Roux, Henri; Akha and Phu Noi Minorities in Laos in the 1920s
This first English translation presents a wealth of data and a number of unique period photographs collected by a French military administrator of the area around Phongsaly, then the Fifth Military territory in northern Laos. It is fair to say that this is one of the rare views of the original condition of these tribal populations as the observations date from the early 1920s when very few Europeans had been in this area. The text systematically reviews all that there was to know about these people: origins, physical characteristics, dwellings, customs and sorcery, ceremonies and feasts, ownership and economics, social relations, legends, even the dream world and the significance of omen are discussed. The measurement, time and writing systems and a number of typical texts have also been included. Together with rare period photographs, not found elsewhere, this book also provides an ethnographic treasure trove for people interested in authentic textiles and the material cultures of these two groups.

Ovesen, Jan; Anthropological Reconnaissance in Central Laos
This report is the result of a short-term anthropological consultancy which formed part of the feasibility study for the future construction of a dam and hydroelectric power plant in a rather remote area of central Laos. The author concludes that in contrast to (anthropologists’ opinion of) so many other development projects, the present project will have mainly beneficial effects on the local population. In one part of the project area the population pressure and consequent shortening of fallow periods make the continuation of swidden farming progressively less viable. The other part of the area consists of a flat plain where paddy cultivation dominates, and conditions for the further development of wet-rice agriculture are good. It is envisaged that the hydro-power project may directly or indirectly induce many of the swiden agriculturalists to move into the plain and become paddy farmers, which is both economically and ecologically preferable.

Raquez, A.; Around Laos in 1900: A Photographer's Adventures
This extensive report presents information on the daily life and livelihood of various groups of people in Laos. First published in 1902 as a travelogue around Upper, Central and Lower Laos, this book also includes an assessment by a Frenchman critical of development work already undertaken by the French colonial administration. Raquez was traveling with the chief administrator of a recently unified Laos and thus he was close enough to power to obtain information no other writer of the time managed to obtain. Contemporary personalities, colonial administrators and scholars pass before Raquezs sharp eyes as do Laotian and Siamese personalities of the time. Besides presenting a number of straightforward pro-French political considerations on the Indochinese colony and its neighbor, Siam, the book also provides a multitude of facts about its natural setting, economic products, food, history, geography, legal system, customs and religions and about the life and struggles of various highland tribes.

Pavie, Auguste; Atlas of the Pavie Mission, Pavie 2 Laos, Cambodia, Siam, Yunnan and Vietnam
The various French expeditions, carried out by a score of prominent researchers under the name Mission Pavie, not only compiled a wealth of new scientific and historical information and details on natural history they also drew up accurate maps for areas where no western mapping work had previously been undertaken. This atlas also contains a number of color plates, masterpieces of the art of the time that were incorporated in various research reports of the mission. Short descriptions place these in the context of the work of the Pavie Mission as documented in the other volumes in this series. However, this Atlas should be used together with Volume 1 of the series: Auguste Pavie, Pavie Mission Exploration Work. Laos, Cambodia, Siam, Yunnan & Vietnam.

Stuart-Fox, Martin; Buddhist Kingdom Marxist State
This book examines the history and politics of modern Laos from its establishment as a French colony in the late 19th century to the communist state it is today. While the first three chapters outline the struggle between France and Thailand for control over the territory of the present Lao state, the period of French administration, and the Kingdom of Laos from 1946 to 1975, the focus primarily is on the Lao People’s Democratic Republic during the first two decades of its existence. Themes taken up include the leadership of the Lao revolutionary movement, why the regime failed to carry through its policy of agricultural co-operativization, and its close relationship with Vietnam. Special attention is given to the transition from Buddhist kingdom to Marxist state, how the Lao communist hierarchy has attempted to legitimize its seizure and exercise of power, and how the Buddhist monastic order was reduced to a pliant instrument of the new regime. Also assessed are the errors and achievements of the Lao revolution, the politics of patronage in present-day Laos, and the effectiveness of Lao foreign policy. The last two chapters weigh up the role of the ruling Lao People’s Revolutionary Party and look to the future of Laos in the rapidly integrating region of mainland Southeast Asia.

