Editing Laos (section)

=== Lan Xang ===
{{Main|Lan Xang}}
Laos traces its history to the kingdom of Lan Xang ('million elephants'), which was founded in the 13th century by a Lao prince, [[Fa Ngum]],<ref name="Coedes">{{cite book|last= Coedès|first= George|author-link= George Coedès|editor= Walter F. Vella|others= trans. Susan Brown Cowing|title= The Indianized States of Southeast Asia|year= 1968 |publisher= University of Hawaii Press |isbn = 978-0-8248-0368-1}}</ref>{{rp|223}} whose father had his family exiled from the [[Khmer Empire]]. Fa Ngum, with 10,000 [[Khmer people|Khmer]] troops, conquered some Lao principalities in the [[Mekong]] river basin, culminating in the capture of [[Vientiane]]. Ngum was descended from a line of Lao kings that traced back to Khoun Boulom.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Fa-Ngum|title=Fa Ngum|website=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=23 December 2019|archive-date=8 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308050252/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Fa-Ngum|url-status=live}}</ref> He made [[Theravada|Theravada Buddhism]] the state religion. His ministers, unable to tolerate his ruthlessness, forced him into exile to what is later the Thai province of [[Nan Province|Nan]] in 1373,<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.history.com/topics/fa-ngum |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100308201136/http://www.history.com/topics/fa-ngum |archive-date = 8 March 2010 |title = Fa Ngum |publisher=History.com |access-date = 23 January 2011}}</ref> where he died. Fa Ngum's eldest son, Oun Heuan, ascended to the throne under the name [[Samsenethai]] and reigned for 43&nbsp;years. Lan Xang became a trade centre during Samsenthai's reign, and after his death in 1421 it collapsed into warring factions for nearly a century.<ref>Sanda Simms, ch. 3, "Through Chaos to a New Order", in ''The Kingdoms of Laos'' (London: Taylor & Francis, 2013). {{ISBN|9781136863370}}</ref>

In 1520, [[Photisarath]] came to the throne and moved the capital from [[Luang Prabang]] to Vientiane to avoid a Burmese invasion. [[Setthathirath]] became king in 1548, after his father was killed, and ordered the construction of [[Pha That Luang|That Luang]]. Settathirath disappeared in the mountains on his way back from a military expedition into [[Cambodia]], and [[Lan Xang]] fell into more than 70 years of "instability", involving Burmese invasion and civil war.<ref>Sanda Simms, ch. 6, "Seventy Years of Anarchy", in ''The Kingdoms of Laos'' (London: Taylor & Francis, 2013). {{ISBN|9781136863370}}; see also P.C. Sinha, ed., ''Encyclopaedia of South East and Far East Asia'', vol. 3 (Anmol, 2006).</ref>

In 1637, when [[Sourigna Vongsa]] ascended the throne, Lan Xang further expanded its frontiers. When he died without an heir, the kingdom split into three principalities. Between 1763 and 1769, Burmese armies overran northern Laos and annexed [[Luang Prabang]], while [[Kingdom of Champasak|Champasak]] eventually came under Siamese [[suzerainty]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Askew, Marc.|title=Vientiane : transformations of a Lao landscape|year=2010|orig-year= 2007|publisher=Routledge|others=Logan, William Stewart, 1942–, Long, Colin, 1966–|isbn=978-0-415-59662-6|location=London|oclc=68416667}}</ref>

[[Anouvong|Chao Anouvong]] was installed as a vassal king of Vientiane by the Siamese. He encouraged a renaissance of Lao fine arts and literature and improved relations with [[Luang Prabang|Luang Phrabang]]. Under Vietnamese pressure, [[Lao rebellion (1826–1828)|he rebelled against the Siamese in 1826]]. The rebellion failed, and Vientiane was ransacked.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.asianewsnet.net/home/news.php?sec=3&id=15718 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101126004328/http://www.asianewsnet.net/home/news.php?id=15718&sec=3 |url-status=usurped |archive-date=26 November 2010 |title=Let's hope Laos hangs on to its identity |publisher=Asianewsnet.net |access-date=23 January 2011 }}</ref> Anouvong was taken to [[Bangkok]] as a prisoner, where he died.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Imperial Wars 1815–1914 | series = Encyclopedia of Warfare Series |editor-last=Showalter | editor-first =  Dennis | editor-link = Dennis Showalter |date= 2013|isbn=978-1-78274-125-1|publisher = Amber Books | location=London|oclc=1152285624}}</ref>

In a time period where the acquisition of humans was a priority over the ownership of land, the warfare of pre-modern Southeast Asia revolved around the seizing of people and resources from its enemies. A Siamese military campaign in Laos in 1876 was described by a British observer as having been "transformed into [[Slavery in Asia|slave-hunting raids]] on a large scale".<ref>{{Cite web |date=2010-10-12 |title=The New Kyoto Review of South East Asia Website |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101012011239/http://kyotoreviewsea.org/slavery3.htm |access-date=2025-05-16 |website=web.archive.org}}</ref>