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100-576: Mahidharapura Dynasty ( Khmer : រាជត្រកូលមហិធរៈបុរៈ ; Thai : ราชวงศ์มหิธรปุระ ; Roman : House of Mahidharapura , Mahidra-pura ) was a dynasty. Some sources call it the Mahitarapura dynasty or Khom royal family (Khmer) . It lasted from 1080 to 1336 and was based in Phimai, Thailand . The Mahidharapura dynasty of the Varman dynasty was established by Hiranyavarman and was known after

200-551: A [k] sound ( k- , kh- ) are pronounced as a glottal stop [ʔ] after the vowels [ɑː] , [aː] , [iə] , [ɨə] , [uə] , [ɑ] , [a] , [ĕə] , [ŭə] . The letter រ rô is silent when final (in most dialects; see Northern Khmer ). The letter ស sâ when final is pronounced /h/ (which in this position approaches [ç] ). The Khmer writing system includes supplementary consonants, used in certain loanwords , particularly from French and Thai . These mostly represent sounds which do not occur in native words, or for which

300-691: A comprehensive report that includes summaries of refugee claims, which was submitted to the UN in May 2006. The European Union , UNHCHR, and international groups have since spoken out about the forced repatriation. The Thai foreign ministry has said that it will halt deportation of Hmong refugees held in Detention Centres in Nong Khai , while talks are underway to resettle them in Australia, Canada,

400-461: A consonant (or consonant cluster). The vowel is pronounced after the consonant (or cluster), even though some of the symbols have graphical elements which appear above, below or to the left of the consonant character. Most of the vowel symbols have two possible pronunciations, depending on the inherent vowel of the consonant to which it is added. Their pronunciations may also be different in weak syllables , and when they are shortened (e.g. by means of

500-770: A consonant symbol). In Khmer they are called ស្រៈពេញតួ sră pénh tuŏ , which means "complete vowels". They are used in some words to represent certain combinations of a vowel with an initial glottal stop or liquid . The independent vowels are used in a small number of words, mostly of Indic origin, and consequently there is some inconsistency in their use and pronunciations. However, a few words in which they occur are used quite frequently; these include: ឥឡូវ ĕlov [ʔəjləw] "now", ឪពុក âupŭk [ʔəwpuk] "father", ឬ rœ [rɨː] "or", ឮ lœ [lɨː] "hear", ឲ្យ aôy [ʔaoj] "give, let", ឯង êng [ʔaeŋ] "oneself, I, you", ឯណា ê na [ʔae naː] "where". Independent vowel letters are named similarly to

600-578: A dependent vowel in weak initial syllables are pronounced with their inherent vowel shortened as if modified by the bânták diacritic (see previous section). For example the first-series letter " ច " in " ចន្លុះ " ("torch") is pronounced with the short vowel /ɑ/ . The second-series letter " ព " in " ពន្លឺ " ("light") is pronounced with the short diphthong /ŏə/ . In casual speech, these are most often reduced to /ə/ for both series. Initial consonants in strong syllables without written vowels are pronounced with their inherent vowels. The word ចង ("to tie")

700-424: A diacritic). Absence of a dependent vowel (or diacritic) often implies that a syllable-initial consonant is followed by the sound of its inherent vowel. In determining the inherent vowel of a consonant cluster (i.e. how a following dependent vowel will be pronounced), stops and fricatives are dominant over sonorants . For any consonant cluster including a combination of these sounds, a following dependent vowel

800-553: A dotted circle as a dummy consonant symbol, and in combination with the a-series letter អ ’â . The IPA values given are representative of dialects from the northwest and central plains regions, specifically from the Battambang area, upon which Standard Khmer is based. Vowel pronunciation varies widely in other dialects such as Northern Khmer , where diphthongs are leveled, and Western Khmer , in which breathy voice and modal voice phonations are still contrastive. អ៊ា ,

900-446: A final consonant coming after all other consonants. Words with the bânták and sâmyoŭk sânhnhéa diacritics are ordered directly after identically spelled words without the diacritics. Vowels precede consonants in the ordering, so a combination of main and subscript consonants comes after any instance in which the same main consonant appears unsubscripted before a vowel. Words spelled with an independent vowel whose sound begins with

1000-434: A final consonant under normal rules can actually be the initial consonant of a following syllable and pronounced with a short vowel as if followed by ាក់ . For example, according to rules for native Khmer words, សុភ ("good", "clean", "beautiful") would appear to be a single syllable, but, being derived from Pali subha , it is pronounced [sopʰĕəʔ] . Most consonants, including a few of the subscripts, form ligatures with

1100-414: A glottal stop follow after words spelled with the equivalent combination of អ ’â plus dependent vowel. Words spelled with an independent vowel whose sound begins [r] or [l] follow after all words beginning with the consonants រ rô and ល lô respectively. Words spelled with a consonant modified by a diacritic follow words spelled with the same consonant and dependent vowel symbol but without

