Laos

=__Flag Of Laos__=

=**__Capital Of Laos is Vientiane Population__ 6,368,481  __Type of Government__ for Laos is Communist State. __Current Leader__ of Laos is __Page 2 of Laos Geographical Information Map of Laos  Location of Laos  Short History of Laos__ A short history of Laos In the area that is now Laos Laotian tribes form in 877 the first Laotian state. After the invasion by the Mongols in 1284 this state splits in diverse states. The unity is restored in 1353 by King Fa Ngum, the Kingdom of Lan-Xang (literally, "million elephants") which covered much of what today is Thailand and Laos, is a fact. Originally Lang Xang includes most of present-day Thailand and Laos. Lan-Xang is a feudal state. In 1713 disagreement on the succession of the king led to the division of Lan Xang into Luang Prabang, [|Vientiane] and [|Champasak]. [|Siam] annexes Vientiane in 1827 and shortly after that is gains sovereignty over Luang Prabang. In 1893 both Vientiane and Luang Prabang are incorporated as Laos into [|French Indochina].**= __During World War II, the Japanese occupy French Indochina, including Laos. King Sisavang Vong of Luang Prabang declares independence from France in 1945, just prior to Japan's surrender. Later that year Vientiane and Champassak unite with Luang Prabang to form an independent Kingdom of Laos. France reoccupies Laps in 1946 and grant limited autonomy to Laos. In 1949 Laos becomes an associated state and in 1954 independence is granted. During the first Indochina war between France and the communist movement in Vietnam, Prince Souphanouvong forms the communist Pathet Lao (Land of Laos). Elections are held in 1955 and the first coalition government, led by Prince Souvanna Phouma, is formed in 1957. The coalition government collapses in 1958, amidst increased polarization of the political process. After an election victory of the Pathet Lao in 1958 royalist stage a coup.__ __This leads to a civil war between the royalists and the communists of the Pathet Lao. Rightist forces take over over the government. In 1960 Souvanna Phouma recaptures the premiership, but later that year he is driven from power by the military Phoumi Nosavan. In 1972, the communist Phak Paxaxôn Lao (Lao People's Party, PPL) renames itself the Phak Paxaxôn Pativat Lao (Revolutionary People's Party of Laos, PPPL). The civil war ends in 1973 when the PPPL joins a new coalition government. Nonetheless, the political struggle between communists, neutralists and rightists continued. The fall of Saigon and Phnom Penh to communist forces hastens the decline of the coalition in Laos. Months after these communist victories, the Pathet Lao enters Vientiane. At the end of 1975 the king abdicates and the Lao People's Democratic Republic (LPDR) is established, a communist one party state under the PPPL. Prince Souphanouvong of the Pathet Lao becomes president, which he remains until 1991. The new dictatorship incarcerates many members of the previous government and military in "re-education camps." Power is in the hands of the leader of the PPPL: Kaysone Phomvihan (1955-1992, prime minister between 1975 and 1991) and Khamtai Siphandon (since 1992). The latter becomes president in 1998.

Economic Information__

At least 5 million hectares of Laos's total land area of 23,680,000 hectares are suitable for cultivation; however, just 17 percent of the land area (between 850,000 and 900,000 hectares) is, in fact, cultivated, less than 4 percent of the total area. Rice accounted for about 80 percent of cultivated land during the 1989- 90 growing season, including 422,000 hectares of lowland wet rice and 223,000 hectares of upland rice, clearly demonstrating that although there is interplanting of upland crops and fish are found in fields, irrigated rice agriculture remains basically a monoculture system despite government efforts to encourage crop diversification. Cultivated land area had increased by about 6 percent from 1975-77 but in 1987 only provided citizens with less than one-fourth of a hectare each, given a population of approximately 3.72 million in 1986. In addition to land under cultivation, about 800,000 hectares are used for pastureland or contain ponds for raising fish. Pastureland is rotated, and its use is not fixed over a long period of time. In the early 1990s, agriculture remains the foundation of the economy. Although a slight downward trend in the sector's contribution to gross domestic product (GDP was evident throughout the 1980s and early 1990s--from about 65 percent of GDP in 1980 to about 61 percent in 1989 and further decreasing to between 53 and 57 percent in 1991--a similar decrease in the percentage of the labor force working in that sector was not readily apparent. Some sources identified such a downward trend-- from 79 percent in 1970 to about 71 percent in 1991--but both the LPDR's State Planning Commission and the World Bank reported that 80 percent of the labor force was employed in agriculture in 1986. Available evidence thus suggests that the percentage of the labor force employed in agriculture in fact remained relatively steady at about 80 percent throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Agricultural production grew at an average annual rate of between 3 and 4 percent between 1980 and 1989, almost double its growth rate in the preceding decade, despite two years of drought-- in 1987 and 1988--when production actually declined. Paddy rice production declined again in 1991 and 1992 also because of drought. By 1990 the World Bank estimated that production was growing at an increasingly faster rate of 6.2 percent. Increased production, long one of the government's goals, is a result in part of greater use of improved agricultural inputs during the 1970s and 1980s. The area of land under irrigation had been expanding at a rate of 12 percent per annum since 1965, so that by the late 1980s, irrigated land constituted between 7 and 13 percent of total agricultural land. Although still a small percentage, any increase helps to facilitate a continued rise in agricultural productivity. Smallscale village irrigation projects rather than large-scale systems predominate. Use of fertilizers increased as well, at an average annual rate of 7.2 percent; given that commercial fertilizer use had been virtually nonexistent in the late 1970s, this, too, is an important, if small, achievement in the government's pursuit of increased productivity. In addition, the number of tractors in use nearly doubled during the decade, from 460 tractors in 1980 to 860 in 1989.





__Natural Resources__