Laos

Through the ages

Rivals in history

The kingdoms, empires and states Laos fought or stood against, from the first to today.

1. 🇻🇳 Dai Viet1479 to 1480

   The Vietnamese emperor Le Thanh Tong invades Lan Xang and sacks Luang Prabang in 1479. The Lao counterattack and drive the Vietnamese armies back across the mountains.

2. 🇲🇲 Toungoo Burma1558 to 1603

   King Bayinnaung's Burmese armies invade Lan Xang several times, taking Vientiane in 1565 and 1574. King Setthathirath resists from the hills until he disappears in the early 1570s, and Lan Xang stays under Burmese overlordship until the early 1600s.

3. 🇹🇭 Thonburi Siam1778 to 1779

   King Taksin's general, the future Rama I, conquers Vientiane and takes the Emerald Buddha to Siam. The three Lao kingdoms become vassals of Siam.

4. 🇹🇭 Siam1826 to 1828

   King Anouvong of Vientiane rebels against Siamese overlordship and marches toward Bangkok. Siamese armies defeat him, raze Vientiane and move much of its population to the Khorat plateau, today northeastern Thailand.

5. Haw raiders1865 to 1887

   Armed bands from southern China, called Haw, roam the northern uplands after the Taiping wars. In 1887 Haw and Tai fighters sack Luang Prabang, and the king's rescue by the French envoy Auguste Pavie opens the way to French rule.

6. 🇫🇷 France1893 to 1953

   France takes the lands east of the Mekong from Siam in 1893. Uprisings such as the Holy Man revolt on the Bolovens plateau, from 1901 to 1936, are put down, and the Lao Issara nationalists fight the returning French after 1945.

7. 🇺🇸 United States1964 to 1973

   To cut the Ho Chi Minh trail and fight the Pathet Lao, the United States bombs Laos for nine years and backs a Hmong army. Unexploded bombs left behind still kill and injure people.

8. 🇹🇭 Thailand1984 to 1988

   Laos and Thailand clash over three border villages in 1984, then fight a short war in 1987 and 1988 over the area of Ban Rom Klao in Sayaboury province, killing hundreds of soldiers before a ceasefire.

Today

Laos now

Modern-day Laos has its roots in the ancient Lao kingdom of Lan Xang, established in the 14th century under King FA NGUM. For 300 years, Lan Xang had influence reaching into present-day Cambodia and Thailand, as well as over all of what is now Laos. After centuries of gradual decline, Laos came under the domination of Siam (Thailand) from the late 18th century until the late 19th century, when it became part of French Indochina. The Franco-Siamese Treaty of 1907 defined the current Lao border with Thailand.

Capital

Vientiane

Government

communist party-led state

Head of government

Sonexay Siphandone

Head of state

Thongloun Sisoulith

Languages

Lao

Through time

Then and now

• Population7.7 million2023 · 1.7 million in 1950
• Life expectancy69.0 years2023 · 38.9 years in 1950
• GDP per person$7,1682022 · $697 in 1950
• Living in cities40%2025 · 8% in 1950
• Literacy76%2023 · 18% in 1950
• Political regimeClosed autocracy2025 · Electoral autocracy in 1950
• Military alliancesNone of these2024 · None of these in 1950
• Military spending0.2% of GDP2013
• War deathsNone2025

Population: HYDE 3.3, Gapminder and UN WPP. GDP per capita: Maddison Project Database 2023. Urban share: UN WPP. Life expectancy: Riley, HMD, UN WPP. Literacy: OWID historical estimates, World Bank, UNESCO. Military spending: SIPRI. War deaths: UCDP. Political regime: V-Dem, Regimes of the World. All via Our World in Data (CC BY 4.0). Alliances and organization memberships: compiled by Atlas. Satellites in orbit: CelesTrak SATCAT. Modern borders, backcast.

Relations

Close partners and tensions

Summarised from World Bank and Wikipedia data, updated 23 October 2026.