Kingdom of Champasak

Part of a series on the
History of Laos
Early history of Laos Lan Xang 1353–1707
Dark ages of Laos
Luang Phrabang Kingdom 1707–1949 Vientiane Kingdom 1707–1828 Principality of Phuan 1707–1949 Champasak Kingdom 1713–1946
Colonial era
French rule / administration 1893–1953 Lao Issara 1945–1949
Modern era
Pathet Lao Post-independence 1953–1975 N. Vietnamese invasion 1958–1959 Civil War 1962–1975 Communist rule 1975–present Insurgency in Laos 1975–present
See also
History of Isan
Peopling of Laos

The Kingdom of Champasak (Lao: ຈຳປາສັກ [càmpàːsák]) or Bassac, (1713–1946) was in 1713 proclaimed a Lao kingdom under Nokasad, a grandson of King Sourigna Vongsa, the last king of Lan Xang; and son-in-law of the Cambodian King Chey Chettha IV. Bassac and the neighboring principalities of Attapeu and Stung Treng, emerged as power centers under what was later to be described as the Mandala Southeast Asian political model. The kingdom was initially sited on the eastern or Left Bank of the Mekong, south of the Right Bank principality of Khong Chiam where the Mun River joins; and east of where the Mekong makes a sharp bend to the west to return abruptly and flow southeasterly down to what is now Cambodia. Due to scarcity of information from the periods known as the Dark ages of Cambodia, the Khorat Plateau seems to have been largely depopulated, and Left Bank principalities began to repopulate the Right. In 1718, a Lao emigration in the company of an official in the service of King Nokasad founded Muang Suwannaphum as the first recorded population of Lao in the Chi River valley — indeed anywhere in the interior of the plateau. Both Left and Right Bank outliers prospered at the beginning the 18th century, but in the 19th fell victim to Siam's struggle to extend suzerainty that soon devolved into a contest with the French who were striving to bring the same region under the authority of what was to become French Indochina. Champasak was reduced to a vassal state of Siam; Suwannaphum lost its status following the failure of the Laotian Rebellion for independence of 1826–29. Following the Franco-Siamese War of 1893, the Left Bank fell under French rule as an administrative block, with its royalty stripped of many privileges. The 1893 treaty called for a twenty-five-kilometer-wide demilitarized zone along the Right Bank, which made Siamese control impossible. It soon became a haven for lawless characters from both banks of the river. Lack of clear chains of authority resulted in turmoil in the whole region, in what was known to the Siamese side as The 1901-1902 Holy Man's Rebellion.

In 1946, the kingdom, established under the grandson of the last king of Lan Xang, was reduced to the status of a province in the first-ever united Kingdom of Laos; which on 2 December 1975, became the Lao People's Democratic Republic.

Kings of Champasak (1713-1904)

• Nokasad 1713–37
• Sayakumane 1737-91
• Fay Na 1791–1811
• No Muong 1811
• Manoi 1813–19
• Chao Yo house of Vientiane 1819–26
• Huy 1826–41
• Nark 1841–51
• Boua 1851–52
• Interregnum 1852–56
• Kham Nai 1856–58
• Interregnum 1858–62
• Kham Souk 1863–1900
• Ratsadanay 1900–4

Heads of the Princely House 1904-present

Main article: House of Na Champassak

• Ratsadanay 1904–45
• Boun Oum 1945–80
• Keo na Champassak 1980–present

See also

• Champa

External links

• champassak