LAOS, FLAG OF

horizontally striped red-blue-red national flag with a central white disk. The width-to-length ratio of the flag is 2 to 3. In 1353 King Fa Ngum proclaimed the Kingdom of the Million Elephants and White Parasol, basing the name on those traditional symbols of the Lao people. The mythical first ruler of Laos had arrived riding a white elephant, an animal held in great reverence by peoples of Southeast Asia, while the parasol, or royal umbrella, long served as an important part of the king's ceremonial regalia. The white three-headed elephant and white parasol on a red field was chosen by the kingdom of j, which became a French protectorate in 1893, and, on May 11, 1947, by the Kingdom of Laos. Anticolonialist forces known as the Pathet Lao began an armed struggle in August 1950 against the royal government. Their flag bore a white disk on a background of red-blue-red stripes. That disk honoured the Japanese (see flag of Japan), who had promoted the Lao independence movement in World War II, but it also symbolized a bright future for the country. Red was said to stand for the blood of those seeking freedom and independence, and blue stood for the promise of future prosperity. The Pathet Lao were successful in overcoming American-supported forces, and on December 2, 1975, when the monarch was deposed, the Pathet Lao party flag was adopted to replace the traditional Lao banner. Whitney Smith History The Lao people, the predominant ethnic group in present-day Laos, are a branch of the Tai-speaking peoples who by the 8th century AD had established a powerful kingdom, Nanchao, in southwestern China. From Nanchao, the Tai gradually penetrated southward into the Indochinese Peninsula; their migration was accelerated in the 13th century by the Mongol invasions of southern China by Kublai Khan. The Lao, together with other Tai peoples, gradually supplanted various indigenous tribes (collectively known as Kha, or Slaves) that from the 5th century on had lived in what is now Laos under the suzerainty of the Khmer empire of Cambodia. During the 12th and 13th centuries, the Tai established the principality of Muong Swa (later Luang Prabang, now Louangphrabang), which was ruled by various Tai leaders and the history of which survives in Laotian legend and myth. Lan Xang Recorded Laotian history begins with Fa Ngum, the ruler who founded the first Laotian state, Lan Xang (Kingdom of the Million Elephants), with the help of the Khmer sovereign at Angkor. Fa Ngum was a great warrior, and between 1353 and 1371 he conquered territories that included all of present-day Laos and much of what is today northern and eastern Thailand. He extended the Indo-Khmer civilization to the upper Mekong River and introduced Theravada Buddhism, which had been preached by Khmer missionaries from Angkor. In 1373 Fa Ngum was succeeded by his son Oun Hueun (reign name Sam Sen Thai), who did much to organize the pattern of administration and defense for the kingdom. After his death in 1416, a long period of calmbroken only by a Vietnamese invasion in 1479allowed his successors to complete the work of organizing Lan Xang. This period of peace and tranquility ended with Photisarath (ruled 152048), who involved Lan Xang in a struggle against Myanmar and the Thai kingdom of Ayutthaya (Ayudhya) that lasted two centuries. Photisarath waged three wars against Ayutthaya and succeeded in placing his son Setthathirath on the throne of the Tai state of Chiang Mai (Chiengmai), marking Lan Xang's maximum territorial expansion. On Photisarath's death, Setthathirath returned to rule as Setthathirath I (ruled 154871). His reign was marked by the loss of Chiang Mai to the Myanmar, by the transfer of the capital from Luang Prabang to Vien Chan (now Vientiane), and by the repulsion of two Myanmar invasions that took place about 1565 and 1570. When he died (1571), the Myanmar seized Vien Chan (1574) and ravaged the country, which lapsed into anarchy until Souligna Vongsa ascended the throne in 1637 and restored order. He fixed the frontiers with Vietnam and Siam (Thailand) by means of treaties and led two victorious expeditions against the principality of Chieng Khouang in the south. A defender of Buddhism and a patron of the arts, he embellished Vien Chan and made it a vibrant intellectual centre. His reign is considered by Laotians to be a golden age. When Souligna Vongsa died in 1694, one of his nephews seized the throne with the help of a Vietnamese army, thus placing Lan Xang under Vietnamese rule and initiating a period of chaos that ended in the partition of the kingdom of Lan Xang. Other members of the royal family refused to accept Vietnamese vassalage. With the northern provinces under their control, they declared themselves independent (1707) and established the separate kingdoms of Luang Prabang and Vien Chan. The south seceded in turn and set itself up as the kingdom of Champassak (1713). Split into three rival kingdoms, Lan Xang ceased to exist. The economy Laos is one of the world's poorest countries. The disruption during the civil-war period and the economic policies of the early years of the LPDRnotably the attempt to collectivize agricultureresulted in economic stagnation in the country. By 1980, however, the government had begun to pursue more pragmatic development policies, and in 1986 it introduced market-oriented reforms. Subsequently, private enterprise has been allowed to operate on every level, and foreign investment has been encouraged. A number of nongovernmental organizations, including some from the United States, have been assisting the government, mainly in the fields of rural development and public health. Resources and power Laos has a number of mineral resources, including coal, iron, copper, lead, gold, tin, gypsum, and precious stones. Tin has been mined commercially since colonial times, and gypsum has become important; the other minerals have been worked only in primitive and unsystematic ways. Laos has considerable hydroelectric power potential. Electricity produced from a dam on the Ngum River north of Vientiane and sold to Thailand is one of the country's most valuable exports. The land Relief Dominating the landscape of Laos are its inhospitable, forest-covered mountains, which in the north rise to a maximum elevation of 9,245 feet (2,818 metres) above sea level at Mount Bia and everywhere constitute an impediment to travel. The principal range lies along a northwest-southeast axis and forms part of the Annamese Cordillera (Chane Annamitique), but secondary ranges abound. Three notable landscape features of the interior of Laos may be mentioned. In the northern province of Xiangkhoang, the Plain of Jars (Lao: Thng Haihin; the name derived from large prehistoric stone jars discovered there) consists