Archaimbault, Charles; Course de Pirogues Au Laos: Un Complexe Culturel, La
Les courses de pirogues couvrent une aire géographique immense qui s’étend de la Chine à l’Insulinde. Au Laos, cette cérémonie présente des traits spécifiques selon les sous-cultures locales. Sous ces différences qui relèvent de facteurs historiques, l’auteur en se basant sur les textes, les croyances, les points de départ et d’arrivée des pirogues lors des compétitions, décèle une fonction commune: assurer au changement saisonnier la migration des génies ophidiens qui sont liés à la fécondité des rizières. Cette étude minutieuse qui débute par les courses de pirogues de Luong Prabang, se poursuit par les com¬pétitions de Vientiane et se termine sur celles de Basak, chefferie du Sud Laos dont l’auteur s’est appliqué à restituer tout l’arrière-plan religieux.

Schliesinger, Joachim; Ethnic Groups of Laos Vol. 1: Introduction and Overview
This contains reports of early French encounters with ethnic groups as well as more recent studies by professional anthropologists and linguists. The development of national classifications of ethnic groups by the Lao government is presented up to the latest census of 1995. All major ethnic groups are listed according to their languages. Finally, a short introduction to the history of the region as well as an overview of the environment, the agricultural economy, customs and practices of the diverse ethnic composition is outlined. Traditions and customs are portrayed by 169 color illustrations.

Schliesinger, Joachim; Ethnic Groups of Laos Vol. 2: Profile of Austro-Asiatic-Speaking Peoples
This volume outlines the 41 Mon-Khmer-speaking groups of Laos who belong to the Austro-Asiatic language family. The author describes the history, costumes and crafts, design of houses and villages, agricultural economy, society and religious practices of each individual group. The text is supported by 195 color illustrations.

Schliesinger, Joachim; Ethnic Groups of Laos Vol. 3: Profile of Austro-Thai-Speakin Peoples
This volume represents each of the 39 Tai-speaking as well as the two Miao-Yao-speaking and the single Austronesian-speaking groups in Laos. History, costumes and crafts, design of houses and villages, agricultural economy, society and religious practices of each individual group are described and 210 color illustrations are included.

Schliesinger, Joachim; Ethnic Groups of Laos Vol. 4: Sino-Tibetan-Speaking Peoples
This volume deals with each of the 10 Tibeto-Burma speaking as well as one Sinitic-speaking group. The text is accompanied by 127 color pictures and an ample bibliography is included.

Smyth, H. Warington; Exploring for Gemstones on the Upper Mekong
This is the account of a six-month journey from Bangkok to Luang Prabang and through Nong Khai and Korat. The author’s mission was to explore the regions opposite Chiang Khong, on the left bank of the Mekong, for deposits of rubies and sapphires, Smyth’s work was part of a wide assignment to produce an overall survey of the mineral deposits of the kingdom. His geological report is admirably supplemented by his observations on the environment and customs of the peoples he met on his journey. His love of ordinary people, the countryside and jungle life that was both his ordeal and his delight for so many months is demonstrated in the scores of sketches that illustrate the book. An extraordinarily detailed map of central and Northern Thailand considerably enhances the value of this book.

Meyers, Dean; French in Indo-China, The
At the time of its first publication in 1879, this was the first record in English of the French penetration into Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia which led to French colonization of the region. Making extensive use of first-hand accounts, the anonymous author provides the essence of the major exploratory travels of the time. Discussed are: Henri Mouhot’s pioneering 1860 account of his ascent of the middle and upper Mekong; Francis Garnier’s bold exploration of Cambodia, Laos, Tonkin and Yunnan and Dr. A. Morice’s peregrinations among the little-known towns of French Cochin-china.

Garnier, Francis; Further Travels in Laos and in Yunnan Vol. 2
This second volume contains the report of the Commission’s travels in Upper Laos and in Yunnan. It ended with the return of the Commission via China and reports on the dramatic Muslim uprising in Southern China. Several attempts to identify trade routes on the Mekong by the Commission’s most famous member, Francis Garnier, are also included in the report. An accompanying folded map is inserted in Vol. 1.

