Laos

Laos is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by China, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. Forested mountains cover most of it, rising to Phou Bia at 2,818 m (9,245 ft), and the Mekong River forms part of the western border with Thailand. Vientiane is the capital, and Lao, a Tai-Kadai language written in a script derived from Khmer, is the official language.

Prince Fa Ngum founded the kingdom of Lan Xang, the land of a million elephants, in the 14th century and made Theravada Buddhism the state religion. King Setthathirath moved the capital from Luang Prabang to Vientiane and commissioned the That Luang stupa. In 1707 Lan Xang split into the kingdoms of Luang Prabang, Vientiane and Champasak, which France united within French Indochina in 1893. Full independence came in 1953 as the Kingdom of Laos. The war ended in 1975 with the founding of the Lao People's Democratic Republic.

The Lao People's Revolutionary Party is the only ruling party, and its leading role is written into the constitution. Rice covers about 80% of the arable land. Rivers and mountains give Laos a large hydropower capacity, much of it sold to Thailand and Vietnam, and foreign firms mine gold, copper and other metals. A railway from Vientiane to Boten on the Chinese border, built under China's Belt and Road Initiative, crosses the north.

The royal town of Luang Prabang, the temple complex of Vat Phou and the stone jars of the Plain of Jars are UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Sticky rice, called khao niao, is the staple food, and many rituals surround its growing. Asian elephants, gibbons and tigers live in the forests, though all are endangered.