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Silk Vendor bw
  Laos is situated in the rugged mountainous interior of the Indochina peninsula, an extension of the vast Asian landmass to the north. The eastern part of Laos, bordering on Vietnam, lies along the high ridges of the Annamese Cordillera. The rugged plateaus and mountains in the north and east range in height from 500 to 4,000 ft. (150 to 1,200 m.). In places, limestone under the plateaus is eroded into karsts—areas honeycombed with fantastic fissures, caves, and underground channels. Laos was a power in the region from 1353 to 1707, when it ruled over parts of present-day China, Cambodia, Myanmar (Burma), Thailand, and Vietnam. It became a French colony in 1893; won its independence in 1953; and remained a kingdom until 1975, when a Communist government abolished the monarchy. Laos's ruling Communist party—the Lao People's Revolutionary Party—permits Laotians to run privately owned businesses alongside state-run enterprises. The country's climate is generally warm. Temperatures range from about 82° F. (28° C.) in summer to between 60° and 70° F. (15° and 26° C.) from November through February. March and April are usually dry, hot months. From May to October, southwest monsoon winds deposit about 10 in. (25 cm.) of rain each month. During the dry season, from November to April, rainfall averages less than 1 in. (2.5 cm.). Laos embraces 68 different ethnic groups, each with a distinct culture. Most of their languages fall into two language families, the Sino-Tibetan of China and the Mon-Khmer of Southern Asia. The Laotians are Buddhists, although many people still believe in local spirits, or phi. Village life centers on the local temple, with its guesthouse, monastery, and monastery school. Although officially opposed to religion, the Communist government recognizes Buddhism's importance in Laotian life and has left it alone. The French established public schools, and education was made compulsory in 1951. But most villagers still received their education from Buddhist monks. Since 1975, many new schools have been built, and the literacy rate has climbed past 41 percent. There is a university in Vientiane, and many students attend universities in the Soviet Union. Lao villages are small, normally containing 300 to 500 people. Houses are usually constructed of bamboo and are raised 6 to 8 ft. (1.8 to 2.4 m.) above the ground on wooden piles. The space beneath the houses is used to store tools and to secure livestock at night. An elevated granary stands a short distance from each family's living quarters. Settlements are often quite isolated during the height of the monsoon rains in July and August, when the only vehicles that can move in rural areas are oxcarts. Farmers use this period for rest, since it follows the arduous plowing and transplanting of rice seedlings in May and June. The dry season, which comes after the November harvest, is a time for traveling and for visiting friends and relatives. By March, Laotians look forward to another rice-growing season. The Kha and other Lao-Theung (Laotians of the mountainsides) live at middle elevations and make up about 25 percent of the population. They speak a language that belongs to the Mon-Khmer language family. The Kha, descendants of the Indochina peninsula's original inhabitants, were once thought of as savages or slaves. | |
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Article Contributors Anonymous user updated 1 year ago |
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