page_title: Xiangkhouang Province
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Xiangkhouang Province / History
context_page_description: Xiangkhouang is a province of Laos on the Xiangkhoang Plateau, in the nation's northeast. The province has the distinction of being the most heavily bombed place on Earth.
  Originally known as the Principality of Muang Phuan, the present capital of the province is Phonsavan. The population of the province as of the 2015 census was 244,684.
  Xiangkhouang Province covers an area of 15,880 square kilometres and is mountainous. Apart from floodplains, the largest area of level land in the country is on the province's Xiangkhoang Plateau. This area is characterized by rolling hills and grassland whose elevation averages 1,300 metres. The country's highest peak, Phou Bia, rises at the south side of the plateau. Nam Et-Phou Louey is a National Biodiversity Conservation Area in the province covering an area of 5,959 km², and overlaps into Houaphanh and Luang Prabang Provinces.
  The province's Plain of Jars has been proposed as a UNESCO World Heritage Monument.
context_section_description: While the origin of the Plain of Jars' people is unknown, the recorded history of Xiangkhouang is interlinked with the Tai Phuan. As an ancient civilization, its prehistory is linked to the enigmatic megalithic stone jars of the Plain of Jars (with prehistoric material recorded to the period of even 2000 BCE, with Iron Age period of 500 BCE and 500–800 CE period dominating the archaeological finds) representing burial grounds of ritualistic practices with extended history spread from Angkor period to the Hindu and Buddhist religious impacts. The Tai Phuan or Phuan people are a Buddhist Tai-Lao ethnic group that migrated to Laos from southern China and by the 13th century had formed the independent principality Muang Phuan at the Plain of Jars with Xieng Khouang (the contemporary Muang Khoun) as its capital. They prospered from the overland trade in metals and forest products with India and China. In the mid-14th century, Muang Phuan was incorporated into the Lan Xang Kingdom under King Fa Ngum.
  The Xieng Khouang Plateau has been surmised, based on archaeological finds of Bronze and Iron Age of the period between 500 BCE and 500 CE, as the center of trade representing a large area of upland Southeast Asia covering Vietnam, Samrong Sen in Cambodia, and the Khorat Plateau in northeast Thailand, Danang City in Laos, and the North Cachar Hills of northeastern India.
  According to the Pongsawadan Meuang Puan or the Muang Puan Chronicles, the Tai Puan, a Buddhist Tai-Lao ethnic group, are said to be the first people who migrated in the 13th century from China and settled in this province; they had established trade in metals and forest produce and consequently were prosperous. During the mid 14th century they were subsumed into the Lan Xang Kingdom. The Siamese wars in the 18th and 19th centuries resulted in the Tai Puans' loss of freedom.
  From 1479 to 1707, Muang Phuan included Xiangkhouang was named Trấn Ninh Protectorate of Ninh and was governed by Vietnamese authorities. Ethnic Vietnamese began settled in Xiangkhouang until 1945 when they were expelled. From 1735 to 1739, a Vietnamese prince Lê Duy Mật led the rebellion in Trấn Ninh against the military lord Trịnh Doanh in Hanoi.
  In subsequent years the Haw invaders from China ravaged the province and also Luang Prabang by looting. In the 1890s the province came under French colonial rule under Treaty of French Indochina, which extended to a short period beyond World War II. During the Second Indochina War of the 1960s and 1970s there was more suffering to the people of the province due to the Laotian Civil War between the Royalist and the Pathet Lao until 1975 when the Pathet Lao took power. Xiangkhouang was the province most bombed by the US Air Force (USAF) in support of the Royalist forces. As a result of this extended war, Muong Khoun, the original capital of the province, suffered much damage due to bombing by the USAF and resulted in shifting of the capital to Phonsavan. During this war, most of the temples built in the period from the 16th and 19th century were destroyed except for the Vat Pia Vat Temple. The royalists were led by General Vang Pao, who was born in the province.
caption: Plain of Jars, girls of Houang
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