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Grand Luang Prabang
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The premier destination in Luang Prabang, with its own style and identity. The hotel comprises...
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Laos: Search for areas
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Luang Prabang
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Description
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Luang Prabang, or Louangphrabang was formerly the capital of a kingdom of the same name. The city of Luang Prabang is located in north central Laos, on the Mekong River about 425 km north of Vientiane
Until the communist takeover in 1975, it was the "royal capital," the seat of the king of Laos. Today it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Muang Sua was the old name of Luang Prabang following its conquest in 698 A.D. by a Tai prince, Khun Lo, who seized his opportunity when Nan-chao was engaged elsewhere. Khun Lo had been awarded the town by his father, Khun Borom, who is associated with the Lao legend of the creation of the world, which the Lao share with the Shan and other peoples of the region. Khun Lo established a dynasty whose fifteen rulers reigned over an independent Muang Sua for the better part of a century.
In the second half of the 8th century, Nan-chao intervened frequently in the affairs of the principalities of the middle Mekong Valley, resulting in the occupation of Muang Sua in 709. Nan-chao princes or administrators replaced the aristocracy of Tai overlords. Dates of the occupation are not known, but it probably ended well before the northward expansion of the Khmer empire under Indravarman I (r. 877-89) and extended as far as the territories of Sipsong Panna on the upper Mekong.
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