History of Laos and Luang Prabang

The nation of Laos, including Luang Prabang in the north and Vientiane in the south, was united in the second half of the 17th century under a king who reigned for 55 years. This was the peak of Laotian civilisation. In 1707, a war of succession led to Laos splitting into two kingdoms, one king in Vientiane, the other in Luang Prabang. Luang Prabang fell in the Burmese in 1753 by this time the Burmese had also conquered large parts of Siam (Thailand). In 1770, the Burmese were repulsed by the combined armies of Luang Prabang and Siam. This led to Luang Prabang becoming a dependency of Siam. Vientiane and Luang Prabang were still bitter enemies, and an attempt by the king of Vientiane to defeat Luang Prabang led to a massacre in the 1790's. The Siamese intervened to protect the city, and were the effective overlords of the whole of Laos until the French arrived at the end of the 19th century. In 1904 Siam handed over sovereignty of Luang Prabang to France, and it became part of the French Indo-China, along with Vietnam and Cambodia.
It is ironic that in the 1950's Laos received more American aid per person than any other country. In the 60's and early 70's it received more bombs from America than any other country. They flew 580'344 missions over Laos and dropping two million tons of bombs. Around 30% of the bombs failed to detonate, leaving the country littered with unexploded ordnance!!
Luang Prabang is the cultural and religious capital of Laos and was also the Royal capital until 1975 when the Pathet Lao forced King Sisavang to abdicate.
Luang Prabang is now the only city in Laos where ethnic people make up the majority rather than Chinese, Vietnamese or Thai. In 1995 UNESCO made the ancient and exquisite city of Luang Prabang a world heritage.