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.

He looks like an ancient Chinese.

haha well there are paintings of him and he was tan as hell if that matters much
He has Khmer & Indian ancestory too you know because of his name in old Lao.

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

^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.

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.

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...

Moving this to serious chat

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

why did he have such a long name?

I think it's his title.

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?

^
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.

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

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?

^
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

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

how is that.

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

umm oky, is that like austrialians can understand american english, but americans cant understand austrialian english sometimes?

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.

thanks for the info PtrckHri. i've learned quite a few things from reading your posts.

^not to mention that tones vary in different regions..just like how it is with Chinese.

[quote=Nam Quoc Son Ha,Sep 24 2004, 11:12 PM]
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?

[/quote thai,laos and viet came from china on a small banana boat along the maykong river into kampuchea territory. that is how you got most of land today and call it your. some of you are so stupit dont even know that you have khmer blood in you. call your grand parents and ask them.lol

[quote=menghuy,Jan 21 2005, 09:05 PM]
[quote=Nam Quoc Son Ha,Sep 24 2004, 11:12 PM]
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?

[/quote thai,laos and viet came from china on a small banana boat along the maykong river into kampuchea territory. that is how you got most of land today and call it your. some of you are so stupit dont even know that you have khmer blood in you. call your grand parents and ask them.lol

[/quote]

my granmami died in laos never knew her...

i think you're stupid and i think you need to stfu also

HEY MOHA NOKOR,WHY DONT YOU CHECK OUT SOME LAOS HISTORY IN THE LIBRARY WHERE YOU LIVE. MAYBE YOU LEARN SOMETHING ABOUT HOW LAOS COUNTRY WERE FORMED AND HOW THEY GET THEIR LANGUAGE HUH. IF LAOS AND THAI DONT MIX WITH KHMER,ALL OF LAOS AND THAI WOULD LOOK LIKE THE CHINESE PEOPLE AND THEY 'RE BE SPEAKING CHINESE. NOT HALF KHMER AND WHO KNOW. IN THE PRESENT DAY THAI AND LAOS ARE TRYING SO HARD TO RECREAT THEIR WRITING SO IT DONT LOOK LIKE KHMER WRITING AND WHY DONT THEY TRY TO RECREAT THE NUMBERS TOO SO DONT STILL LOOK LIKE KHMER HUH. NOT JUST THAT THYE EVEN TRY TO MISSPELL SOME WORD SO IT CAN SOUND AS THAI OR LAOS. CANT BELIEVE IT AM CHATING WITH KIDS WHO WERE BORN LAST WEEK AND MAY BE PREMATURLY BIRTH TOO.

Menghuy:

No doubt, there have been great influences of Khmer culture on those in Thailand and Laos, and intermarriages between the three peoples. These are taught in primary schools in Laos. I don't know about this issue in the more modern Thailand.

However, when we talk about influences, you have to assume that the tai people themselves, who migrated from southern China to current land formerly occupied by the Mon-Khmer, brought with them their own dialects and cultures that were distinctive from those of the Chinese, and later mixed these cultures with those of the mon-khmer in order to further improve them and make them more suitable to their own use. I understand this has become a very tricky issue, particularly the issues such as authenticity or misappropriation, i.e. taking something from someone without giving proper credit to the original owner later.

However, I think you get too emotional to create a condition where you can effectively educate other people about this important issue, because they may not take your account seriously. Also, you have to understand the fact that most members of this forum either were born abroad or have left their own country for many years. The younger generations are more interested in computers, gadgets, and science fiction, or get totally lost as gang members in this new society. Most parents try to survive themselves. Many kids may want to know about the origin and culture of their parents and grand-grand parents. However, if you put yourselves as an insulting person instead of a good educator or debator, they may not want to hear anything from you, or even to be associated with you. So, you have to be patient.

I also never knew my granpapy he also died. BUT interesting, so I wouldn't be wrong if I said I was half Laos, half Khmer, half chinese and half thai but of course thai and Laos same tribe, right? This be a interesting topic come Sunday brunch with my parents GOOD LOOKS on this tidbit, and no I ain't mad at you for reminding the ones that forgot where we origin from... I expect to hear far worst but so far I knew in my heart my image was not typical but exotic... YA

Well said!

Yes I think its true most of Southern Lao is mixed while Northerners look more pure. Thats how my parents told me. But it doesnt matter because we are Lao anyway!!! Lao history is very interesting. I loved to learn about it but its hard to find books.

i think you should get hang for saying stupid $hit like this. the same thing applies to khmer when we received indian influence. you're trying to shove this in their face. you are an arrogant racist stupid mofo who makes other khmers look bad. quit typing in caps idiot. you're stupid how you said thai and laos try to "misspell" words to make it sound thai or laos. well DUH! they do have their own language and they'll try to modify it. just like khmers modifying sanskrit and pali words you stupid $hit.

o whoa too much remixes going on here, is there some dirty dirty going around we young ones don't know of??? My granmami / grandpapy I never knew they died in LAOS and took all that 411 and goodness with them, I have yet to speak to my parents of this, I'm sure they would be enlighten that their princess care to talk bout lao history... so pls more 411 be cool before Sunday come around

Would I be wrong if I used U.S.A. as an example???

I have a Lao history book (modern tradition), and I keep saying to myself I'll read it over the weekend when I have time. Only problem is though, I end up playing video games instead.

Hmm..any motivation to get me to open it?

You dont have to read just give it to me.ahhah

naw Zelnom you and I gots history I'm the betta princess for it Remember who reminded me to thank Indian Heritage

FA NGUM was a great man! Cheers for Fa Ngum!!!!!!!

Ummm..... okay..... somebody just had to open their racist mouth.

... rolls eyes ...

Fa Ngum was a great man!! He combined alot of peoples to form one Lao group. He was the one who made Lao tradition the way it is. We adopted alot of beautiful cultures from the khmers. Yea i guess we were copycats and our culture was probably ugly or something when we came from southern China. But it does make us unique. Having Indian culture while alot of Laotians still have Sino traits.

thought he rode an elephant? in the picture above, im thinking..yeeehaw!

it is just a depiction he prob did ride a elephant :p

fa ngum my king!

i wonder if the lao people from south of lao still know how to speak khmer language because i know in thailand they still do

oh khonlao is this because the land was taken from khmer ages ago?

because our first king was given a khmer army to help us create lanxang to fight of invaders. i think all lao people should apreciate our beloved khmer friends.i was just curiouse if they can still speak khmer if u notice alot of lao people look like khmer sometime when i see a lao person and i thought that person was khmer so i said something in khmer to them and then they bust out with lao then my jaws drop.

who was our first king? fa ngum? I thought he had his own army

yes he did regan but his army was given to him by the khmer king

A lot the culture today in Thai and Laos are heavily influenced by Khmers right? I mean, yeah, think of what Lao culture would be like today, if there was very few social contact with the Khmers?

so the army were khmer? laos had a khmer army? can this be confirmed or was it word of mouth?