Laos

State · 1949–present

Laos, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a country in Mainland Southeast Asia and the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia, with a population of more than 7.5 million; its capital and most populous city is Vientiane. The kingdom of Lan Xang existed from the 13th to 18th centuries, and in 1893 its successor kingdoms were unified under French rule as part of French Indochina. Laos regained full independence in 1953 as the Kingdom of Laos, but a civil war from 1959 to 1975 saw the communist Pathet Lao oppose the Royal Lao Armed Forces. The war ended with the Lao People's Revolutionary Party's establishment of the Lao People's Democratic Republic in 1975.