Akimichi, Tomoya; Illustrated Eco-History of Mekong River Basin, An
This is a broad-ranging study of the interactions transforming people’s livelihoods and their environment in a rapidly-developing yet ecologically diverse region. Encompassing scientific material on climate, health and habitat through to social studies on the large number of ethnic groups, the new findings presented here from specialists in a plurality of disciplines reflect the drastic changes of recent times, concomitant with various impulses toward modernization, economic globalization, and sixty years of rapid population growth. Local relationships with the environment have been incessantly restructured and transformed amidst these political and economic upheavals, revealing unique linkages between certain determinants of change. Over sixty international researchers collaborated bringing vitality and depth to the treatment of these complex issues. The book reveals an array of interesting and serious issues in the Mekong River basin, and serves as an indispensable guide to the historical ecology of the region.

Bassenne, Marthe; In Laos and Siam
This diary describes the adventures and observations of a French woman during a trip up the Mekong to Luang Prabang and back through Siam. At the end of 1909 the territorial situation in Indochina was largely consolidated and Marthe Bassenne’s book provides a first glimpse of the extent of the French efforts to open up the hinterland of Tonkin, Annam and Cochin-china. The Mekong and the Lao jungles were as wild and as deadly as ever and this trip to experience the New Year festivities in Luang Prabang is full of adventures with local people and wild nature. On the way back, through the northeastern Siamese provinces of Nongkhai, Uttaradit and Phitsanuloke the feelings of the indigenous people towards a French woman, are faithfully recorded. For, while this book is factually correct in its details, it is so much the richer for its emphasis on impressions and personal feelings of one of the rare woman travelers in this part of the Far East.

Izikowitz, Karl Gustav; Lamet: Hill Peasants in French Indochina
This classic account of fieldwork was written by a famous anthropologist in the late 1930s. Izikowitz studied this remote Mon-Khmer group living in northern Laos. The account of most aspects of this society and culture is outstanding in this comprehensive documentation of the Lamet’s relationship with their environment, shifting cultivation and its ritual aspects, and the use of wild forest produce. The monograph includes a discussion on kinship, which in the words of Rodney Needham was Karl Gustav Izikowitz’s “singular contribution to the comparative study of alliance and classification.”

Stuart-Fox, Martin; Lao Kingdom of Lan Xang: Rise and Decline
The book provides a narrative account of the great Lao kingdom that flourished in the middle Mekong region between the fourteenth and eighteenth centuries. After an introductory chapter on the prehistory of Laos and migration of the Tai-Lao peoples, the foundation of a unified Lao kingdom is examined in the context of contending powers in mainland Southeast Asia. Among the events described are the Vietnamese invasion of the fifteenth century and subsequent consolidation of the Lao kingdom, the Burmese invasions of the following century and the arrival in the early seventeenth century of the first Europeans to visit the Lao capital of Viang Chan (Vientiane). The author shows how the inland Lao kingdom was disadvantaged with respect to coastal trading states and how the unitary Lao kingdom broke into three contending principalities in the early eighteenth century. This opened the way for Siamese domination of the Lao world. The last Lao attempt to shake off Siamese hegemony by King Anuvong of Viang Chan in the Lao-Siamese war of 1827-28 is examined in some detail because of the significance of its impact on subsequent relations between the independent states of Laos and Thailand. The book ends with the French annexation of Lao territories east of the Mekong in 1893.

Kerr, Allen D.; Lao-English Dictionary
Originally published in 1972 by the Catholic University of America Press in two volumes. This is the second printing in one volume.

Harmand, F. J.; Laos and the Hilltribes of Indochina
A report of explorations undertaken in Laos and present-day Vietnam by one of the main architects of French expansion in Southeast Asia. For the first part of his explorations, Dr François Jules Harmand concentrated his journey of early 1877 on exploring the Boloven Plateau. His attention was focused especially on natural history and on the tribes living in this area. The second part of his exploration brought him to river valleys in Central Laos and the country of the Pou Thay, the original stock of the Thais, with the objective of finding a route from Bassac on the Mekong to Hué on the Vietnamese coast. The value of his observations on nature, people and political relations is only surpassed by the intrinsic value of this account as an example of nineteenth century French colonialists at work.

