Xiang Khouang Plateau ແຂວງຊຽງຂວາງ | |
|---|---|
Natural region | |
 Landscape of the Xiangkhouang Plateau | |
 A map of the area showing the location of the provincial capital Phonsavan | |
| Country | Laos |
The Xiang Khouang Plateau or Xiang Khwang Plateau, also known in French as Plateau du Tran-Ninh is a plateau in the north of Laos. The landscape is characterized by green mountains, rugged karst formations and verdant valleys with plenty of rivers, caves and waterfalls.
The Luang Prabang Range, and the Annamite Range separate the plateau from Thailand and Vietnam respectively. [1] The ranges of the plateau are sandstone and limestone mountains between 2000 and 2800 meters high (about 6561 and 9842 feet high). These have been heavily deforested. The highest mountain of Laos, Phou Bia, is located to the south of the Xiangkhoang. Altitudes within the plateau area may reach 1000 m. [2] Several tributaries of the Mekong drain in the plateau, such as the Nam Ngum, Ngiap and the Khan River. [3] The major town in the area is the capital of Phonsavan. The plateau gives its name to present-day Xiangkhouang Province in which Phonsavan is located.
The plateau is the location of the Plain of Jars, which is a collective name for several sites with funerary archeological remains nominated for UNESCO World Heritage status. [4] [5] Xianghouang Province is one of the most heavily bombed places in the world. [5]
The plateau is also one of the most heavily contaminated areas in the world from unexploded cluster munitions also called UXO.
Evidence of modern human presence in the northern and central highlands of Indochina, which constitute the territories of the modern Laotian nation-state, dates back to the Lower Paleolithic. These earliest human migrants are Australo-Melanesians—associated with the Hoabinhian culture—and have populated the highlands and the interior, less accessible regions of Laos and all of Southeast Asia to this day. The subsequent Austroasiatic and Austronesian marine migration waves affected landlocked Laos only marginally, and direct Chinese and Indian cultural contact had a greater impact on the country.
Laos is a country in and the only landlocked nation in mainland Southeast Asia, northeast of Thailand and west of Vietnam. It covers approximately 236,800 square kilometers in the center of the Southeast Asian peninsula and it is surrounded by Myanmar (Burma), Cambodia, the People's Republic of China, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Muang Phuan or Xieng Khouang, also known historically to the Vietnamese as Trấn Ninh, was a historical principality on the Xiang Khouang Plateau, which constitutes the modern territory of Xiangkhouang Province, Laos.
The Plain of Jars is a megalithic archaeological landscape in Laos. It consists of thousands of stone jars scattered around the upland valleys and the lower foothills of the central plain of the Xiangkhoang Plateau. The jars are arranged in clusters ranging in number from one to several hundred.
Xaisomboun was a special zone of Laos, located in the north of the country, near the capital Vientiane. The special zone was created 1994 by the military, with area split off from the provinces Vientiane and Xiangkhoang, in order to control and suppress the postwar Hmong resistance. It was officially dissolved on January 13, 2006, although the term continues to be used.
Phonsavan, population 37,507, is the capital of Xiangkhouang Province. Phonsavan was built in the late-1970s and replaced old Xiang Khouang, which was destroyed during the Second Indochina War.
The Annamite Range or the Annamese Mountains is a major mountain range of eastern Indochina, extending approximately 1,100 km (680 mi) through Laos, Vietnam, and a small area in northeast Cambodia.
Major Lee Lue was a Laotian Hmong fighter bomber pilot notable for flying 10-12 combat missions Kingdom of Laos. Lee Lue flew continuously, as many as 10 missions a day and averaging 112 combat missions a month to build a total 10-22 sorties. Lee Lue was the leader of the special group of Hmong pilots flying T-28Ds from Long Tieng against the Pathet Lao and North Vietnamese positions. The group was funded by the CIA and was part of the regular Royal Lao Air Force, but took orders directly from MR2 Commander Gen. Vang Pao. His T-28 was shot down by anti-aircraft fire over Muang Soui, crashing in a mountainous area near Ban Phou Pheung Noi on July 12, 1969. At the time of his death, he had 800 combat missions total the 14 months o
The Phuan people, ພວນ Phouan, pronounced[pʰúan]), also known as Tai Phuan, Thai Puan or Lao Phuan, are a Theravada Buddhist Tai people spread out in small pockets over most of Thailand's Isan region with other groups scattered throughout central Thailand and Laos. There are also approximately 5000 Phuan in the Mongkol Borei District of Banteay Meanchey Province in Cambodia, as well in Battambang Province. According to the Ethnologue Report, the Phuan number 204,704 and that is split fairly evenly between populations in Laos and Thailand.
