Laos - Land of a Million Elephants Quiz

Answer: It was a statement of the military prowess of the country.

Fa Ngum established the Lao kingdom of Lan Xang Hom Kao in 1354 AD. Loosely translated this name means 'Land of a Million Elephants under the White Parasol' and referred to the kingdom's military prowess. In ancient times elephants were like the tanks of today and considered the ultimate weapon. To claim to be the 'Land of a Million Elephants' meant you were claiming near invincibility. Fa Ngum had led a 10,000 man army from Angkor into the region of Vientiane and through conquest grew that army to 50,000. His kingdom covered most of present-day Laos and parts of present-day Thailand. This kingdom lasted for another 300 years while fighting off invasions from Vietnam, Siam, and Burma.

Although elephants were once much more prevalent in the country, estimates are now that only between 700 and 1,200 wild elephants remain. The country is well suited to support a much larger elephant population but conservation efforts are hampered by lack of financing.

Hannibal is famous for taking elephants across the Alps when he invaded Italy in 218 BC.

Answer: Mekong

The Mekong River runs from China through Burma (Myanmar), Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam. The Mekong forms the border between Burma and Laos, then turns east to form part of the border between Thailand and Laos. From there it enters Laos before again returning to form the border between Thailand and Laos. Finally, it joins the Mun River right before entering Cambodia. It flows through Cambodia to Vietnam. In Vietnam, it divides into nine channels that form the Mekong Delta, which empties into the South China Sea. In 1995, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam formed the Mekong River Commission to manage and coordinate use of the river. In 1996, China and Burma became dialogue partners in the commission so that now all six countries cooperate in sharing the resources of the river.

Vientiane first became the capital when King Setthathirath moved the capital of the kingdom of Lan Xang, the kingdom founded by Fa Ngum in 1354 AD, there in 1563 to avoid invasion from Burma. The national Laotian epic the "Phra Lak Phra Lam", which is based on the Hindu epic the "Ramayana", maintains that Prince Thattaradtha founded the city because a seven headed Naga, a Hindu deity, told him to. In 1707, Vientiane became its own kingdom and remained independent until 1828 when it was annexed by Siam. In 1893, it became part of the French protectorate of French Indochina along with the kingdoms of Luang Phrabang and Champasak. These three Lao kingdoms were then named Laos by the French and the modern country of Laos was born.

Answer: India

India does not border Laos, the rest do. Burma (Myanmar) and Cambodia are the other two countries that border Laos. Historically there have been clashes between the Lao kingdom(s) of old and its neighbors. Lan Xang, the united Lao kingdom, was invaded by Vietnam in 1478 AD, by Siam in 1536, and by Burma from 1571 through 1621. For the most part Lan Xang survived these invasions. In 1707, the united Lan Xang was broken into three Lao kingdoms that would not be united again until 1893 and the intervention of the French.

In modern times Laos was affected by both WWII and the Vietnam War. The Japanese occupied French Indochina, which included Laos, during WWII and after their defeat, Laos tried to declare independence. The Pathet Lao, the communist movement in Laos, began a resistance movement against the French. With the French defeat at Dien Bien Phu in Vietnam in 1954, all of French Indochina gained independence, including Laos. Laos then became a constitutional monarchy with the Pathet Lao kept out of power. During the Vietnam War, Laos was dragged into the conflict as the United States and North Vietnam fought a proxy war in the country. Eastern Laos was one of the most heavily bombed areas in the history of warfare as the US tried to stop North Vietnam from using the Ho Chi Minh Trail which ran through the area. North Vietnam invaded Laos numerous times during this period. In 1975, The Pathet Lao, with the help of North Vietnam, finally overthrew the government of Laos and gained control of the country. Vietnam remained heavily involved in Laos for the next two decades or so but Laos never embraced the socialist state as much as Vietnam and has struck out on its own economically and diplomatically in the last decade or so, at the beginning of the 21st century.

Answer: False

A proxy war is a war in which the main belligerents use third parties to do the fighting. In Laos, the US was aligned with the government and the royal army while the North Vietnamese were aligned with the communist insurgents, the Pathet Lao. Although much if not most of the fighting was done by the royal army and the Pathet Lao, both the US and North Vietnam used their military assets in prosecuting the war and supporting their side. The conflict in Laos was known as 'The Secret War'. The CIA's involvement in Laos is considered by the agency to have been a huge success because for 13 years they were able to fight the communists to a standstill even though Laos eventually fell to the communists. As was true in Vietnam, militarily the US succeeded while failing politically.

Although the CIA may have considered their mission in Laos a success, the effects on Laos have been long lasting. It can be argued that America's interests in Laos were either merely misguided at best or purely self-serving at worst. Not only did Laos suffer the normal casualties of war, but the impact on the environment has been devastating. Laos was a target of Operation Ranch Hand, the spraying of Agent Orange by the US military in its defoliation program. Laos was also one of the most bombed countries in the history of modern warfare and many of those bombs remain unexploded. Over 2 million tons of bombs were dropped. By 1970, one quarter of the population was refugees, mainly because of this bombing campaign. 25 years later, on average every other day someone is killed or maimed by these previously unexploded bombs that happen to detonate. The legacy of US involvement in Laos cannot be considered a success by any stretch of the imagination.

