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Laos, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is
a landlocked socialist republic in southeast Asia, bordered by Myanmar
(Burma) and the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Vietnam to the
east, Cambodia to the south, and Thailand to the west. Laos traces its
history to the Kingdom of Lan Xang or Land of a Million Elephants, which
existed from the 14th to the 18th century. After a period as a French
colony, it gained independence in 1949. A long civil war ended when the
communist Pathet Lao came to power in 1975. |