Xieng Khouang Airport is an airport in Phonsavan, Laos.
Khoune, also known as Muang Khoun and formerly as Xiang Khouang, is a district (muang) of Xiangkhouang province in north-central Laos. The district has four main ethnic groups: Lao, Hmong, Khmu, and O Du.
Muang Sing is a small town and district (muang) in Luang Namtha Province, northwestern Laos, about 60 kilometres northwest of the town of Luang Namtha and 360 kilometres northwest of Vientiane. It lies very close to the border with Yunnan, China, surrounded by mountains and rivers. Historically, Muang Sing has been a major producer of opium and still has problems with drugs and smuggling, due to its proximity to China and Myanmar.
Xiangkhouang is a province of Laos on the Xiangkhoang Plateau, in the nation's northeast. The province has the distinction of being the most heavily-bombed place on Earth.
Phou Xieng Thong National Protected Area is a national protected area in Salavan and Champasak provinces of southern Laos. This park, the country's only park on the Mekong river, is home to a wide variety of animal and plant species, some endangered. The park is an ecotourism destination.
Muang Soui(In Lao: ເມືອງສຸຍ) is a small town in Xiangkhouang Province Laos. It is located on Route 7 of Laos, so east of Phoukhoune district, northwest of Phonsavan, and Ban Phou Pheung Noi, but north of Sam Thong, and Long Tieng.
The Đại Việt–Lan Xang War of 1479–84, also known as the White Elephant War, was a military conflict precipitated by the invasion of the Lao kingdom of Lan Xang by the Vietnamese Đại Việt Empire. The Vietnamese invasion was a continuation of Emperor Lê Thánh Tông's expansion, by which Đại Việt had conquered the kingdom of Champa in 1471. The conflict grew into a wider conflagration involving the Ai-Lao people from Sip Song Chau Tai along with the Mekong river valley Tai peoples from the Yuan kingdom of Lan Na, Lü kingdom Sip Song Pan Na, to Muang along the upper Irawaddy river. The conflict ultimately lasted approximately five years growing to threatened the southern border of Yunnan and raising the concerns of Ming China. Early gunpowder weapons played a major role in the conflict, enabling Đại Việt's aggression. Early success in the war allowed Đại Việt to capture the Lao capital of Luang Prabang and destroy the Muang Phuan city of Xiang Khouang. The war ended as a strategic victory for Lan Xang, as they were able to force the Vietnamese to withdraw with the assistance of Lan Na and Ming China. Ultimately the war contributed to closer political and economic ties between Lan Na, Lan Xang, and Ming China. In particular, Lan Na's political and economic expansion led to a "golden age" for that kingdom.
Ban Phou Pheung Noi is a Laotian village located at the peak of Phou Pheung mountain in the Xieng Khouang province of Laos. Phou Pheung mountain is approximately 916 m (3,005 ft). During the Vietnam War, combat between the American allies, the Hmong, and the Pathet Lao, The Laos Marxist government, and the Communist North Vietnamese People's Army took place on the mountain. Phou Pheung mountain runs from east to west and is rocky, and is covered in tropical forests. It is south of Muang Soui - Nongtang-Nato, and west of Phou Douk, Muang Phuan, Phonsavan and Plain of Jars. To the east, about 10 miles from Ban Phou Pheung Noi, is the Num Ngum 4 hydroelectric dam.
Route 7 of Laos, ເສັ້ນ ທາງ ເລກ 7 ຂອງປະເທດລາວ (ທ. 7) is a provincial road served from east to west in Xiangkhouang province, Laos. It runs from Nong Het in the east to Phoukhoune District in the west. This is where people change connections to go to Luang Prabang or Vientiane.
The depopulation of Muang Phuan in 1834 was a forced migration campaign carried out by Siam in the course of their 1833–1834 war with Vietnam, in order to deny the Vietnamese the chance to re-establish control over the Xiangkhoang Plateau.
19°24′N103°02′E / 19.400°N 103.033°E
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