Fa Ngum, Creator of The Kingdom Of Lan Xang/Laos. Options

[PervertBurger]

(IMG:http://www.laosite.com/albums/alb40/textes.JPG)

Somdetch Brhat-Anya Fa Ladhuraniya Sri Sadhana Kanayudha Maharaja Brhat Rajadharana Sri Chudhana Negara better known as Fa Ngum (1316 - 1393, born in Muang Sua, died in Nan) established the Lao kingdom of Lan Xang in 1353.

Fa Ngum was a grandson of Souvanna Khamphong, ruler of Xieng Dong Xieng Thong and descendant of Khun Lo. He was exiled as a child to the court of Angkor along with his father. When he decided to return he brought an army of 10,000 with him and proceeded to conquer much of peninsular Southeast Asia.

In the decade 1340-1350, he conquered the Khorat Plateau, including Udon, Surin, Champassack, and Nongkhay. In 1351 he conquered Mouang Phouane, Nge-Anh, and Vinh as well as the Red and Black River valleys in Vietnam. In 1352-1353, he conquered Muang Sing, Muang Huom, Xieng Hung, Pak Ou and Pak Beng. In 1353, he fought the ultimate battle against his uncle near Xieng Dong Xieng Thong and won, becoming the undisputed master of the land, which he named Lan Xang.

He continued to expand his empire in 1354, pushing into Pak Beng, Pak Tha, Xieng Khong, Xieng Sene (Chiang Saen), and Xieng Hai (Chiang Rai). By 1358, the boundaries of his kingdom were recognized as Simao in the north, Sambor in the south, Khorat in the west and the Red River in the east. Finally in 1373, the royals and notables of his own court exiled him to Nan where he died and was enshrined in the Xieng Ngam temple. His son Samsenethai then ascended to the throne of Lan Xang.

[Rocky Cuong V]

He looks like an ancient Chinese.

[PervertBurger]

haha well there are paintings of him and he was tan as hell if that matters much (IMG:http://www.asiafinest.com/forum/style_emoticons/default/embarassedlaugh.gif)
He has Khmer & Indian ancestory too you know because of his name in old Lao.

This post has been edited by PervertBurger: Sep 12 2004, 05:10 AM

[AidanW]

Some site said that he was a pro-Mongol Khmer prince.

[Point_Dexter]

^The kingdom he replaced was pro-mongol.
Fa Ngum was anti-mongol, and an Ankorian puppet, set as a buffer zone between the Khmer Empire and the Mongol Empire.

[dalawapo]

When he decided to return he brought an army of 10,000 with him and proceeded to conquer much of peninsular Southeast Asia.

he invaded the land of the malays?

anyways i dont think he looks ancient chinese, he doesnt have the nofold eye look. he looks just like that guy from legend of suryiothai, omg they look werid in that movie, they keep making this face like they are lost and getting molested.... no offense to the movie actors, its so werid. and that actress who play suriyothai is so ugly i want convert her to islam and put a hijab on her. (IMG:http://www.asiafinest.com/forum/style_emoticons/default/icon_confused.gif)

[Turtle]

I read about this guy. Its funny because if his dad never got kicked out of the Laotian Kingdom for flirting there would never be any place to call Laos or Lan Xang...

[Jasel]

Moving this to serious chat

[DAI_VIET]

Hmm... not bad. Vietnam was weak and exhausted after the wars with the Mongols earlier that century.

[ranmatatsumaru]

why did he have such a long name?

[DAI_VIET]

why did he have such a long name?

I think it's his title.

[Nam Quoc Son Ha]

Yes he was the one who invaded Vietnamese land and I think it was the only point in history where they had the upper hand against Kinh Viets.

Anyway I've always wondered how Laotians look so much like Southern Chinese. They even look like Viets for God's sake.

BTW, is it true that there are more Laotians in Thailand than Laos itself? (IMG:http://www.asiafinest.com/forum/style_emoticons/default/confused.gif)

[ranmatatsumaru]

^
I think there are more Lao living in Thailand. Thailand has a population of over 64 million people whereas Laos is only about 6 million.

[PtrckHri]

People in the the northeastern region (isan) are mostly of lao descent, about 1/3 of thai population, while those living in the southern part of isan are mostly of khmer descent (also some lao people were brought during the late 17th and beginning 18th centuries to current areas east and northeast of bangkok and were originally from Vientiane when lan xang lost the war to siam.

Look at the different ethnic groups in thailand in the web below and you will see that quite a big chunk of people in thailand (the thai) are of lao origin [although thai and lao are originally of the same group of people (the tai) presumably migrating to the current thailand and laos from the southern part of china]. Northern lao are less mixed with southern lao and look more original tai, i.e. a bit chinese.

http://www.worldstatesmen.org/Thailand.html

[dalawapo]

i wonder if thailand and laos will ever unify as a nation, they are tai people and their culture, religion, and language is similar right?

[ranmatatsumaru]

^
yes, Thais and Laos are very similar in culture and religion. Even the Thai language is mutually intellible to Lao speakers but not necessarily vice versa. However, Laos is considered to be a communist state and Thailand a constitutional monarchy so there's little hope of unification

[dalawapo]

what do u mean? Lao people can understand Thai, but Thai people can not understand Lao?

how is that.

[Point_Dexter]

^ Its just is.........

[dalawapo]

umm oky, is that like austrialians can understand american english, but americans cant understand austrialian english sometimes? (IMG:http://www.asiafinest.com/forum/style_emoticons/default/embarassedlaugh.gif)

[PtrckHri]

dalawapo: Most thai people in isan (northeastern thailand) can understand and speak lao. The thai language here refers to standard thai, i.e. bangkok thai. Northern thai (chiang mai) is called kham muang dialect and is understood to most lao because it is more closely similar to lao than to standard thai.

When I said that thai and lao are intelligible, I mean they are of the same origin and quite similar. People from one country would clearly understand the other country people speaking only when they are first suitably exposed to the other language in order to be familiar with some words, expressions, and accents that are different between standard thai and lao.

Most lao understand thai because of the media, i.e. there are much more thai TV channels, radio and others that lao people can watch and listen to. The opposite is not true, there are much less lao TV and radio and most of them are boring and can reach only people living close to the lao-thai border. Another reason why lao is understood in thailand only among the isan people in isan or in bangkok because under the surface lao is considered a "farm" or "countryside" language that is not as "in" as the standard thai and because most lao speakers (isan) in thailand are considered poor farmers.

A businessman from Bangkok would "agree" to understand lao only if he happens to get lost in a remote area in laos where most people are not exposed to standard thai. In that situation, the thai businessman would have no other choice than to make an effort to listen carefully to the lao speakers and, of course, he would understand lao.