Encyclopedia > Vientiane, Laos

Article Content

Vientiane

Redirected from Vientiane, Laos

Vientiane, estimated population 140,000 (1990), is the capital of Laos. It is pronounced "Viangchan."

King Setthathirath established it as the capital of Lan Xang in 1560. When Lan Xang fell apart in 1707 it became an independent kingdom. In 1779, it was conquered by the Siamese general Phraya Chakri and made a vassal of Siam.

When King Anouvong raised an unsuccesful rebellion, it was obliterated by Siamese armies in 1827. It eventually passed to French rule in 1893. It became the capital of the French protectorate of Laos in 1899.

All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License

Search Encyclopedia

Search over one million articles, find something about almost anything!

Featured Article

Quadratic formula

... described by the quadratic equation touches the x-axis in a single point.) If the discriminant is positive, then there are two different solutions x, both of which ...