Lan Xang () or Lancang was a Lao kingdom that held the area of present-day Laos from 1353 to 1707. For three and a half centuries, Lan Xang was one of the largest kingdoms in Southeast Asia. The kingdom is the basis for Laos's national historic and cultural identity.
Name
Lān Xāng Hôm Khāo is one romanization of the Lao name (), meaning "the Million Elephants and the White Parasol". The kingdom's name alludes to the power of the king, his ties to Laotian Buddhism, and his army's countless war elephants. Other romanizations include Lan Sang, Lane Sang, and Lane Xang. The name Láncāng is the pinyin romanization of the kingdom's Chinese name , still used for the upper stretches of the Mekong in Tibet and Yunnan.
Other names for the kingdom include the Chinese Nánzhǎng (); the Sanskrit Srī Śatanāganayuta and the Pali Siri Satanāganahuta; the Thai Lan Chang () and Lan Chang Rom Khao (); the present Vietnamese name and the historical names Ai Lao (), Vạn Tượng (, "Countless Elephants"), and Nam Chưởng (); the Khmer Lean Cheang (), Lean Damri (), or Srei Satneakonhot (); and the Burmese Lain Jain ().
Historical overview
Origins
The geography Lan Xang would occupy had been originally settled by indigenous Austroasiatic-speaking tribes, such as Khmuic peoples and Vietic peoples which gave rise to the Bronze Age cultures in Ban Chiang (today part of Isan, Thailand) and the Đông Sơn culture as well as Iron Age peoples near Xiangkhoang Plateau on the Plain of Jars, Funan, and Chenla (near Vat Phou in Champasak Province).
The Han dynasty's chronicles of the southward expansion of the Han dynasty provide the first written accounts of Tai–Kadai speaking peoples or Ai Lao who inhabited the areas of modern Yunnan and Guangxi, China. The Tai peoples migrated south in a series of waves beginning in the 7th century and accelerated following the Mongol conquest of Yunnan (1253–1256) into the northern reaches of what would become the kingdom of Lan Xang.
The fertile northern Mekong valleys were occupied by the Dvaravati culture of the Mon people and subsequently by the Khmer, where the principal city-state in the north was known then as Muang Sua and alternately as Xieng Dong Xieng Thong "The City of Flame Trees beside the River Dong", (modern city of Luang Prabang).
With the rise of the Sukhothai Kingdom the principal city-states of Muang Sua (Luang Prabang) and south to the twin cities of Vieng Chan Vieng Kham (Vientiane), came increasingly under Tai influence. Following the death of the Sukhothai king Ram Khamhaeng, and internal disputes within the kingdom of Lan Na, both Vieng Chan Vieng Kham (Vientiane) and Muang Sua (Luang Prabang) were independent Lao-Tai mandalas until the founding of Lan Xang in 1353.
The Legends of Khun Borom
The cultural memory of the early migrations and the mixing of Tai influence with the indigenous, Mon, and Khmer peoples were preserved in the origin myths and traditions of Lan Xang. The cultural, linguistic, and political roots which highlight the commonality of these early legends can help to understand Lan Xang and its relations with neighboring kingdoms. The Nithan Khun Borum "Story of Khun Borom" was central to these origin stories and formed the introduction to the Phongsavadan or court chronicles which were read aloud during auspicious occasions and festivals. Throughout the history of Lan Xang the legitimacy of the monarchy was tied to the single dynasty of Khun Lo, the legendary king of Muang Sua and son of Khun Borom.
The Conquests of King Fa Ngum
The traditional court histories of Lan Xang begin in the Year of the Nāga 1316 (the nāga a mythical serpent of the Mekong and a protector spirit of the kingdom) with the birth of Fa Ngum. Fa Ngum's Grandfather Souvanna Khampong was king of Muang Sua and his father Chao Fa Ngiao was the crown prince. As a youth Fa Ngum was sent to the Khmer Empire to live as a son of King Jayavarman IX, where he was given princess Keo Kang Ya. In 1343 King Souvanna Khampong died, and a succession dispute for Muang Sua took place.
In 1349 Fa Ngum was granted an army known as the "Ten Thousand" to take the crown. At the time the Khmer Empire was in decline (possibly from an outbreak of the Black Death and the combined influx of Tai peoples), both Lanna and Sukhothai had been established in what had been Khmer territory, and the Siamese were growing in the area of the Chao Phraya River which would become the Ayutthaya Kingdom. The opportunity for the Khmer was to create a friendly buffer state in an area they could no longer effectively control with only a moderately sized military force.