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1200-404: A glottal stop. There are three environments where a consonant may appear without a dependent vowel. The rules governing the inherent vowel differ for all three environments. Consonants may be written with no dependent vowel as an initial consonant of a weak syllable , an initial consonant of a strong syllable or as the final letter of a written word. In careful speech, initial consonants without

1300-477: A military expedition into Cambodia , and Lan Xang fell into more than 70 years of "instability", involving Burmese invasion and civil war. In 1637, when Sourigna Vongsa ascended the throne, Lan Xang further expanded its frontiers. When he died without an heir, the kingdom split into 3 principalities. Between 1763 and 1769, Burmese armies overran northern Laos and annexed Luang Prabang , while Champasak eventually came under Siamese suzerainty . Chao Anouvong

1400-428: A nationalist group declared Laos once more independent, with Luang Prabang as its capital, and on 7 April 1945 2 battalions of Japanese troops occupied the city. The Japanese attempted to force Sisavang Vong (the king of Luang Phrabang) to declare Laotian independence, and on 8 April he instead declared an end to Laos's status as a French protectorate. The king then secretly sent Prince Kindavong to represent Laos to

1500-455: A rainy season from May to October, followed by a dry season from November to April. Local tradition holds that there are 3 seasons (rainy, cool and hot) as the latter 2 months of the climatologically defined dry season are hotter than the earlier 4 months. Laos is divided into 17 provinces ( khoueng ) and one prefecture ( kampheng nakhon ), which includes the capital city Vientiane ( Nakhon Louang Viangchan ). A province, Xaisomboun province ,

1600-478: A subscript form. These may also be called "sub-consonants"; the Khmer phrase is ជើងអក្សរ cheung âksâr , meaning "foot of a letter". Most subscript consonants resemble the corresponding consonant symbol, but in a smaller and possibly simplified form, although in a few cases there is no obvious resemblance. Most subscript consonants are written directly below other consonants, although subscript r appears to

1700-431: A trade centre during Samsenthai's reign, and after his death in 1421 it collapsed into warring factions for nearly a century. 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 That Luang . Settathirath disappeared in the mountains on his way back from

1800-405: A vowel. There is also slight aspiration with k , ch , t and p sounds before certain consonants , but this is regardless of whether they are spelt with a letter that indicates aspiration. A Khmer word cannot end with more than one consonant sound, so subscript consonants at the end of words (which appear for etymological reasons) are not pronounced, although they may come to be pronounced when

1900-683: A war against the French colonial forces with the aid of the Vietnamese independence organisation, the Viet Minh . In 1950, the French were forced to give Laos semi-autonomy as an "associated state" within the French Union . France remained in de facto control until 22 October 1953, when Laos gained full independence as a constitutional monarchy . The First Indochina War took place across French Indochina and eventually led to French defeat and

2000-520: Is 1 of 4 in the opium poppy growing region known as the " Golden Triangle ". According to the October 2007 UNODC fact book Opium Poppy Cultivation in South East Asia , the poppy cultivation area was 15 square kilometres (5.8 sq mi), down from 18 square kilometres (6.9 sq mi) in 2006. The climate is mostly tropical savanna and influenced by the monsoon pattern. There is

2100-806: Is a multinational state and is committed to equality between ethnic groups. The constitution contains provisions for gender equality , freedom of religion , freedom of speech , and freedom of press and assembly. On 25 September 2009, Laos ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights , 9 years after signing the treaty. The stated policy objectives of the Lao government and international donors remain focused upon achieving sustainable economic growth and poverty reduction. An organisation raised concerns in relation to freedom of expression, prison conditions, restrictions on freedom of religions, protection of refugees and asylum-seekers, and

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2200-496: Is an industry, and the government hopes to attract foreign investment to develop the deposits of coal , gold , bauxite , tin , copper , and other metals. The mining industry of Laos has received attention with foreign direct investments. More than 540 mineral deposits of gold, copper, zinc , lead and other minerals have been identified, explored and mined. The country's water resources and mountainous terrain enable it to produce and export quantities of hydroelectric energy. Of

2300-423: Is pronounced [cɑːŋ] , ជត ("weak", "to sink") is pronounced [cɔːt] . In some words, however, the inherent vowel is pronounced in its reduced form, as if modified by a bântăk diacritic, even though the diacritic is not written (e.g. សព [sɑp] "corpse"). Such reduction regularly takes place in words ending with a consonant with a silent subscript (such as សព្វ [sɑp] "every"), although in most such words it

2400-449: Is pronounced [caː] and rarely [caːh] . The bânták (a small vertical line written over the final consonant of a syllable) has the following effects: The sanhyoŭk sannha is equivalent to the a dependent vowel with the bântăk . However, its o-series pronunciation becomes [ɨ] before final y , and [ɔə] before final (silent) r . The yŭkôlpĭntŭ (pair of dots) represents [a] (a-series) or [ĕə] (o-series), followed by

