Laos
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CountryLaos
Flag
Capitalname: Vientiane
geographic coordinates: 17 58 N, 102 36 E
time difference: UTC+7 (12 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)
Population6,521,998 (July 2007 est.)
GMT+7
LocationSoutheastern Asia, northeast of Thailand, west of Vietnam

see map
Areatotal: 236,800 sq km
land: 230,800 sq km
water: 6,000 sq km
Ethnic groupsLao Loum (lowland) 68%, Lao Theung (upland) 22%, Lao Soung (highland) including the Hmong and the Yao 9%, ethnic Vietnamese/Chinese 1%
ReligionsBuddhist 65%, animist 32.9%, Christian 1.3%, other and unspecified 0.8% (1995 census)
LanguagesLao (official), French, English, and various ethnic languages
Government typeCommunist state
National holidayRepublic Day, 2 December (1975)
Constitutionpromulgated 14 August 1991
Legal systembased on traditional customs, French legal norms and procedures, and socialist practice
BackgroundModern-day Laos has its roots in the ancient Lao kingdom of Lan Xang, established in the 14th Century under King FA NGUM. For three hundred years Lan Xang included large parts of present-day Cambodia and Thailand, as well as all of what is now Laos. After centuries of gradual decline, Laos came under the control 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. In 1975, the Communist Pathet Lao took control of the government ending a six-century-old monarchy and instituting a strict socialist regime closely aligned to Vietnam. A gradual return to private enterprise and the liberalization of foreign investment laws began in 1986. Laos became a member of ASEAN in 1997.
Internet
country code
.la
LAST UPDATED ON 17 JUNE 2007