Fa Ngum

Fa Ngum (1316-1374) was the founder of Laos and first king of Lao Kingdom of Lan Xang who created the first unified state of the Lao People, also the first person to recognize the word of Buddha for the whole country. His grandfather was the last local rulers of the principality of Muang Swa (later called Luang Prabang), Souvanna Khampong. His grandfather banished Fa Ngum’s father for having seduced one of his concubines, where they fled to the Cambodian Capital at Angkor. In 1350, Fa Ngum and his father raised army in Cambodia and fought their way through several Laos principalities and during the fought, his father died. Fa Ngum then continued on to the conquest of Xien Khouang and in 1353, conquest Muang Swa, forced the abdication of his grandfather. He then proclaimed himself king of the expanded kingdom of Lang Xan. Small Lao principalities to the north recognized his suzerainty, but he had to fight to gain the allegiance of the south. His major conquest was of the kingdom of Vientiane, which fell in 1356. Before his death, Fa Ngum’s empire extended through virtually the entire area of what was to become Laos, plus the Black River valley of present northern Vietnam and the northern and eastern edges of the Khorat Plateau of present-day Thailand. He could administer such a vast area only by manipulating personal relationships with countless local chiefs and rulers, and it would be some generations before regular administrative institutions were evolved. During Fa Ngum’s reign also, Theravāda Buddhism of the Sinhalese school was introduced into Laos, perhaps from Cambodia. His ministers deposed him in 1371 because of the misbehavior that he did since the death of his wife in 1368. He died 3 years later, and was replaced by his son, Oun Heuane. Untill now, most laotians recognized as the founde of Laos and the person who gave the country its historical borders.