Fleeson, Katherine Neville; Laos Folklore of Northern Siam
This book was originally published in 1899 when the northern and northeastern parts of present-day Thailand were still called Laos. This changed when Prince Damrong created the Thai nation state as well as a Thai identity. Hence, the French were only able to lay claim to the territory on the left bank of the Mekong. These folktales were part of the oral cultural tradition before the author, a missionary, undertook to preserve this cultural heritage, by recording many aspects of rural life in northern Siam.

Lemire, Charles; Laos in 1893
This compelling study by bureaucrat, explorer, traveler, art collector, and guidebook writer, Charles Lemire (1839-1912), offers a highly colored portrait-in-miniature of late-Nineteenth-Century French Indochina vividly documenting the intense Siamese (Thai) and French rivalry in this region. A robust colonialist, Lemire is chary of Thai expansionism and fearful about England’s economic and territorial ambitions in Southeast Asia. Deeply, and even relentlessly a man of his time, Lemire observes this terrain with a jealous and skilled eye, eagerly attempting to engage his far-distant compatriots’ interest in a region he knew well. Polemical to a fault and riven with the contradictions of the colonialist enterprise, this snapshot of the late 1890s, will be of considerable interest to the reader of today. Original maps showing Thai military outposts and supplementary ethnographic illustrations enrich the text. (With an Introduction by Eisel Mazard.)

Renaud, Jean; Laos in the 1920s: The Gods, Monks and Mountains of Laos
The book presents data and a number of unique photographs in a near-pamphlet published in 1930 to attract investors and tourists to the fledgling French colony of Laos. The book also includes an assessment of development work done there and challenges for the future by staunch colonialist Pierre Deloncle. Especially early mining successes are discussed as an example of successful private initiative. The book is based on the travels of novelist Jean Renaud, in the company of Albert Sarraut, another scholar of Laos and Indochina and on published sources. Special attention is given to various proposed access roads to link Laos with the rest of Indochina and to access the wealth of the Plain of Jars. Besides a number of polemic arguments in favor of the colony, there are some salient facts of its natural setting, history, geography and various highland tribes. The great importance and significance of religious superstitions and customary ceremonies are also discussed.

Foo Check Teck; Laos: "No Cola, Pepsi only"
This is a light-hearted yet serious view of Laos through the eyes of a Singaporean visiting Vientiane to impart the intricacies of finance to officials at the École Nationale de Politique. Cultural differences, teaching methods, culinary delights and the École Nationale de Politique are part of the journey of discovery, as are the smiling people—smiling despite their lack of affluence and personal comforts to which Singaporeans are used.

Pavie, Auguste; Mission Pavie Indo-Chine 1879-1895 Vol. 7 (French text)
A reprint of the French version of the Mission Pavie’s seventh volume. Extremely rare and politically the most notorious of the whole series, it contains the dealings of A. Pavie with the Chinese irregular Black Flags as well as Pavie’s unusual version of the gunboat incident at Paknam in 1893 and the skirmishes between Siamese soldiers and French political agents on the Mekong and on the borders of Thailand that led up to it. This volume was destroyed and is missing in most collections. This is a reprint of 300 copies only.

Chazee, Laurent; Mrabri in Laos: A World under the Canopy
This ethnological study presents the first published information on the Mrabri living in Laos collected during two years of preservation, development, and research activities. There are currently less than 400 living Mrabri distributed between northern Thailand and the Lao PDR. The Mrabri have been studied in Thailand since 1919, but on the Lao side of the border no research was conducted until 1999. As of now there are only 28 Mrabri alive in the Lao PDR, with 22 of them maintaining their nomadic way of life in the primary forest of Sayabury Province. For the Mrabri the most important values are freedom and peace in the forest, and food availability. In recent history, the main enemies were human factors such as military events and misunderstandings, floods, illnesses, accidents and tigers.

Marini, G. F. de; New and Interesting Description of the Lao Kingdom (1642-1648), A
This account was written by the Italian Jesuit G. F. de Marini based on several sources, the most important of which was his colleague G.M. Leria who worked in Laos from 1642 to 1648. It is one of the few very early accounts of that kingdom available. Originally recorded in Italian and published in 1663, the descriptive parts of the account were published in French in 1666. They appear here for the first time in English. The account deals with the considerable riches and power of the Lao kingdom during this period. It provides information, recorded through the eyes of a Jesuit, on the religion, customs, livelihood and natural qualities of the Lao people and on the much talked about splendor of the Court and religious ceremonies in Laos. With an introduction by Luigi Bressan.