of extensive rolling grasslands rather than a true plain and provides a hub of communications. The central provinces of Bolikhamxay and Khammouan contain karst landscapes of caverns and severely eroded limestone pinnacles. Finally, in the south the Bolovens Plateau, at an elevation of about 3,600 feet, is covered by open woodland and has generally fertile soil. The only extensive lowlands lie along the eastern bank of the Mekong River. Drainage The general slope of the land in Laos is downhill from east to west, and all the major riversthe Tha, Beng, Ou, Ngum, Kading, Bangfai, Banghiang, and Kongare tributaries of the Mekong (Lao: Mnam Khong). The Mekong flows generally southeast and south along and through western Laos and forms its boundary with Myanmar and most of the border with Thailand. The course of the river itself is severely constricted by gorges in northern Laos, but, by the time it reaches Vientiane, its valley broadens and exposes wide areas to flooding when the river breaches its banks, as it did in August 1960. A few rivers in eastern Laos flow eastward through gaps in the Annamese Cordillera to reach the Gulf of Tonkin; the most important of these is the Ma River, which rises in Xiangkhoang province. The people Ethnic and linguistic characteristics The peoples of Laos are divided by language, culture, and location. Lao officials distinguish four basic ethnolinguistic groups: the Lao-Lum, or valley Lao; the Lao-Tai, or tribal Tai; the Lao-Theung, better known as the Mon-Khmer; and the Lao-Soung, or Hmong and Man. Mountain people sometimes are called Kha (Slaves), a pejorative term. The Lao-Lum live in the lowlands, on the banks of the Mekong and its tributaries, and in the cities. They speak Laotian Tai, which is closer to the language spoken by the Thai of Thailand than it is to the language of the local Tai-speaking tribes. The Lao-Tai include such local groups as the Black Tai (Tai Dam) and Red Tai (Tai Deng), both names referring to the dress of the women; the Tai Neua, or Tai of the north; the Tai Phuan of Xiangkhoang province; and the Phu Tai. The Lao-Tai live throughout the country, chiefly in upland areas, and their various dialects are mutually intelligible. The Lao-Theung (Mon-Khmer) include many groups of people scattered throughout Laos, northeastern Myanmar, northern Thailand, and southern China. They are thought to be descendants of the earliest peoples to inhabit the region. These people do not form a single coherent group but rather include between 25 and 30 distinct groups, some of which are closely related while others are only tenuously identified as being part of this linguistic group. The Lao-Soung, which include the Hmong (formerly called the Meo, or Miao) and the Man (Yao), are believed to have been coming from southern China since the late 18th century. They are divided into subgroups, and neither constitutes a large proportion of the population of Laos. Other distinct linguistic groups are few in number. Speakers of Tibeto-Burman dialects, who also came from southern China, live in the north and northwest. Chinese and Vietnamese live primarily in the urban areas. Initially, French was the language of the Lao elite and of the cities, but by the 1970s English had begun to displace it. Under the leadership of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party, Vietnamese has become the third language of the elite. Prior to the establishment of the Lao People's Democratic Republic (LPDR) in 1975, it was accurate to say that the Lao-Lum peoples had a distinct pattern of culture and dress. They also had a well-defined social structure, differentiating between royalty and commoners. The members of the elite included only a few outsiders who were not descendants of nobility. Most of the elite lived in the cities, drawing their incomes from rural land rents or from urban occupations. After 1975 a new elite emerged representing the victorious leftist forces. Many of this group, however, were of aristocratic origin. Traditionally, Lao-Tai society had a stratified social structure and a political hierarchy. The people were organized into groups larger than villages called muong, each of which was ruled by a hereditary ruler called the chao muong. Within this broad grouping, however, there were ethnic variations. Among the Black Tai, the nobility consisted of two descent groups, the Lo and the Cam, who provided the rulers of the muong. The religious leaders came from two other descent groups, the Luong and the Ka. The Black Tai tribal organization had three levels: the village; the commune, which was composed of a number of villages; and the overall muong. The latter two were ruled by nobles, while the village headman was selected from among the commoners by the heads of households. The Red Tai had a similar social structure, with the addition of a council of five to aid the chao muong. The nobility owned the land and had the right of service from the commoners. The Mon-Khmer had no political or social structure beyond the village. They were led by a village headman, who was their link to the central government; but his role in the village was not clear. Among the Lao-Soung, the Hmong maintained the tradition of a king and subchiefs and a large-scale organization, although in practice this usually was limited to the village. The village consisted of several extended families. In some villages, all the heads of households were members of a single clan, and the head of the clan was the headman of the village. Where several clans resided together in a large village there were several headmen, one being the nominal head and the link to the government. The headman had real authority in the village and was aided by a council. The Hmong extended their organization beyond the village for military purposes. Religion The predominant religion of Laos is Theravada Buddhism, which is professed by most Lao and by a small number of other ethnic groups. Most of the rest of the people are animists, or spirit worshipers, especially in the more isolated upland areas. Many see no contradiction in being both, since Buddhism shows the way to enlightenment, while spirit worship helps a person to cope with daily and local problems. Among the hill peoples, especially those who have migrated from southern China, are found groups that mix Confucian ideas with Buddhism and animism. One subgroup of the Mon-Khmer, the Lamet, practices ancestor worship, and the Hmong are both spirit and ancestor worshipers. Roman Catholic and Protestant missionaries were present in the country before 1975, but only a tiny proportion of the population is Christian. The Vietnamese, who live both in the cities and in the northeastern rural areas, practice a mixture of Mahayana Buddhism and Confucianism.