Kingdom of Champasak

Kingdom of Champasak
1713–1946
Flag
Capital Champasak
Languages Lao
Religion Buddhism
Government Monarchy
History
 •  Lan Xang divided 1713
 •  Kingdom annexed by Kingdom of Laos 1946
Preceded by 		Succeeded by
Lan Xang
Rattanakosin Kingdom
Today part of  Laos
 Thailand
 Cambodia
 Vietnam

The Kingdom of Champasak (Lao: ຈຳປາສັກ [càmpàːsák]) or Bassac, (1713–1946) was 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.[1] 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.[2]

History

The kingdom was 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. Bassac, the capital city, was on the right bank, near where the Bassac River joins the Mekong, connecting to Phnom Penh.[3]

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.[3]

At the beginning the 19th century, and ignoring the world-wide agricultural disaster accompanying the 1816 Year Without a Summer, Bassac was said to be on a prosperous trade route as the outlet for cardamon, rubber, wax, resin, skins, horns, and slaves from the east bank to Ubon, Khorat, and Bangkok.[2]:image 4 The region then fell victim to Siamese and French struggles to extend suzerainty.

After the Laotian Rebellion of 1826-1829, Suwannaphum lost its status and Champasak was reduced to vassalage. The Siamese-Cambodian War of 1831-1834 reduced the entire region to vassalage, a situation soon further complicated by the French striving in the same region to establish what was to become French Indochina.

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; French colonial administration of Lao kingdoms impoverished the region. 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, and in what was known to the Siamese side as the "Holy Man's Rebellion".[2]

The Phra Phuttha Butsayarat or Phra Luk Buddha, palladium of the Kingdom of Champasak, Laos. The Phra Butsayarat was brought to the Kingdom of Lan Xang by King Setthathirath from the Kingdom of Lan Na in the 16th century, with several other significant statutes. In the 19th century the image was taken by the Kingdom of Siam to Bangkok. It currently resides in the Phra Buddha Rattanasathan (พระพุทธรัตนสถาน) ordination hall at the Grand Palace in Bangkok.

Ong Keo and Ong Kommandam of the Bolaven Plateau Alak people, led initial resistance against French control, which subsumed into the First Indochina War. The parallel right-bank Holy Man's Rebellion of 1901-1902 was a short-lived cause.[2]:image 22 Following legal actions against captured local leaders of the movement, the Thai government considered the case of the rebellion closed.[2]:image 15 The right-bank dependencies were absorbed into the Siamese North-East Monthon Isan (มณฑลอีสาน) and the House of Na Champassak ceased to rule.

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)

Heads of the Princely House 1904–present

See also

References

  1. ↑ Christopher Buyers (August 2001 – October 2009). "Champasakti". The Khun Lo Dynasty Genealogy > continued from Lan Xang 3. The Royal Ark. Retrieved March 3, 2012. All materials contained in this site are the subject of copyright.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Murdoch, John B. (1974). "The 1901-1902 Holy Man's Rebellion" (free). Journal of the Siam Society. Siam Heritage Trust. JSS Vol.62.1 (digital image): 2–9. Retrieved April 2, 2013. Furthest afield were Vientiane and Bassac....
  3. 1 2 Brow, James (1976), "Population, land and structural change in Sri Lanka and Thailand", Contributions to Asian studies, Kogan Page, Limited (9): 47, ISBN 90-04-04529-5
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