warring factions. Finally, the Vietnamese-supported Pathetic Laos took control in 1975. It is now a communist state ruled by the Lao Folk’s Revolutionary Celebration, based mostly upon the Vietnamese Communist Party. 

As in Vietnam, an interval of arduous-line communism was followed by a change of route within the mid 1980s. Nevertheless, the Vietnamese affect is robust, and limits Laos's freedom of development. 

Laos in the present

At present, Laos is one thing of a backwater, a sleepy laid-back place, well behind its neighbors in improvement terms. It is sparsely populated: solely about 5 million folks in a country the size of Britain. Roughly half belong to one among sixty ethnic minorities, or come from other Asian countries. The main faith is Theravada Buddhism, however animism and shamanism is practiced by many ethnic minority groups.  

Cambodians rely closely upon fish protein from Ton Le Sap. Equally, nearly ninety% of the protein consumed by Lao people in the rural areas is wild fish from the tributaries of the Mekong River and from the river itself. Both countries, and Vietnam, are thus threatened by dams being constructed additional upriver. 

Aside from the three main centres of Vientiane, Phonsavan and Luang Prabang, tourism infrastructure is almost non-existent. Roads are generally poor - air travel is the one sensible way to go to the northern area the place many of the main sights are to be found. The south is heavily forested, and of interest mainly to visitors who attracted by virgin wildlife or ethnic culture, and are prepared to ‘tough it’. 

Unexploded ordnance is an ongoing problem in Laos, significantly within the east near the border with Vietnam. Strenuous efforts are being made to take away it; however straying too far from the beaten observe is just not recommended.