Trankell, Ing-Britt; On the Road in Laos
This study was carried out in 1991 and focuses on socio-economic issues in connection with a Swedish road construction program. It demonstrates that road building in many respects has adverse social and economic effects on the rural population of the area. The questions it raises as to the beneficial effects of development aid for the common population of subsistence farmers may be relevant for issues in development anthropology in general. Swedish development aid to the Lao people’s Democratic Republic began in 1977 with cooperation in the forestry sector, and in 1987 the road transport sector was included in the Swedish aid program.

Izikowitz, Karl Gustave; Over the Misty Mountain
This work was first published in 1944 in Swedish and never before translated into English. Unfortunately, it has therefore remained an unknown work in most scholarly circles. This book preceded Izikowitz classic ethnographic work on the Lamet, a Mon-Khmer speaking people in Laos. Izikowitz, a keen observer, traveled in the late 1930s and studied the various tribal groups on his way to the Lamet and back. He recorded their customs, belief systems, ceremonies, relationships as well as their agriculture, which is partly based on slash and burn cultivation. This more general work is rich in details, for example on the French administrative system in those remote areas. The work is enriched by 138 period photographs.

Pavie, Auguste; Pavie Mission Exploration Work, Pavie 1 Laos, Cambodia, Siam Yunnan, and Vietnam
Volume 1 is written by Auguste Pavie himself and provides an overview of exploration work done in Cambodia, Siam, Laos and Tonkin. French expeditions, carried out by a score of prominent researchers under the name Mission Pavie, not only compiled a wealth of new scientific and historical information and details of natural history and drew up maps especially of disputed border areas between Laos, Siam, Cambodia, Yunnan and Vietnam they also produced political results serving the pro-colonial faction in France. This book contains short descriptions of numerous journeys made in Cambodia, the Great Tonle-Sap Lake district between Siam and Cambodia, the Mekong in Cambodia, North Siam and its border areas with Laos, East Laos and its border areas with Tonkin, present-day Vietnam, and the Laotian areas bordering the middle part of Vietnam, then Annam. Together with a series of maps and itineraries published in Volume 2 of the series, Atlas of the Pavie Mission, that guide the reader through these still relatively remote areas, period photographs create an image of the adventurous world of nineteenth century Indochina.

Baird, Ian G. & Bruce Shoemaker; People, Livelihoods, and Development in the Xekong River Basin, Laos
This is a wide-ranging study that provides an overview of the area’s history and geography as well as the cultures and livelihood systems of the people living there. Central to the study is a detailed description of the acute social, cultural, economic and ecological challenges that locals are facing as a result of the rapid changes now taking place in the region. While these changes are being made in the name of “development”, in reality they often involve conflicts between outsiders and local communities over the use of the area’s natural resources. Taking a political ecology approach, the authors examine the complicated links between livelihoods and development. The book provides a sobering picture of the potential vulnerability and negative impact upon local cultures, livelihood systems and the natural environment if uncontrolled globalization and outside market forces continue to radically transform the Xekong River Basin.

Chazee, Laurant; Peoples of Laos: Rural and Ethnic Diversities
This book is the first comprehensive study conducted in Laos combining research on ethnic culture and indigenous values and the present socio-economic development. The 132 identified ethnic groups and sub-groups belong to the four linguistic families represented in Laos: Tai, Austroasiatic, Miao-Yao, and Sino-Tibetan. For each linguistic family, a detailed case study shows the ethno-linguistic specificity, as well as the institutional and socio-economic complexity. 132 maps give the geographic distribution of each group in Laos, while a large folded map shows the national linguistic and ethnic distribution pattern. For 56 ethnic groups and sub-groups, pictures cover people, habitat, agro-ecosystems, production systems and ethnic-related activities and handicrafts. This publication describes the peoples’ diversity in the rural areas of Laos during the period 1992-1999. Specifically, the research, based on inter-disciplinary and participatory approaches—historical, ethno-linguistic, institutional, religious and natural resource management diversities of the rural communities—was conducted for a better understanding of the values and organizations of the rural communities. This work contributes to a better knowledge of the indigenous values and systems of the ethnic groups, who are, or should be, the key partners and decision-makers in conceiving and implementing socio-economic development programs.