2500-584: Is pronounced according to the dominant consonant, regardless of its position in the cluster. When both members of a cluster are dominant, the subscript consonant determines the pronunciation of a following dependent vowel. A non-dominant consonant (and in some words also ហ hâ ) will also have its inherent vowel changed by a preceding dominant consonant in the same word, even when there is a vowel between them, although some words (especially among those with more than two syllables) do not obey this rule. The dependent vowels are listed below, in conventional form with

2600-554: Is south of 14°), and longitudes 100° and 108°E . Its forested landscape consists mostly of mountains, the highest of which is Phou Bia at 2,818 metres (9,245 ft), with some plains and plateaus. The Mekong River forms a part of the western boundary with Thailand, where the mountains of the Annamite Range form most of the eastern border with Vietnam and the Luang Prabang Range the northwestern border with

2700-468: Is the bânták -reduced form of the vowel a that is heard, as in សព្ទ [sap] "noise". The word អ្នក "you, person" has the highly irregular pronunciation [nĕəʔ] . Consonants written as the final letter of a word usually represent a word-final sound and are pronounced without any following vowel and, in the case of stops, with no audible release as in the examples above. However, in some words adopted from Pali and Sanskrit , what would appear to be

2800-415: Is treated as if it contained a vowel character that precedes all the visible dependent vowels. As mentioned above, the four configurations with diacritics exemplified in the syllables អុំ អំ អាំ អះ are treated as dependent vowels in their own right, and come in that order at the end of the list of dependent vowels. Other configurations with the reăhmŭkh diacritic are ordered as if that diacritic were

2900-482: Is written from left to right . Words within the same sentence or phrase are generally run together with no spaces between them. Consonant clusters within a word are "stacked", with the second (and occasionally third) consonant being written in reduced form under the main consonant. Originally there were 35 consonant characters, but modern Khmer uses only 33. Each character represents a consonant sound together with an inherent vowel , either â or ô ; in many cases, in

3000-519: Is written without the lower curve when a subscript is added. When it is subscripted to itself, the subscript is a smaller form of the entire letter: ញ្ញ -nhnh- . Note that ដ dâ and ត tâ have the same subscript form. In initial clusters this subscript is always pronounced [ɗ] , but in medial positions it is [ɗ] in some words and [t] in others. The series ដ dâ , ឋ thâ , ឌ dô , ឍ thô , ណ nâ originally represented retroflex consonants in

3100-518: The nĭkkôhĕt and reăhmŭkh diacritics, representing final [m] and [h] . They are shown with the a-series consonant អ ’â . The first four configurations listed here are treated as dependent vowels in their own right, and have names constructed in the same way as for the other dependent vowels (described in the previous section). Other rarer configurations with the reăhmŭkh are អើះ (or អឹះ ), pronounced [əh] , and អែះ , pronounced [eh] . The word ចា៎ះ "yes" (used by women)

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3200-731: The Allied forces and Prince Sisavang as representative to the Japanese. When Japan surrendered, some Lao nationalists (including Prince Phetsarath ) declared Laotian independence, and by 1946, French troops had reoccupied the country and conferred autonomy on Laos. During the First Indochina War , the Indochinese Communist Party formed the Pathet Lao independence organisation. The Pathet Lao began

3300-884: The Army of the Republic of Vietnam . Aerial bombardments against the PAVN/ Pathet Lao forces were carried out by the United States to prevent the collapse of the Kingdom of Laos central government, and to deny the use of the Ho Chi Minh Trail to attack US forces in South Vietnam . Between 1964 and 1973, the US dropped 2 million tons of bombs on Laos, nearly equal to the 2.1 million tons of bombs

3400-456: The Kingdom of Vientiane and the Kingdom of Champasak . In 1893, the 3 kingdoms were united under a French protectorate . Laos was occupied by Japan during World War II and regained independence in 1945 as a Japanese puppet state and was re-colonised by France , until it won autonomy in 1949. It gained independence in 1953 as the Kingdom of Laos , with a constitutional monarchy under Sisavang Vong . A civil war began in 1959, which saw

3500-716: The Obama administration in the US declared Laos was no longer a Marxist–Leninist state and lifted bans on Laotian companies receiving financing from the US Export-Import Bank . In 2016, China was the biggest foreign investor in the Laotian economy, having invested US$ 5.395 billion since 1989, according to the Laos Ministry of Planning and Investment's 1989–2014 report. Thailand (invested US$ 4.489 billion) and Vietnam (invested US$ 3.108 billion) are

3600-538: The Pleistocene in northern Laos. Archaeological evidence suggests an agriculturist society developed during the 4th millennium BC. Burial jars and other kinds of sepulchers suggest a society in which bronze objects appeared around 1500 BC, and iron tools were known from 700 BC. The proto-historic period is characterised by contact with Chinese and Indian civilisations. According to linguistic and other historical evidence, Tai-speaking tribes migrated southwestward to

