Laos and Cambodia in Pictures

Located in the centre of the Southeast Asian peninsula, Laos is landlocked between Thailand in the west, Vietnam in the east, China and Burma in the north and Cambodia in the south. Most of the population lives in the valleys of the Mekong River and its tributaries, which run along the western border of Laos and provide ideal fertile flooding plans for growing rice, as well as means of goods transportation across the country. The eastern border is demarcated with the Annamite Chain of mountains, which are sparsely populated by tribal minorities. The mountainous landscape extends to most of the northern part of Laos, and only a small proportion of the total land is arable. The forested land area has declined significantly as a result of commercial logging and widespread slash-and-burn farming in the past thirty years. The southern part of the country is characterized with large flat areas in the west of some provinces, suitable for rice cultivation and livestock farming. Laos has a tropical monsoon climate, with the wet season extending from November through February. The most common natural resources in Laos include timber, gypsum, tin, gold, gemstones and hydropower. The kingdom of Laos is thought to have emerged in the 14th century under Prince Fa Ngum (1353-73 A.D.), and was called ‘Lan Xang’, the land of a million elephants. During the First Indochina War (1946-54), the Pathet Lao resistance organization was formed by the Indochinese Communist Party, and was committed to Lao independence. Laos later gained full independence following the French defeat by the Vietnamese communists and the subsequent Geneva peace conference in 1954. In April 1975, South Vietnam fell in the hands of the communist forces, and the Pathet Lao was able to take total power with the backing of North Vietnam. On December 2nd that year, King Savang Vathana was forced to abdicate his throne, and the communist Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) was formed, led by Kaysone Phomvihane. The new communist government imposed centralized economic decision-making and imprisoned may members of the previous government and military in re-education camps. In March 1991, Prince Souphanouvong retired from all his posts, heralding a period of major economic and political reform. Elections for a National Assembly took place in late 1992, and in 1995, the Americans relaxed their aid embargo enforced on Laos since the 1975 revolution. Since then, Laos has benefited from good economic relations with its neighbouring coutries, helped by various agreements reached with Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia, as well as the admittance of Laos to the Association of South East Asian Nations. Cambodia is bounded by Thailand and Laos in the north, by Vietnam in the east and southeast, and the gulf of Thailand in the west. Most of the land consists of rolling plains, with the most dominant features being the Mekong River crossing the country from north to south, and the centrally located Tonle Sap Lake. To the southeast of the Tonle Sap basin is the Mekong Delta, which extends through Vietnam to the South China Sea. The basin and delta regions are lined with mountain ranges to the southwest and the north. The climate is monsoonal and has pronounced wet and dry seasons of relatively equal lengths. Both temperature and humidity are generally high throughout the year. The Khmer civilization first came into existence during the period of 802 to 1431 A.D., although archaeological evidence indicates that parts of what is now called Cambodia were inhabited by a Neolithic culture during the 1st and 2nd century B.C. that lived in houses on stilts and subsisted on a diet of fish and cultivated rice. During the 15th and 19th century, Cambodia passed by a period of continued decline and territorial loss, marked by the Siamese conquest of the capital in 1594. In 1863, however, King Norodom Sihanouk signed an agreement with the French in order to establish a protectorate over his kingdom. The country fell gradually under French colonial domination until 1953, when King Sihanouk declared independence. Throughout the 1960s, domestic Cambodian politics polarized, and opposition grew within the middle class and among leftist groups. In March 1970, Prime Minister Lon Nol deposed Prince Sihanouk and assumed control through a vote of the National Assembly, and on the 9th of October, the Cambodian monarchy was abolished and the country was renamed the Khmer Republic. During the five years that followed, the Communist insurgency inside Cambodia continued to grow, fueled with supplies and military support from North Vietnam. On New Year’s Day 1975, Communist troops launched an offensive that led to the collapse of the Khmer Republic. Immediately after its victory, the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK) ordered the evacuation of all cities and towns, and it is said that around two million people suffered torture and many died under the hands of CPK’s army, the Khmer Rouge, during their 4-year rule. In January 1976, a new constitution established Democratic Kampuchea as a Communist People’s Republic, but the regime collapsed when Vietnamese soldiers captured the capital Phnom Penh in 1979, and Heng Samrin was installed as head of state in the new People’s Republic of Kampuchea. Since the 1990s, national elections and the surrender of the Khmer Rouge helped restore relative peace and political stability.