Lan Xang

Kingdom of Lan Xang
ລ້ານຊ້າງ
1354–1707
Lan Xang's zone of influence and neighbours, c. 1540
Capital		Luang Prabang, Vientiane (1560–1707)
Languages		Lao
Religion		Buddhism
Government		Monarchy
King
•	1354–1385	Fa Ngum
•	1373–1416	Samsenethai
•	1548–1571	Setthathirath
•	1637–1694	Sourigna Vongsa
Historical era		Middle Ages and Renaissance
•	Founded by Fa Ngum	1354
•	Kingdom partitioned	1707
Succeeded by Kingdom of Luang Prabang Kingdom of Vientiane Kingdom of Champasak
Today part of		Laos  Thailand  Cambodia  China  Myanmar  Vietnam

Vientiane (1560–1707)

The Lao kingdom of Lan Xang Hom Khao (Lao: ; /laːn˥˧ saːŋ˥˧ hom˧ khaːw˥/; "Million Elephants and White Parasols") existed as a unified kingdom from 1354 to 1707.

For three and a half centuries, Lan Xang was one of the largest kingdoms in Southeast Asia. The meaning of the kingdom's name alludes to the power of the kingship and formidable war machine of the early kingdom. The kingdom is the precursor for the country of Laos and the basis for the national historic and cultural identity.

The geography Lan Xang would occupy had been originally settled by indigenous Austroasiatic-speaking tribes 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 Kingdom (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 with fall of Nanzhao to the Han and accelerated following the Mongol Invasions of Yunnan (1253–1256) into the northern reaches of what would become the kingdom of Lan Xang.