3700-679: The Thai highlands . There are 2 plateaus, the Xiangkhoang in the north and the Bolaven Plateau at the southern end. Laos can be considered to consist of 3 geographical areas: north, central, and south. Laos had a 2019 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 5.59/10, ranking it 98th globally out of 172 countries. In 1993, the Laos government set aside 21% of the nation's land area for habitat conservation preservation. The country

3800-672: The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), with the support of the US government , instituted the Comprehensive Plan of Action , a programme to stem the tide of Indochinese refugees from Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia. Under the plan, refugee status was evaluated through a screening process. Recognised asylum seekers were given resettlement opportunities, while the remaining refugees were to be repatriated under guarantee of safety. After talks with

3900-859: The World Bank with annual GDP growth averaging 7.4% since 2009, while being classified as a least developed country by the United Nations . Laos is a member of the Asia-Pacific Trade Agreement , the ASEAN , East Asia Summit , La Francophonie , and the World Trade Organization . The word Laos was coined by the French , who united the 3 Lao kingdoms in French Indochina in 1893. The name of

4000-500: The dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Laos's strategies for development are based on generating electricity from rivers and selling the power to its neighbours, namely Thailand, China and Vietnam, and its initiative to become a "land-linked" nation, as evidenced by the construction of 4 railways connecting Laos and neighbours. Laos has been referred to as one of Southeast Asia and Pacific's fastest growing economies by

4100-473: The 36th hungriest nation in the world out of the list of the 52 nations with the worst hunger situation(s). In 2019, the UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights conducted an official visit to Laos and found that the country's top-down approach to economic growth and poverty alleviation "is all too often counterproductive, leading to impoverishment and jeopardising the rights of

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4200-589: The French Union, while educational, health and technical ties with the former colonial power persisted. The 1957 document was abrogated in December 1975, when a communist people's republic was proclaimed. A constitution was adopted in 1991 and enshrined a "leading role" for the LPRP. The foreign relations of Laos after the takeover by the Pathet Lao in December 1975 were characterised by a hostile posture toward

4300-607: The Indic parent scripts. The second, third and fourth of these are rare, and occur only for etymological reasons in a few Pali and Sanskrit loanwords. Because the sound /n/ is common, and often grammatically productive, in Mon-Khmer languages, the fifth of this group, ណ , was adapted as an a-series counterpart of ន nô for convenience (all other nasal consonants are o-series). The aspirated consonant letters ( kh- , chh- , th- , ph- ) are pronounced with aspiration only before

4400-491: The Khmer script, through the Sukhothai script . There are 35 Khmer consonant symbols, although modern Khmer only uses 33, two having become obsolete. Each consonant has an inherent vowel : â /ɑː/ or ô /ɔː/ ; equivalently, each consonant is said to belong to the a -series or o -series. A consonant's series determines the pronunciation of the dependent vowel symbols which may be attached to it, and in some positions

4500-611: The Netherlands and the United States. Plans to resettle additional Hmong refugees in the United States were stalled by provisions of President George W. Bush 's Patriot Act and Real ID Act , under which Hmong veterans of the Secret War, who fought on the side of the United States, are classified as terrorists because of their historical involvement in armed conflict. In The Economist 's Democracy Index 2016 Laos

4600-861: The Royal Laotian government and the Pathet Lao. The Pathet Lao were backed militarily by the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) and the Viet Cong . Laos was a part of the Vietnam War since parts of Laos were invaded and occupied by North Vietnam since 1958 for use as a supply route for its war against South Vietnam . In response, the United States initiated a bombing campaign against the PAVN positions, supported regular and irregular anti-communist forces in Laos, and supported incursions into Laos by

4700-449: The UN system). For modification to p by means of a diacritic, see Supplementary consonants . The letter, which represented /p/ in Indic scripts, also often maintains the [p] sound in certain words borrowed from Sanskrit and Pali. The letters ដ dâ and ឌ dô are pronounced [t] when final. The letter ត tâ is pronounced [ɗ] in initial position in a weak syllable ending with a nasal. In final position, letters representing

4800-734: The UNHCR and the Thai government, Laos agreed to repatriate the 60,000 Lao refugees living in Thailand, including several thousand Hmong people. Some of the Lao refugees were willing to return voluntarily. Pressure to resettle the refugees grew as the Thai government worked to close its remaining refugee camps. While some Hmong people returned to Laos voluntarily, with development assistance from UNHCR, allegations of forced repatriation surfaced. Of those Hmong who did return to Laos, some escaped back to Thailand, describing discrimination and brutal treatment at

4900-452: The US dropped on Europe and Asia during all of World War II, making Laos the most heavily bombed country in history relative to the size of its population; The New York Times notes this was "nearly a ton for every person in Laos". Some 80 million bombs failed to explode and remain scattered throughout the country. Unexploded ordnance (UXO), including cluster munitions and mines, kill or maim approximately 50 Laotians every year. Due to