Answer: Communist, single party

One would think with a name like People's Democratic Republic that Laos would be some form of representative or democratic government. But, recent history has shown that in most cases countries that use words like Democratic Republic or People's Republic or combinations thereof in their names are most likely Communist, which is the case here. Other examples would be these states:
Current (21st century)
North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea)
China (The People's Republic of China)
Former
East Germany (German Democratic Republic)
Angola (People's Republic of Angola)
Ethiopia (People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia)
Hungary (People's Republic of Hungary)
Although Laos is a socialist state, it learned early on that adopting purist communist doctrine would destroy it economically so it instead adopted a more capitalistic economic model along the lines of Lenin's "New Economic Policy" of the 1920s. But Laos did not follow Lenin's model as much as it followed the model set forth by Deng Xiaoping in China. Although this economic liberalization was embraced, the communist party in Laos did not relax its grip on political power.

Answer: Animism

Animism is not in and of itself a religion or even a belief system. It is a category within which belief systems fall much the same as monotheism or polytheism. Most estimates state about 65% of the population of Laos practices Theravada Buddhism but this is hard to verify. The rest practice mostly traditional folk religion that is based in animism, the belief that spirits inhabit all things. In fact, this animism also pervades much the country's Buddhist traditions as the traditional folk practices have been blended with Buddhism.

Prior to the communist takeover in 1975, Theravada Buddhism was the state religion. Although Buddhism came to Laos as early as the third century AD, as is evidenced by the Pha That Luang stupa, it was not until the eighth century that Mon Buddhist monks came into the area and it began to take a firm hold. In the 14th century when Fa Ngum established his kingdom, he established it as a Theravada Buddhist kingdom. When the communists took over they did not try to stop Buddhist teachings but rather attempted to use them to further their own aims. Theravada Buddhism is also the main Buddhist tradition in both Thailand and Cambodia.

Answer: None, it is landlocked

Laos is a landlocked country that has no access to the ocean. For this reason it is dependent on its neighbors for this access. Because of its position on the Southeast Asian peninsula, it has acted as a buffer between more powerful states and also as a crossroads for trade.

In size, Laos is slightly larger than the state of Utah. Its natural resources consist of timber, hydropower, gypsum, tin, gold, and gemstones. Because of its mountainous terrain and lack of infrastructure, much of Laos is cut off from the main government centers, which has made control of the country hard for any government.

The Mekong has traditionally been the main highway in the country and this is still true today. Its tributaries and the country's other waterways provide the main means of transportation.

Answer: Stone

The jars are made of stone. The Plain of Jars is located on the Xieng Khouang Plateau in north central Laos. The Plain of Jars actually consists of more than 90 separate sites, each of which contains from one to as many as 400 jars per site. The jars date from between 500 BC to 500 AD. The jars are megaliths that have been carved out to form the jars. The jars vary in size but all are carved from stone. Some have rims that look like they were made to have lids although not many stone lids have been found. This suggests the lids were made from something else. Exactly what the jars were used for is unknown but it has been postulated that they were part of some sort of burial rites.

Some archeological work has been done on the sites but a major impediment to more being done and to the sites being opened for tourism is the amount of unexploded bombs left over from the Vietnam War era. This part of Laos was heavily bombed by the US (150,000 tons of bombs were dropped on the Plain of Jars) and it is estimated as many as one third of the bombs dropped failed to explode. This makes the area extremely dangerous.

Answer: A monument mound used as a Buddhist shrine

A stupa is a Buddhist shrine, usually in the form of a mound that contains a Buddhist relic. In this case it is believed that the Pha That Luang stupa originally contained the breastbone of Lord Buddha brought into the country in the third century AD by Buddhist missionaries.

At that time it was an Indic temple but it was rebuilt in the 13th century as a Khmer temple. That temple fell into ruin. In the 16th century it was rebuilt again, this time as a stupa. It was 45 meters high and surrounded by 30 smaller stupas. Over the centuries it was plundered by the Siamese, Burmese, and Chinese at various times.

It was destroyed in the 1828 Thai invasion and not rebuilt until 1900 when the French undertook the project. It was finally reconstructed into its present state in 1930. An image of the stupa appears on the national seal.

Answer: France

French involvement in Southeast Asia began in the 17th century with introduction of French missionaries into the area now known as Vietnam. In the 19th century the involvement grew ostensibly to protect French missionaries, but territorial gains were made in the process. By 1887, a full-fledged French protectorate had been formed encompassing present day Cambodia and Vietnam.

In 1893, France came to the aid of King Oun Kham of the Luang Phrabang Kingdom and added that kingdom to the protectorate. Shortly thereafter the Lao kingdoms of Champasak and Vientiane were added to the protectorate.

These three Lao kingdoms became Laos. French involvement continued until 1954 when the French left Southeast Asia after their defeat at Dien Bien Phu in Vietnam.