ONE LAND · 11 ATLASES
History of Laos in maps
Laos as it appears in 11 interactive history atlases, from 1840 to 2000: Laos, French Indochina, French Indochina — Laos. Each era below lists who ruled the land and when control changed, linked to the dated map that shows it.
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What was Laos before it was Laos? Below, every era of this land in the Maps of History atlases — who ruled it, what it was called, and when control changed — each line linked to the dated map that shows it. Modern borders stand in as an honest approximation; every atlas says so on the map itself.
Upland principalities (mod. Laos) · Mongol Empire
| Beyond the storm — the opening position |
MONGOL EMPIRE: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Laos · Industrial Revolution
| Colony or dependency — the opening position | |
| Colony or dependency |
INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Laos (French from 1893) · Meiji Japan and post-Soviet Russia
| Independent neighbours — the opening position | |
| Western powers and allies |
MEIJI JAPAN AND POST-SOVIET RUSSIA: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Laos (French Indochina, 1893–1953) · Indian independence
| Beyond the Raj · Portuguese & French India — the opening position |
INDIAN INDEPENDENCE: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
French Indochina · WWI
| Entente-aligned & imperial territories — the opening position |
French Indochina (mod. Laos) · Chinese Revolution
The quietest province of French Indochina — royal capitals on the Mekong, colonial neglect, and the era’s storms passing overhead: Japanese occupation in 1945, a brief independence declaration, the French return. Its revolution, when it comes, will be an annex of Vietnam’s, as Vietnam’s was an annex of China’s: the transmission belt of this era’s politics runs straight down the map’s southwest corner.
| Foreign empires — British, French, Russian, American — the opening position | |
| The Empire of Japan & its puppets | |
| Foreign empires — British, French, Russian, American |
CHINESE REVOLUTION: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
French Indochina — Laos · Road to WW2
| Colonial empires & possessions — the opening position |
ROAD TO WW2: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Laos · WW2
| Western Allies — the opening position | |
| Axis allies & puppets | |
| Axis-occupied | |
| Western Allies |
Laos · Cold War
| NATO & core Western allies — the opening position | |
| Non-aligned & neutral | |
| Soviet-aligned states | |
| Communist, outside Moscow’s bloc |
COLD WAR: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Laos · Refugee crises
Laos turned communist in December 1975, after a war in which the CIA had armed a Hmong army against the Pathet Lao. Over the next twenty years about 360,000 people, roughly one Lao in ten, crossed the Mekong to Thailand, highland Hmong and lowland townspeople alike, and about 27,000 returned under the plan of action of 1989.
| Soviet-occupied or communist — the opening position | |
| Soviet-occupied or communist |
REFUGEE CRISES: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
Laos · Mao’s China
| Neutral, non-aligned or colonial — the opening position |
MAO’S CHINA: EVERY CHAPTER AND MAP →
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