5000-656: The United States were normalised in November 2004 through Congress approved legislation. Laos was admitted into the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in July 1997 and acceded to the World Trade Organization in 2016. In 2005, it attended the inaugural East Asia Summit . Some Hmong groups fought as CIA -backed units on the royalist side in the Laotian Civil War . After the Pathet Lao took over

5100-534: The United States, fled the camp to live elsewhere within Thailand where a sizeable Hmong population has been present since the 19th century. In 2004 and 2005, thousands of Hmong fled from the jungles of Laos to a temporary refugee camp in the Thai province of Phetchabun . Lending further support to earlier claims that the government of Laos was persecuting the Hmong, filmmaker Rebecca Sommer documented first-hand accounts in her documentary, Hunted Like Animals , and in

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5200-450: The Vietnamese were encouraged to migrate to Laos, which was seen by the French colonists as a rational solution to a labour shortage within the confines of an Indochina-wide colonial space. By 1943, the Vietnamese population stood at nearly 40,000, forming the majority in some cities of Laos and having the right to elect its own leaders. As a result, 53% of the population of Vientiane, 85% of Thakhek , and 62% of Pakse were Vietnamese, with

5300-537: The Vue Mai incident, debate over the Hmong's planned repatriation to Laos intensified, including in the United States, where it drew opposition from American conservatives and some human rights advocates. In a 23 October 1995 National Review article, Michael Johns labelled the Hmong's repatriation a Clinton administration "betrayal", describing the Hmong as a people "who have spilled their blood in defence of American geopolitical interests". In their opposition of

5400-519: The Wat Tham Krabok Hmong refused to leave and the Lao government refused to accept them, claiming they were involved in the illegal drug trade and were of non-Lao origin. Following threats of forcible removal by the Thai government, the United States, in a victory for the Hmong, agreed to accept 15,000 of the refugees in 2003. Several thousand Hmong people, fearing forced repatriation to Laos if they were not accepted for resettlement in

5500-649: The West, with the government of the Lao PDR aligning itself with the Soviet Bloc , maintaining ties with the Soviet Union and depending on the Soviets for most of its foreign assistance. Laos's emergence from international isolation has been marked through expanded relations with other countries including Russia , China , Thailand , Australia , Germany , Italy , Japan and Switzerland . Trade relations with

5600-445: The absence of another vowel mark, the inherent vowel is to be pronounced after the consonant. There are some independent vowel characters, but vowel sounds are more commonly represented as dependent vowels, additional marks accompanying a consonant character, and indicating what vowel sound is to be pronounced after that consonant (or consonant cluster). Most dependent vowels have two different pronunciations, depending in most cases on

5700-463: The accession of Jayavarman VI in 1080. Its ancestor was Bhavavarman I of Chenla kingdom . King Jayavarman VI was a nobleman of the royal family ruling Phimai (now Phimai District Nakhon Ratchasima Province ). The royal line of Mahidharapura was the beginning of the family of many Khmer kings who settled in the Mun River basin near Prasat Phanom Wan , Prasat Phimai , Pradsat Phanom Rung , and

5800-665: The arable land area used for growing rice. Approximately 77% of Lao farm households are self-sufficient in rice. Laos may have the greatest number of rice varieties in the Greater Mekong Subregion. The Lao government has been working with the International Rice Research Institute of the Philippines to collect seed samples of each of the thousands of rice varieties found in Laos. Laos imports petroleum and gas. Metallurgy

5900-962: The area of Lavo . It is an ancient royal family since the Funan era, having influence and power base in the southeast region and the Phanom Dong Rak mountain range. There are eleven monarchs in Mahidharpura, the first of which was Jayavarman VI and the last was Jayavarman IX (Jayavarmadiparamesvara). 1. Hiranyavarman 2. Jayavarman VI 3. Dharanindravarman I 4. Suryavarman II 5. Dharanindravarman II 6. Jayavarman VII 7. Yasovarman II 8. Indravarman II 9. Jayavarman VIII 10. Indravarman III 11. Indrajayavarman 12. Jayavarman IX Family tree of Mahidharapura dynasty from Phanom Rung stone inscription No. 7 in Buriram province , Thailand. Khmer script Khmer

6000-410: The basis for Vietnamese involvement at levels of Lao political and economic life. Laos was requested in 1979 by Vietnam to end relations with the People's Republic of China , leading to isolation in trade by China , the United States , and other countries. In 1979, there were 50,000 PAVN troops stationed in Laos and as many as 6,000 civilian Vietnamese officials including 1,000 directly attached to

6100-430: The capture of Vientiane . Ngum was descended from a line of Lao kings that traced back to Khoun Boulom. He made 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 in 1373, where he died. Fa Ngum's eldest son, Oun Heuan, ascended to the throne under the name Samsenethai and reigned for 43 years. Lan Xang became

