More Studies of Laos

More Studies of Laos

Laos is an inland country located in southeastern Asia bordering Myanmar, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia , and China. The official language is Lao, and a vast majority of the residents in Laos practice Buddhism. This country has approximately seven million people within it, and almost forty percent of the population is urbanized.

Citizenship in Laos is received by having a parent that is already a citizen of Laos, unlike the United States where citizenship is automatically granted if the child given birth with the territory. Citizenship can also be obtained through naturalization, where a person must renounce other citizenships and learn the customs and literature of Laos.

Laos gained independence from France in 1954, and shortly after, they were involved in the Laotian Civil War and the Vietnam War.

In the time span of 1964 to 1973, the United States dropped over two million tons of ordnance on Laos, which made Laos the most heavily bombed country in the world (legaciesofwar.org). These incidents happened to fight against the Pathet Lao, a communist party in Laos that was created in 1950 and eventually assumed political power 25 years later at the end of the Laotian Civil War. Almost a third of the bombs that dropped did not detonate and are still scattered throughout Laos, and people still fall victim to these unseen bombs. People such as Senator Leahy are still pushing Congress to fund more money into the clean-up of all the ordnances. Due to these ordnances, Laos has a hinderance of building schools and factories and farming for agriculture. Five hundred eighty thousand bombings occurred in this nine year period, which is more than the bombings used on Germany and Japan combined in World War Two. 80,000 of those did not detonate, and only a low one percent was actually cleared.

The people

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