Fa Ngum Founds the Holy City of Louang Phrabang

The northern part of Laos in which Fa Ngum and his people then lived was known as Mueang Sua, a city state that was able to exercise some influence over its neighbouring towns and villages.

For some reason, Fa Ngum was exiled to the Cambodian court further to the south. During the fourteenth century, the Khmer Empire of the Cambodians was still powerful in Southeast Asia but it had passed its peak when it was creating the marvels of the Angkor Wat complex. It is possible that Fa Ngum was exiled because of a sexual indiscretion by himself or possibly one committed by his father. Other accounts have it that he had to be exiled because he was born with 33 teeth and this was taken to be a monstrous and terribly inauspicious omen. In any case, he traveled with his father and attendants to the Khmer court and spent perhaps ten years in exile, receiving education for at least part of that time at a monastery on the lower Mekong under the tutelage of Phra Pasman. He was also given as wife the Cambodian Princess Kaeo Keng Nya.

Fa Ngum's Victory and Achievement

In 1351, Fa Ngum was given permission to lead an army north against Mueang Sua. His army was composed mainly of Khmer forces and its seems most likely that this was at first an attempt to re-assert Khmer control of the area. It is possible that the army was accompanied by the descendants of the Shans and Yunnanese Chinese that the Mongols had stationed on the middle Mekong to preserve the international order. In any case, Fa Ngum, fighting from the back of an elephant as was the custom for all generals of that period, was successful in his campaign and took the opportunity to establish an independent Lao state at Xiang Dong Xiang Thong in 1353, which was later renamed Louang Phrabang. He subsequently set about energetically enforcing his control and extending his territory, seizing mueang (city states) in all directions, demanding tribute in the form of elephants, horses, slaves, gold and silk which he could use to strengthen his forces and reward his followers. This included victories over mueang to the east controlled by the Emperor of Dai Viet in modern Vietnam, who decided to make peace and delineate borders to prevent a general invasion from the Chinese who would have acted to prevent one Southeast Asian state causing

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