Far East Kingdoms

Muong Sua / Sri Sattanak (Thais) (Laos)
AD 698 - 1353

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The first historical records to concern Thais in South-East Asia date to the eleventh century AD. These people of Early Thailand were known as 'Syāṃ', with them being described as slaves of the powerful Cham people who could count Champa as their greatest state-building achievement.

From the twelfth century onwards Thais expanded outwards, predominantly southwards, where they defeated the Mons of Dvāravatī and reached the Malay-Thai peninsula. State-building swiftly followed to create a patchwork of kingdoms which eventually would form modern Thailand.

The principality of Muong Sua (or Muong Swa) was established by Thai settlers in the late seventh century AD (and is now the city of Louangphrabang in Laos). However, this Thai influx into what is now Laos served to displace or subjugate several aboriginal groups which were already in place there.

The Hmong people were the later form for these aboriginal natives. According to the Hmong themselves, their earliest records date back to 2700 BC in the legendary period in China, with a claim of origination in central Early China. With the expansion of the Han, the Hmong were driven into southern China.

Genetic evidence, however, indicates that it is more likely that their homeland was already there in southern China. The greater number of Hmong migrated from southern China into the highlands of Laos, Vietnam, and Thailand in the nineteenth century AD.

As for the state of Muong Sua, this was ruled by various Thai leaders and was woven into early Laotian legend and myth. According to legend, the king of heaven was Khoun Borom (or Khun Borom). He sent his son, Khoun Lo, to rule the 'Celestial Kingdom'. Khoun Lo created the Lao people and founded the state of Muong Sua.

This small state was a vassal to several larger states at various points in its history, with those overlords including Nanzhao, the Khmer empire, and Sukhothai. At some point, and for an unknown period of time it seems also to have been known as Sri Sattanak. Evolving out of Muong Sua, the first Laotian state was the powerful kingdom of Lan Xang, which flourished between the thirteenth and eighteenth centuries AD.

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(Information by Peter Kessler and John De Cleene, with additional information from the John De Cleene Archive, from A History of Thailand, Chris Baker & Pasuk Phongpaichit (2005), from Southeast Asia: A Historical Encyclopaedia, from Angkor Wat to East Timor, Keat Gin Ooi (ABC-Clio, 2004), from Early Mainland Southeast Asia, C Higham (River Books Co, 2014), from Encyclopaedia of Ancient Asian Civilizations, Charles F W Higham (Facts on File, 2004), from Historical Atlas of the World, R R Palmer (Ed, Chicago, 1963), from Kingdoms of Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, Gene Gurney (New York, 1986), from Times Atlas of World History (Maplewood, 1979), from The Birth of Vietnam, Keith Weller Taylor (Berkeley, 1983), and from External Links: The Indianized States of Southeast Asia, George Coedès (Walter F Vella (Ed), Susan Brown Cowing (Trans), University of Hawaii Press, 1968, and available online via the Internet Archive), and Hmong (Encyclopaedia Britannica), and A Contribution to the Study of Hmong (Miao) Migrations and History, Christian Culas & Jean Micraud (Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde, Deel 153, 2de Afl, 1997, and available via JSTOR).)

AD 698 - 709?

Legendary son of the king of Heaven. Early Thai?

c.700s?

Legend states that the king of heaven, Khoun Borom, sends his son, Khoun Lo, to rule the 'Celestial Kingdom'. Khoun Lo creates the Lao people and founds a state in what is now southern Laos. More prosaically, Thai Prince Khoun Lo seizes his opportunity to secure the town of Muang Sua when the ruler of Nanzhao is engaged elsewhere, having been awarded it by his father, Khoun Borom.

The original settlement of Muang Sua in what is now the northern part of Laos was an important centre of trade and culture but was abandoned and even its location eventually became lost to history

Khoun Lo later divides his state between his seven sons, creating Chiang Hung, Chiang Mai, Chiang Saen, Muang Houm, Muong Sua, Pak Beng, and Pak Ou. The legend states that there are twenty-three successors in Muong Sua (most of whom are not related). That period should cover perhaps half a millennium.

709

Nanzhao does not take long to reoccupy Muang Sua. It is developing a habit of intervening frequently in the affairs of principalities along the middle Mekong valley, Muang Sua included, which results in a short period of Nanzhao dominance.

How long it lasts is unknown (it certainly ends when Khmer dominance begins) but Nanzhao's princes or administrators seemingly replace the Thai ruling aristocracy.

709 - ?

Unnamed Nanzhao prince or administrator.

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Unnamed Nanzhao prince or administrator.

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Unnamed Nanzhao prince or administrator.

