Stamps of Laos

The Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in southeast Asia. Laos traces its history to the Kingdom of Lan Xang or Land of a Million Elephants, which existed from the fourteenth to the eighteenth century. After a period as a French protectorate, it gained independence in 1949. A long civil war ended officially when the communist Pathet Lao movement came to power in 1975, but the protesting between factions continued for several years. In the Lao language, the country's name is "Meuang Lao".