In the north of the country, from the 7th or 8th century onwards, Tai-kadai populations descended from southern China following the river valleys and settled and organized into small independent principalities, pushing indigenous populations back on the slopes. Southern Laos, on even earlier dates, hosted the kingdoms of Funnan and Chenla, precursor of the Khmer empire of Angkor. The 13th century saw the emergence of the first strong Tai political entities in northern Thailand and Laos, which undermined Khmer domination. Quarrels between the Thai kingdoms that followed in the 14th century allowed a Lao prince, married to a Cambodian princess and with the support of his stepfather, to take control of vast territories and create the first Lao kingdom of the Million Elephants and the White Parasol
His son Samsenthai consolidated the kingdom into a state of great importance. His successor made Theravada Buddhism the state religion. Then torn apart by quarrels over succession, the kingdom broke up again into 3 entities, falling under the control of the Burmese or the Siamese. At the beginning of the 19th century, Chao Anou, a Lao prince was installed by the Siamese at the head of the kingdom of Vientiane, allowing the restoration of the city, as well as more harmonious relations with other parts of Laos… But under pressure from the Vietnamese, he rebelled against the Siamese and suffered a heavy defeat. Vientiane is razed to the ground (except for the Vat Sisaket temple), and the population deported to Siam. The other kingdoms of Laos facing the same fate, Laos is in its largest part annexed by Siam at the end of the 19th century when the French arrive in Laos.
The signing of a protectorate treaty, followed by a series of agreements between France and Siam, will allow Laos to
recover all its territories on the left bank of the Mekong River, those on the right bank being definitively integrated into the Siamese kingdom. Although the French unified the various entities to form the current Laos, they have never made this territory a priority because of its lack of economic interest… The Second World War and the Japanese intervention allowed the nationalist and independence movements to flourish… which in 1953 succeeded in making Laos a fully sovereign state. This was followed by a period of nearly 25 years of unrelenting political upheaval between communists, American-backed nationalists and neutralists… and a succession of coups d’état.
In the mid-1960s, despite the signing of an agreement ensuring the country’s independence and neutrality, the country was dragged into the Vietnam War… The Laotian Communist Party defending the interests of North Vietnam, and therefore taking advantage of its support, the Americans bombing the Ho Chi Minh runway or relieving themselves in the east of the country of the bombs not dropped on Vietnam or financing a secret army in Laos… With the American disengagement, nothing can stop the communists from taking power in December 1975 and overthrowing the monarchy and proclaiming the People’s Democratic Republic.