Kingdom of Laos | |||||||||||||
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1947–1975 | |||||||||||||
Anthem: ເພງຊາດລາວ Pheng Xat Lao "Hymn of the Lao People" | |||||||||||||
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Status | French protectorate (1947–1953) Independent state (1953–1975) | ||||||||||||
Capital | Vientiane (administrative) Luang Phabang (royal) | ||||||||||||
Largest city | Vientiane | ||||||||||||
Official languages | Lao French | ||||||||||||
Spoken languages | |||||||||||||
Ethnic groups | Lao Khmu Hmong Phouthai Tai Makong Katang Lue Akha | ||||||||||||
Religion | Buddhism (official[1]) Tai folk religion Christianity Other/Irreligion | ||||||||||||
Government | Unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy
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King | |||||||||||||
• 1946–1959 | Sisavang Vong | ||||||||||||
• 1959–1975 | Sisavang Vatthana | ||||||||||||
Prime Minister | |||||||||||||
• 1947–1948 (first) | Souvannarath | ||||||||||||
• 1962–1975 (last) | Souvanna Phouma[a] | ||||||||||||
Legislature | Parliament | ||||||||||||
Royal Council | |||||||||||||
National Assembly | |||||||||||||
History | |||||||||||||
11 May 1947 | |||||||||||||
• Independence | 22 October 1953 | ||||||||||||
21 July 1954 | |||||||||||||
14 December 1955 | |||||||||||||
23 August 1975 | |||||||||||||
2 December 1975 | |||||||||||||
Area | |||||||||||||
• Total | 236,800 km2 (91,400 sq mi) | ||||||||||||
Population | |||||||||||||
• | 3,100,000 | ||||||||||||
Currency | Kip (₭) (LAK) | ||||||||||||
Time zone | UTC+7 (ICT) | ||||||||||||
Date format | dmy | ||||||||||||
Driving side | right | ||||||||||||
Calling code | +856 | ||||||||||||
ISO 3166 code | LA | ||||||||||||
Internet TLD | .la | ||||||||||||
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Today part of | Laos | ||||||||||||
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History of Laos | ||||||||||||||
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Muang city-states era | ||||||||||||||
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Lan Xang era | ||||||||||||||
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Regional kingdoms era | ||||||||||||||
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Colonial era | ||||||||||||||
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Independent era | ||||||||||||||
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See also | ||||||||||||||
The Kingdom of Laos was the form of government in Laos from 1947 to 1975. Located in Southeast Asia at the heart of the Indochinese Peninsula, it was bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, North Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the southeast, and Thailand to the west and southwest. The country was governed as a constitutional monarchy beginning with its independence on 22 October 1953. It survived until December 1975, when its last king, Sisavang Vatthana, surrendered the throne to the Pathet Lao during the civil war in Laos, who abolished the monarchy in favour of a Marxist–Leninist state called the Lao People's Democratic Republic, which has controlled Laos ever since.[2]
Given self-rule with the new Constitution in 1947 as part of the French Union and a federation with the rest of French Indochina,[3] the 1953 Franco-Lao Treaty finally established a sovereign, independent Laos, but did not stipulate who would rule the country. In the years that followed, three groups, led by the so-called Three Princes, contended for power: the neutralists under Prince Souvanna Phouma, the right-wing party under Prince Boun Oum of Champassak, and the left-wing, North Vietnamese-backed Pathet Lao under Prince Souphanouvong and future Prime Minister Kaysone Phomvihane.
The Pathet Lao would eventually emerge victorious in the Laotian Civil War and establish the Lao People's Democratic Republic in 1975.