Gunn, Geoffrey C.; Political Struggles in Laos (1930-1954)
This is the first detailed history of the origins of communism, ethno-nationalism and nationalism in the former French colony. Communism first took root in Laos under Vietnamese auspices in 1930, the year Ho Chi Minh’s Indochinese Communist Party was founded. Anti-French nationalism under the Lao Issara banner subsequently emerged in the shadow of war and was greatly stimulated by the eclipse of French by Japanese power. As the French staged their bloody post-war restoration, the two tendencies in the anti-colonial struggle found common cause. But shunned by the international community in exile in the Thailand of Pridi Phanomyong, the Lao Issara withered. While seeking a guerilla rear-base in Vietnam, the Pathet Lao tendency found willing sponsorship from the Viet Minh in a trans-national relationship. At home the Pathet Lao went from strength to strength drawing upon age-old grievances of the minorities in the highlands. But it was not until the Geneva Conference on Indochina in 1954 that the Pathet Lao gained recognition in the Kingdom of Laos as legitimate actors in the nation’s political processes. In a preliminary chapter the author sketches the country’s pre-colonial and early colonial history while the political, military and diplomatic context surrounding the Pathet Lao triumph in 1975 is outlined in a concluding section.

Bizot, F. & F. Lagirarde; Purete Par Les Mots, La
«La pureté par les mots», ou Saddavimala, nous enseigne que la délivrance de l’adepte passé par la connaissance des syllabes du pali. La première partie du texte résume le processus mystique qui permet à l’homme de changer du nature, pour renaître dans le Dhamma. La seconde expose les raisons de cette nécessité du recours aux syllabes: il faut connaître l’alphabet et les règles de formation des mots, parce que les notions phonétiques qui s’y rattachent sons liées aux différents stades de la genèse du fidèle. La prononciation correcte des «voyelles brèves», des «voyelles longues», de la «nasale», des «syllabes sonores», des «syllabes sourdes», etc., engendre des production physiques et mentales pure, qui font entrer le fidèle en possession d’un corps immortel—compose des organes de la Doctrine—pour le conduire au ciel.

Gunn, Geoffrey C.; Rebellion in Laos
The book examines two interconnected themes. First, the incorporation of Laos into a colonial-capitalist system of surplus accumulation; and, second, the rebellious and non-rebellious responses of the majority and, particularly, the minority peasantry of that country to the fundamental changes in their moral, social, political and economic order. Both areas of exploration are explained with reference to the general phenomenon of world-historical expansion.

Nakhonkham Bouphanovong; Sixteen Years in the Land of Death
This is the account of the life of Nakhonkham Boupanouvong, a Lao man who survived incarceration from 1975 to 1991 in the communist run reeducation camps located in the province of Huaphan. During that time he suffered through hard labor, torture and near starvation along with many other high-ranking Royal Lao government and army officials, many of whom did not live to tell their own experience. Prior to his imprisonment Nakhonkham endured three decades of civil war in Laos. He left the capital city of Vientiane and his life as a student behind in 1945 to join the Nationalistic Lao Issara movement where he worked as a soldier, propagandist and writer through the 1950’s. Nakhonkham later witnessed the Lao Issara’s transformation in eastern Laos into a full-fledged communist revolution. Not convinced by the communist rhetoric, he left to join the Neutralist faction formed in the early 1960’s. With the Neutralist’s demise not long after its formation, Nakhonkham found it necessary to join the Royal Lao Government where he worked as an editor for several publications and eventually became a high-ranking police officer in Vientiane. Having come full circle, by 1975 Nakhonkham found himself on the losing side of the civil war and lived in Laos as a political prisoner until emigrating to the United States in 1992.

