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
fourteenth to the eighteenth 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. Private
enterprise has increased since the mid-1980s, but development
has been hampered by poor communications in the heavily forested
and mountainous landscape. Despite this, the economy of Laos
grew at 7.2% in 2006, 35th fastest in the world. Eighty percent
of the employed practice subsistence agriculture. The country's
ethnic make-up is extremely diverse, with only around 70%
belonging to the largest ethnic group, the Lao. Laos is a
beautiful country and a fantastic pla