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6200-534: The civil war. On 2 December 1975, after taking control of the country, the Pathet Lao government under Kaysone Phomvihane renamed the country as the Lao People's Democratic Republic and signed agreements giving Vietnam the right to station armed forces and to appoint advisers to assist in overseeing the country. The ties between Laos and Vietnam were formalised via a treaty signed in 1977, which has since provided direction for Lao foreign policy, and provides

6300-544: The communist Pathet Lao , supported by North Vietnam and the Soviet Union , fight against the Royal Lao Armed Forces , supported by the United States . After the Vietnam War ended in 1975, the Lao People's Revolutionary Party established a one-party socialist republic espousing Marxism-Leninism , ending the civil war and monarchy, and beginning a period of alignment with the Soviet Union until

6400-555: The country in 1975, the conflict continued in isolated pockets. In 1977, a communist newspaper promised the party would hunt down the "American collaborators" and their families "to the last root". As many as 200,000 Hmong went into exile in Thailand , with some ending up in the US . Other Hmong fighters hid out in mountains in Xiangkhouang Province for years, with a remnant emerging from the jungle in 2003. In 1989,

6500-733: The country is spelled the same as the plural of the most common ethnic group, the Lao people . In English, the "s" in the name of the country is pronounced, and not silent. A human skull was recovered in 2009 from the Tam Pa Ling Cave in the Annamite Mountains in northern Laos; the skull is at least 46,000 years old, making it the oldest modern human fossil found to date in Southeast Asia. Stone artifacts including Hoabinhian types have been found at sites dating to

6600-472: The deadline for the closure of Thai refugee camps approached, and under mounting political pressure, the United States agreed to resettle Hmong refugees who passed a screening process. Around 5,000 Hmong people who were not resettled at the time of the camp closures sought asylum at Wat Tham Krabok , a Buddhist monastery in central Thailand where more than 10,000 Hmong refugees had already been living. The Thai government attempted to repatriate these refugees, and

6700-440: The death penalty. Laos has been cited as an origin country for human trafficking. A number of citizens, primarily women and girls from ethnic groups and foreigners, have been victims of sex trafficking in Laos . The Lao economy depends on investment and trade with its neighbours, Thailand, Vietnam, and, especially in the north, China. Pakxe has experienced growth based on cross-border trade with Thailand and Vietnam. In 2009,

6800-494: The dependent vowels, with the word ស្រៈ sră [sraʔ] ("vowel") followed by the principal sound of the letter (the pronunciation or first of the pronunciations listed above), followed by an additional glottal stop after a short vowel. However the letter ឥ is called ស្រៈឥ sră ĕ [sraʔ ʔeʔ] . The Khmer writing system contains several diacritics ( វណ្ណយុត្តិ , vônnâyŭttĕ , pronounced [ʋannajut] ), used to indicate further modifications in pronunciation. For

6900-409: The diacritic. However, words spelled with ប៉ (a bâ converted to a p sound by a diacritic) follow all words with unmodified ប bâ (without diacritic and without subscript). Sometimes words in which ប is pronounced p are ordered as if the letter were written ប៉ . The numerals of the Khmer script, similar to that used by other civilizations in Southeast Asia, are also derived from

7000-534: The exception of Luang Prabang where the population was predominantly Lao. As late as 1945, the French drew up a plan to move a number of Vietnamese to 3 areas, i.e., the Vientiane Plain, Savannakhet region , and the Bolaven Plateau , which was derailed by the Japanese invasion of Indochina. Otherwise, according to Martin Stuart-Fox , the Lao might well have lost control over their own country. During World War II in Laos , Vichy France , Thailand , Imperial Japan and Free France occupied Laos. On 9 March 1945,

7100-410: The exports of timber, with an express aim to help control the country's high deforestation rates and boost the country's domestic wood production industry. On 3 December 2021, the 422-kilometre Boten-Vientiane railway , a flagship of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), was opened. Laos is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia , and it lies mostly between latitudes 14° and 23°N (an area

7200-576: The hands of Lao authorities. In 1993, Vue Mai, a former Hmong soldier and leader of the largest Hmong refugee camp in Thailand, who had been recruited by the US ;Embassy in Bangkok to return to Laos as proof of the repatriation programme's success, disappeared in Vientiane . According to the US Committee for Refugees, he was arrested by Lao security forces and was never seen again. Following

7300-548: The impact of cluster bombs during this war, Laos was an advocate of the Convention on Cluster Munitions to ban the weapons and was host to the First Meeting of States Parties to the convention in November 2010. In 1975, the Pathet Lao overthrew the royalist government, forcing King Savang Vatthana to abdicate on 2 December 1975. He later died in a re-education camp . Between 20,000 and 62,000 Laotians died during

7400-574: The inherent vowel of the consonant to which they are added. There are also a number of diacritics used to indicate further modifications in pronunciation. The script also includes its own numerals and punctuation marks . The Khmer script was adapted from the Pallava script , used in southern India and Southeast Asia during the 5th and 6th centuries AD, which ultimately descended from the Tamil-Brahmi script. The oldest dated Khmer inscription

