Laos

The most heavily bombed country per head in history, and the only landlocked state in Southeast Asia. Lan Xang, the kingdom of a million elephants, ruled the middle Mekong from the fourteenth century before splitting into three and falling under Siamese control. France took it in the 1890s largely as a buffer for Vietnam and invested almost nothing. Independence came in 1953, and the country was then pulled into the Vietnam war through the Ho Chi Minh Trail running down its eastern side. The United States conducted a covert air campaign from 1964 to 1973, dropping over two million tonnes of ordnance in around five hundred and eighty thousand sorties - roughly a planeload every eight minutes for nine years, and more than was dropped on Germany and Japan combined. Around a third of the cluster submunitions failed to detonate, and unexploded ordnance has killed or maimed tens of thousands since the war and still contaminates much of the country. The Pathet Lao took power in 1975 and abolished the monarchy. Hydropower sold to neighbours is the main export strategy. Luang Prabang is a World Heritage site. Vientiane is the capital. The country has about 7.6 million people and around fifty recognised ethnic groups. Lao is the official language and is close to Thai. The Mekong forms much of its western border. The Plain of Jars, scattered with prehistoric stone vessels, is a World Heritage site and one of the most heavily bombed areas. Coffee is grown on the Bolaven plateau.

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