Gunn, Geoffrey C.; Theravadins, Colonialists and Commissars in Laos
This overview ranges across the history, sociology, politics and economy of this small landlocked kingdom turned People’s Republic. Theravadins stand for the majority Lao Loum Buddhist population. Commissars stand for the soldierbureaucrats who struggled to rebuild Laos in a communist mould. Colonialists stand as a metaphor for the French, and their American successors, who supported the kingdom in the long civil war against Cold War adversaries. Once a synonym for war and revolution, Laos today is a nation struggling to take its place in the prosperity of the ASEAN economies. However, the question of how the communist Pathet Lao movement triumphed against all adversity, remains unanswered. After the victory, the question arises of how successful the first generations of communist rulers have been in managing this country, even by their own standards? This book weaves together a number of threads in the endeavor to answer these and other questions. The book is divided in five parts: Facts and Theory; Anti-Colonial Stirrings; Civil War; Men who Make History; State, Nation and Army, and Problems of Development. An overview of recent research and suggestions for the way forward concludes the book. While the book forms a unity, the essays stand alone and may be read as parallel histories in their own right.

Bounleung Veunvilavong; Traditional Lao Patterns
One of the few professionally done publications from Laos, this book displays 140 pages of drawings of Lao designs. There are 56 lessons on the designs and on how to draw them. This book is of interest to artists and designers, especially those interested in comparisons with Thai designs. The book contains introductions in Lao and English.

Pavie, Auguste; Travel Reports of the Pavie Mission, Pavie 3 Vietnam, Laos, Yunnan, and Siam
This volume includes Auguste Pavie’s reports on his work in Upper Laos to the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, his vivid account of the destruction of Luang Prabang and parts of his diaries on the 1893 Paknam Gunboat Incident which was the pretext the French needed to detach the Laotian territories from Siam. An overview of exploration work and Pavie’s political dealings with the Black Flag irregulars in respect to their submission and the turning over of suzerainty to France is given. The ultimate goal—making a link suitable for use by traders between Hanoi and Luang-Prabang as well as other trade outlets on the Mekong—is also documented. Reports on Laos cover the areas inhabited by the Puan and various Thai, Meo, and Kha tribes as well as insights into the politics of local warlords and functionaries appointed by the various suzerains of these valleys which are today part of Burma, Laos, and Yunnan in southern China. Volume 2 of this series, Atlas of the Pavie Mission, contains maps accompanying these explorations and plates documenting the gunboat battle at Paknam in 1893.

Garnier, Francis; Travels in Cambodia and Part of Laos Vol. 1
This is the first part of The Mekong Exploration Commission Report (1866-1868), one of the most important expeditions sent to the Indo-China region to explore trade routes. The French expedition compiled a wealth of new information, drew maps, and produced a substantial number of engravings of Laos. It ended in Luang Prabang where the Commission stayed some months. While the original objective to ascertain that the Mekong River could be used as a trade route between Yunnan and the Delta was not achieved, the Commission’s political and socio-economic information was invaluable for France’s expansion in Indochina. A new map of Indochina as surveyed by the Commission is included in this book.

Malglaive, J. de & A. J. Riviere; Travels in Central Vietnam and Laos, Pavie 4
Written by two untiring French army explorers this volume provides an overview of exploration work done in the Central parts of Laos and Vietnam. The various itineraries cover the area between Luang Prabang and Bassac on the Mekong and Vinh and Hué on the Vietnamese coast. The maps produced by these professional topographers comprise important river valleys, the country of the Puan and the settlement areas of various primitive so-called Kha tribes of the plateaus and mountains covering the narrow strip of land between Siam (Thailand) and French Indochina. The explorations were carried out in the framework of the Mission Pavie and politically motivated. Together with a series of maps and itineraries published in Volume 2 of the series, Atlas of the Pavie Mission, that guide the reader through these still relatively remote areas, period photographs provide images of tribes long gone and primitive virgin landscapes thoroughly changed by development.

Cupet, J.; Travels in Laos and among the Tribes, Pavie 6 of Southeast Indochina
This book provides an overview of exploration work done in parts of Central Laos and on the borders of Laos with Cambodia and Vietnam, parts of French Indochina. The various itineraries in Laos cover the search for passages between the Mekong and the Vietnamese coast, the country of the Puan people and territories inhabited by tribes which were either under Vietnam’s or Siam’s sovereignty or called themselves independent. The book also documents lifestyles and customs of various Moi, Bahnar, Djiarai, Sedang, and other primitive tribes. Some of these forgotten ethnic groups had already been visited by French Catholic missionaries who contributed valuable ethnic data to the reports of the Pavie Mission. Volume 2 of this series, Atlas of the Pavie Mission, contains the maps accompanying these explorations.