7500-418: The left, while a few others have ascending elements which appear to the right. Subscripts are used in writing consonant clusters (consonants pronounced consecutively in a word with no vowel sound between them). Clusters in Khmer normally consist of two consonants, although occasionally in the middle of a word there will be three. The first consonant in a cluster is written using the main consonant symbol, with

7600-502: The ministries in Vientiane . The conflict between Hmong rebels and Laos continued in areas of Laos, including in Saysaboune Closed Military Zone, Xaisamboune Closed Military Zone near Vientiane Province and Xiangkhouang Province . From 1975 to 1996, the United States resettled some 250,000 Lao refugees from Thailand, including 130,000 Hmong. On 27 May 2016, the 8th Government of Laos banned

7700-448: The modern âksâr mul and âksâr chriĕng styles of Khmer script. The former is used for sacred inscriptions while the latter is used for general use. The âksâr chriĕng style is a cursive form of âksâr mul , adapted to fit the Khmer language. The modern Khmer script differs somewhat from precedent forms seen on the inscriptions of the ruins of Angkor . The Thai and Lao scripts are descendants of an older cursive form of

7800-615: The native letters are restricted to one of the two vowel series. Most of them are digraphs , formed by stacking a subscript under the letter ហ hâ , with an additional treisăpt diacritic if required to change the inherent vowel to ô . The character for pâ , however, is formed by placing the musĕkâtônd ("mouse teeth") diacritic over the character ប bâ . Most Khmer vowel sounds are written using dependent, or diacritical , vowel symbols, known in Khmer as ស្រៈនិស្ស័យ srăk nĭssăy or ស្រៈផ្សំ srăk phsâm ("connecting vowel"). These can only be written in combination with

7900-526: The o-series of ា , is slightly distinct from ៀ . ( អ៊ា ~ "air" vs ៀ ~ "ear") The spoken name of each dependent vowel consists of the word ស្រៈ srăk [sraʔ] ("vowel") followed by the vowel's a-series value preceded by a glottal stop (and also followed by a glottal stop in the case of short vowels). The addition of some of the Khmer diacritics can modify the length and value of inherent or dependent vowels. The following table shows combinations with

8000-664: The poor and marginalised." A product, Beerlao , was exported in 2017 to more than 20 countries worldwide. It is produced by the Lao Brewery Company . The tourism sector has grown from 80,000 international visitors in 1990, to 1.876 million in 2010, when tourism had been expected to rise to US$ 1.5857 billion by 2020. In 2010, 1 in every 11 jobs was in the tourism sector. Export earnings from international visitors and tourism goods are expected to generate 16% of total exports or US$ 270.3 million in 2010, growing in nominal terms to US$ 484.2 million (12.5% of

8100-562: The potential capacity of approximately 18,000 megawatts, around 8,000 megawatts have been committed for export to Thailand and Vietnam. As of 2021, Laos continues to rely on fossil fuels, coal in particular, in domestic electricity production. In 2018, the country ranked 139th on the Human Development Index (HDI), indicating medium development. According to the Global Hunger Index (2018), Laos ranks as

8200-428: The protectorate of French Indochina . The Kingdom of Champasak and the territory of Vientiane were added to the protectorate. King Sisavangvong of Luang Phrabang became ruler of a unified Laos, and Vientiane once again became the capital. Laos produced tin , rubber, and coffee, and never accounted for more than 1% of French Indochina's exports. By 1940, around 600 French citizens lived in Laos. Under French rule,

8300-425: The purpose of dictionary ordering of words, main consonants, subscript consonants and dependent vowels are all significant; and when they appear in combination, they are considered in the order in which they would be spoken (main consonant, subscript, vowel). The order of the consonants and of the dependent vowels is the order in which they appear in the above tables. A syllable written without any dependent vowel

8400-620: The repatriation plans, Democratic and Republican Members of Congress challenged the Clinton administration's position that the government of Laos was not systematically violating Hmong human rights. US Representative Steve Gunderson , for instance, told a Hmong gathering: "I do not enjoy standing up and saying to my government that you are not telling the truth, but if that is necessary to defend truth and justice, I will do that." While some accusations of forced repatriation were denied, thousands of Hmong people refused to return to Laos. In 1996 as

8500-401: The same word begins a compound. In some words, a single medial consonant symbol represents both the final consonant of one syllable and the initial consonant of the next. The letter ប bâ represents [ɓ] only before a vowel. When final or followed by a subscript consonant, it is pronounced [p] (and in the case where it is followed by a subscript consonant, it is also romanized as p in

8600-528: The second (and third, if present) attached to it in subscript form. Subscripts were previously also used to write final consonants; in modern Khmer this may be done, optionally, in some words ending -ng or -y , such as ឲ្យ aôy ("give"). The consonants and their subscript forms are listed in the following table. Usual phonetic values are given using the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA); variations are described below

