inscription (9th CE), was found in 1968, in an area where other pieces of archaeological evidence testified to a Mon presence. It was exhibited at
Ho Phra Keo Museum, Vientiane, Laos
Dvaravati city state kingdoms By the 6th century in the
Chao Phraya River Valley,
Mon peoples had coalesced to create the
Dvaravati kingdoms. In the north,
Haripunjaya (
Lamphun) emerged as a rival power to the
Dvaravati. By the 8th century the Mon had pushed north to create city states, in Fa Daet (what later is
Kalasin, northeastern Thailand), Sri Gotapura (Sikhottabong) near
Tha Khek, Laos,
Muang Sua (
Luang Prabang), and Chantaburi (Vientiane). In the 8th century CE, Sri Gotapura (Sikhottabong) was the “strongest of these early city states”, and controlled trade throughout the middle Mekong region. The city states were “loosely bound politically, but were culturally similar” and introduced
Therevada Buddhism from
Sri Lankan missionaries throughout the region.
Transition A reference to the name Vientiane can be seen on a Vietnamese inscription of Duke
Đỗ Anh Vũ, dated 1159 during the Khmer-Viet conflict. The inscription says that in 1135, Văn Đan (Vientiane), a vassal of Zhenla (
Khmer Empire), invaded
Nghe An, and was repelled by the Duke; the Duke led an army chased the invaders as far as Vũ Ôn? (unattested), and then returned with captives. Decades later, Phraya Chanthaburi (; Vientiane), together with his elder brother Tao Gwa of Mueang Kaew Prakan—a polity sometimes identified with
Xiangkhouang (
Muang Phuan)—launched a military invasion of the
Ngoenyang Kingdom of the
Tai Yuan in 1171 CE. The invasion failed as the
Ngoenyang ruler Khun Chin sought military assistance from his nephews, the Chueang brothers. After successfully expelling the invaders, the younger
Chueang marched eastward, annexed polities, and eventually captured
Muang Phuan. He then appointed his middle son, also named Chueang, as ruler of Muang Phuan, and his youngest son, Lao Pao, as ruler of Vientiane. Vientiane became an administrative city. King
Setthathirath officially established it as the capital of Lan Xang in 1563, to avoid Burmese invasion. During French rule, the Vietnamese were encouraged to migrate to Laos, which resulted in 53% of the population of Vientiane being Vietnamese in the year 1943. As late as 1945, the French drew up a plan to move Vietnamese population to 3 areas (i.e. the Vientiane Plain, the
Savannakhet region, and the
Bolaven Plateau), which was interrupted by the Japanese invasion of Indochina. On 9 March 1946, French paratroopers arrived and reoccupied the city on 24 April 1946.
Independence After the
Laotian Civil War broke out between the
Royal Lao Government and the
Pathet Lao, in August 1960,
Kong Le seized the capital Vientiane and insisted that
Souvanna Phouma become prime minister. In December,
Phoumi Nosavan then seized the capital, overthrew the Phouma Government, and installed
Boun Oum as prime minister. In 1975, Pathet Lao troops moved towards the city and Americans began evacuating the capital. On 23 August 1975, a contingent of 50 Pathet Lao women symbolically liberated the city. On December 2, 1975, the Laotian Civil War was officially declared over, when the monarchy was forced into exile. ==Climate==