Fa Ngum Founds the Kingdom of a Million Elephants

Traditionally dated to 1353 (some accounts place his coronation in 1354), the prince Fa Ngum became ruler of a newly unified realm along the Mekong River, establishing the kingdom of Lan Xang Hom Khao, or the Land of a Million Elephants and the White Parasol. Traditional chronicles record that Fa Ngum was born into the ruling line of Muang Sua, an established northern valley principality. Exiled in his youth, he took refuge at the Khmer court at Angkor, where he married a daughter of the Khmer king and received command of an army of about 10,000 men. Modern scholars note that these accounts reflect both historical alliances and legendary traditions, as the waning Khmer Empire sought to foster a friendly buffer realm in the interior valleys of mainland Southeast Asia.

Armed with his Khmer-supplied force, Fa Ngum, according to the chronicles, began a sweeping northward campaign along the middle Mekong. Beginning in the southern district around Champasak, his army subdued local settlements through modern Thakek before turning inland toward the Xiangkhoang Plateau and the ancient megalithic landscape of the Plain of Jars. There, the Tai principality of Muang Phuan came under his rule. The chronicles say a border agreement followed with the ruler of Annam, recognizing the Annamite Range as a boundary between the two realms.