8700-589: The second and third largest investors respectively. Subsistence agriculture accounts for half of the GDP and provides 80% of employment. 4% of the country is arable land and 0.3% used as permanent crop land, the lowest percentage in the Greater Mekong Subregion . The irrigated areas account for 28% of the total area under cultivation which, in turn, represents 12% of all of the agricultural land in 2012. Rice dominates agriculture, with about 80% of

8800-569: The signing of a peace accord for Laos at the Geneva Conference of 1954 . In 1960, amidst a series of rebellions in the Kingdom of Laos , fighting broke out between the Royal Lao Army (RLA) and the communist North Vietnamese and Soviet Union -backed Pathet Lao guerillas. A second Provisional Government of National Unity formed by Prince Souvanna Phouma in 1962 was unsuccessful, and the situation turned into civil war between

8900-550: The sound of the inherent vowel is itself pronounced. The two series originally represented voiceless and voiced consonants respectively (and are still referred to as such in Khmer). Sound changes during the Middle Khmer period affected vowels following voiceless consonants, and these changes were preserved even though the distinctive voicing was lost (see phonation in Khmer ). Each consonant, with one exception, also has

9000-416: The southeast, and Thailand to the west and southwest. Its capital and most populous city is Vientiane . Laos traces its historic and cultural identity to Lan Xang , a kingdom which existed from the 13th century to the 18th century. Because of its geographical location, the kingdom became a hub for overland trade. After a period of internal conflict, Lan Xang broke into the Kingdom of Luang Phrabang ,

9100-463: The southern Indian script. Western-style Arabic numerals are also used, but to a lesser extent. Laos in ASEAN  (dark grey)  –  [ Legend ] Laos , officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( LPDR ), is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia . It is bordered by Myanmar and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to

9200-534: The supreme leader. As of 22 March 2021 , the head of state is President Thongloun Sisoulith . He has been General Secretary of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party , a position making him the de facto leader of Laos, since January 2021. Laos's first French-written and monarchical constitution was promulgated on 11 May 1947, and declared Laos an independent state within the French Union . The revised constitution of 11 May 1957 omitted reference to

9300-831: The table. The sound system is described in detail at Khmer phonology . The spoken name of each consonant letter is its value together with its inherent vowel. Transliterations are given using the transcription system of the Geographic Department of the Cambodian Ministry of Land Management and Urban Planning used by the Cambodian government and the UNGEGN system; for other systems see Romanization of Khmer . The letter ប bâ appears in somewhat modified form (e.g. បា ) when combined with certain dependent vowels (see Ligatures ). The letter ញ nhô

9400-528: The territories of Laos and Thailand from Guangxi sometime between the 8th and 10th centuries. 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 , whose father had his family exiled from the Khmer Empire . Fa Ngum, with 10,000 Khmer troops, conquered some Lao principalities in the Mekong river basin, culminating in

9500-561: The vowel a (ា) and with all other dependent vowels that contain the same cane-like symbol. Most of these ligatures are easily recognizable, but a few may not be, particularly those involving the letter ប bâ . This combines with the a vowel in the form បា , created to differentiate it from the consonant symbol ហ hâ and also from the ligature for ច châ with a ( ចា ). Some more examples of ligatured symbols follow: Independent vowels are non-diacritical vowel characters that stand alone (i.e. without being attached to

9600-529: 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 slave-hunting raids on a large scale". In the 19th century, Luang Prabang was ransacked by the Chinese Black Flag Army . France rescued King Oun Kham and added Luang Phrabang to

9700-517: Was classified as an "authoritarian regime", ranking lowest of the 9 ASEAN nations included in the study. Civil society advocates, human rights defenders, political and religious dissidents, and Hmong refugees have disappeared at the hands of Lao military and security forces. Ostensibly, the Constitution of Laos that was promulgated in 1991 and amended in 2003 contains safeguards for human rights. For example, Article 8 makes it clear that Laos

9800-550: Was established on 13 December 2013. Provinces are divided into districts ( muang ) and then villages ( ban ). An "urban" village is essentially a [town]. The Lao PDR is one of the world's socialist states openly endorsing communism . The only legal political party is the Lao People's Revolutionary Party (LPRP). With the one-party state status of Laos, the General Secretary ( party leader ) holds ultimate power and authority over state and government and serves as

9900-735: Was found at Angkor Borei District in Takéo Province south of Phnom Penh and dates from 611. Stelae of the Pre-Angkorean and Angkorean periods, featuring the Khmer script, have been found throughout the former Khmer Empire , from the Mekong Delta to what is now southern Laos , Northeast Thailand , and Central Thailand . Slight differences can be seen between ancient Khmer inscriptions written in Sanskrit and those written in Khmer. These two different systems have evolved into

10000-454: 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 Phrabang. Under Vietnamese pressure, he rebelled against the Siamese in 1826 . The rebellion failed, and Vientiane was ransacked. Anouvong was taken to Bangkok as a prisoner, where he died. In a time period where the acquisition of humans

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