ប្រវត្តិសាស្ត្រលាវ
Colonialism and the French Protectorate of Laos (1893-1953)
Pavie and French auxiliaries arrived in Luang Prabang in 1887, in time to witness an attack on Luang Prabang by Chinese and Tai bandits, hoping to liberate the brothers of their leader Đèo Văn Trị, who were being held prisoner by the Siamese. Pavie prevented the capture of the ailing King Oun Kham by ferrying him away from the burning city to safety. The incident won the gratitude of the king, provided an opportunity for France to gain control of the Sipsong Chu Thai as part of Tonkin in French Indochina, and demonstrated the weakness of the Siamese in Laos. In 1892 Pavie became Resident Minister in Bangkok, where he encouraged a French policy which first sought to deny or ignore Siamese sovereignty over Lao territories on the east bank of the Mekong, and secondly to suppress the slavery of upland Lao Theung and population transfers of Lao Loum by the Siamese as a prelude to establishing a protectorate in Laos. Siam reacted by denying French trading interests, which by 1893 had increasingly involved military posturing and gunboat diplomacy. France and Siam would position troops to deny each other’s interests, resulting in a Siamese siege of Khong Island in the south and a series of attacks on French garrisons in the north. The result was the Paknam Incident, the Franco-Siamese War and the ultimate recognition of French territorial claims in Laos. The French were aware that the east-bank territories of the Mekong were “a depopulated, devastated country,” the Siamese forced population transfers following the Anouvong Rebellion left only a fifth of the original population on the east-bank, the majority of Lao Loum and Phuan peoples had been resettled to the areas around the Khorat Plateau. Territorial gains in 1893 were only a springboard to secure French control of the Mekong, deny Siam as much territorial control as possible by acquiring the Mekong’s west bank territories including the Khorat Plateau, and negotiating stable borders with British Burma along the former territories which paid tribute to the Kingdom of Luang Prabang. France settled a treaty with China in 1895, gaining control of Luang Namtha and Phongsali. British control of the Shan States and French control of the upper Mekong increased tensions between the colonial rivals. A joint commission completed its work in 1896 and the city of Muang Sing was gained by France, in exchange France recognized Siamese sovereignty over the areas of the Chaophraya River basin. However, the issue of Siamese control over the Khorat Plateau, which was ethnically and historically Lao, was left open for the French as was Siamese control over the Malay Peninsula which favored British interests. Political events in Europe would shape French Indochinese policy however, and between 1896 and 1904 a new political party took power which viewed Britain as much more of an ally than a colonial rival. In 1904 the Entente Cordiale was signed as part of the alliance against Germany and Austria-Hungary that fought the First World War. The agreement established respective spheres of influence in Southeast Asia, although French territorial claims would continue until 1907 in Cambodia.