ABSTRACT
Bordered by China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Myanmar, the People’s Democratic Republic of Laos (the Lao PDR) is comprised of mountainous regions, lowlands and a vast river network, including the mighty Mekong. Its modern history has been relatively turbulent: since the early nineteenth century it has been at war with nearly all of its neighbors, been colonized by the French, and due to its geography, became entangled in the Second Indochina, or American War (the Vietnam War) during the 1960s and 1970s. Nevertheless, Laos retains an extraordinary natural and cultural heritage, much of which has been subject to heritage protection measures only since the early 1990s.