Lefevre, E.; Travels in Laos: The Fate of the Sip Song Pana and Muong Sing (1894-1896)
Written by a member of the famous Pavie Mission, this book describes a dramatic episode in the tale of French conquests in Indochina. The rivalry of British imperialism and French colonial activists, mostly operating from their Indochinese base in Saigon, reached its culmination when the Asian possessions of the superpowers met in Upper Laos. Several small states that had been able to preserve their relative independence by paying tribute to virtually all regional powers, were finally caught up in the endgame of colonial expansion. France was to be the victor this time and formerly neutral states such as Muong Sing, the Hua Pan Tang Ha Tang Hoc, the Sip Song Chu Tai and the Sip Song Pana, with their semi-independent rulers, were to disappear to become present-day Laos and part of Vietnam. The story unfolds amidst the wild landscapes and fertile valleys of Upper Laos where, for centuries, different peoples, all with their particular customs, dress and languages, had fought each other for control of the land and the trade routes. The mission and Dr Lefèvre spared no effort to travel the country back and forth until, finally, a Franco-British agreement settled the border and also the fate of the peoples. Accompanying maps of the itineraries can be found in the Atlas of the Pavie Mission.

Lefevre-Pontalis, Pierre; Travels in Upper Laos and on the Borders, Pavie 5 of Yunnan and Burma
The report provides an overview of exploration work done in the upper part of Laos and on the borders of Laos and Vietnam, as parts of French Indochina, and of British Burma and China. The various itineraries in Upper Laos cover western areas bordering the British, Chinese and Siamese possessions and constitute a preparation for a definitive settlement with the governments of British Burma and of Yunnan. The maps produced by these professional topographers comprise important areas along the Mekong not yet surveyed until then, the roads towards Siam from Yunnan and Muong Sing and, in general, the Sip Song Pahn Na dependencies of Siam. The book also documents villages of various primitive Kha tribes and mixtures of various races living in this area covered with the mule trails of traders. Volume 2 of this series, Atlas of the Pavie Mission, contains the maps accompanying these explorations.

Neis, P.; Travels in Upper Laos and Siam, with an Account of the Chinese Haw Invasion and Puan Resistance
A report of an exploration undertaken in 1882 in Upper Laos and the border areas between British Burma, China, Vietnam and Siam by Dr Neis under the auspices of the French Minister of Public Education. Searching for knowledge about the local tribes and a commercially viable trade route from the Mekong valley to Annam or Tonkin (present-day Vietnam), Dr Neis met the Puan people fleeing from armed Chinese Haw bandits who had destroyed the Puan kingdom and threatened to invade large parts of the valleys that are the Laotian tributaries to the Mekong. Dr Neis found himself in dire straits, fleeing in turn from the approaching Haw and eventually returning to Luang Prabang. He explored the Nam Ou valley in Central Laos and described the local customs. From Luang Prabang, he undertook the exploration of the Siamese vassal states in the present-day Golden Triangle, and, besides the flourishing opium trade, also found the British traders doing well. Descending through Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai, he provided a prophetic picture of expanding British interests and of the struggle between the local northern vassals and residents sent by the Bangkok government of King Chulalongkorn.

Carne, Louis de; Travels on the Mekong: Cambodia, Laos and Yunnan
This is a report of the most famous expedition in Indochina, i.e., the exploration of the Mekong as a trade route and as a route to build political influence in Indochina. This French official mission toiled under duress for two years, losing its commander on the way, and accomplished, for the first time, a systematic description of the great river and its surrounding peoples and natural resources. Louis de Carné was the representative of the French Minister of Foreign Affairs and in charge of writing the trade and political report on the findings of the Commission. Illustrated with original sketches, many of which were made by L. Delaporte, another member of the mission, this book is essential reading for all those who seek to understand the background of today’s geo-political changes and the new attempts to tap the rich sources of the river, its tributary valleys, and its peoples.