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Unnamed Nanzhao prince or administrator.

800 - 802

Jayavarman II arrives in Lower Chen-La from Java in AD 800 and finds the country in disarray, without a king, and broken into petty principalities. He establishes himself in Indrapura (or Amarendrapura), whose site is not precisely known.

Between about 802-809 Jayavarman II of Lower Chen-La unified the region, shrugged off his overlords on Sumatra, and established his capital at Harlharalaya (shown here) to found the beginnings of the Khmer empire

He begins as a vassal of the Sumatran state of Sri Vijaya. In 802, he asserts his independence, unites Upper Chen-La and Lower Chen-La and other rival fiefdoms and, on the plain near the site of the future Angkor, he builds his Khmer capital of Harlharalaya and revives the Devaraja (god-king) Hindu cult.

He is declared the universal monarch, chakravartin ('supreme king of kings') on the Kulen Hills. He brings under his rule much of what is now Cambodia, southern Thailand, southern Laos (including Muong Sua), and much of south-western Vietnam. Chen-La, however, appears to survive as a separate entity until at least 809.

?

Unnamed Nanzhao prince or administrator?

? - 850?

Unnamed Nanzhao prince or administrator.

?

Unnamed administrator for Khmer empire?

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Unnamed administrator for Khmer empire?

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Unnamed administrator for Khmer empire?

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Unnamed administrator for Khmer empire?

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Unnamed administrator for Khmer empire?

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Unnamed administrator for Khmer empire?

1070 - ?

Ruler of small Xayfong settlement. Accepted into Muong Sua.

?

Name unknown.

1128 - 1169

Also ruled Ngoenyang.

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Name unknown.

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Name unknown.

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Name unknown.

?

Pushed aside by Panya Lang?

c.1238

The Khmer empire has for some time governed an extensive set of territories, with this including Thai people to the west of the empire's heartland. The Khmer ruler now awards Pha Mưang, the Thai chief of Mưang Rat, the title of 'Kamrateng An' Śri Indrapatīndrātidya'.

This relief from a wall at Angkor Wat depicts a Khmer battle scene, with temple wall decorations standing amongst the greatest expressions of Khmer artwork

He marries a Khmer princess but soon rebels to form his own state by the name of Sukhothai. This quickly expands to incorporate Muong Sua as a vassal.

?

Founded a new, independent dynasty.

1259

A Thai/Lao kingdom of the late thirteenth century AD is Lan Na (founded in 1259), which is built on the ruins of the Mon kingdom of Haripunjaya. Mengrai, the final prince at Ngoenyang, founds the kingdom and the Mangrāi dynasty, and Ngoenyang becomes its first capital.

fl 1280s

Son. Ally of Sukhothai.

1286 - 1297

During his reign Ramkhamhaeng of Sukhothai begins acknowledging Mongol overlordship. This status of subservience to the Yuan lives on until the kingdom's very end.

Initial Mongol interest in Dai Viet seemed purely designed to be able to use it as a conduit for troops to outflank the Southern Song, but following their fall in 1279, invasion and permanent occupation was on the cards

Phraya Kamphong, ruler of Muong Sua, allies himself to Ramkhamhaeng between 1286-1297 who, in turn, is doing the bidding of the Mongols. Together they finish driving the Khmer out of what today is central Laos. In their enthusiasm Lao troops even invade Dai Viet whilst it is fending off repeated Mongol invasions, albeit unsuccessfully.

1295 - c.1318

The date of death of Ramkhamhaeng of Sukhothai is unknown. The date could fall anywhere between 1295 and 1318, his death, though, leaves Muong Sua pretty much independent of outside control. One of its major acts is to subjugate Muong Phuan by 1312.

?

Son. Unable to defeat his invading nephew. Suicided.

1352

Fa Ngoun invades Muong Sua with the military support of the Khmer. His conquest of the state which forms his birthplace takes two years in total but he claims control soon after his initial arrival. The other six small states to be created by Khoun Lo are also conquered: Chiang Hung, Chiang Mai, Chiang Saen, Muang Houm, Pak Beng, and Pak Ou.

A good deal of information about the state of Sukhothai under the rule of Rama 'the Great' is contained on an inscribed stone stele which was discovered at the Wat Mahathat temple in Sukhothai Historical Park

1352 - 1353

Nephew. Final ruler of Muong Sua. Founded Lan Xang.

1353

Fa Ngoun, the twenty-third successor to Khoun Lo, unites Khoun Lo's seven small states to form the kingdom of Lan Xang. This event forms the beginning of recorded Lao history, with the city of Muong Sua only being relocated and renamed in 1563 to Luang Prabang in what is now Laos.