Muang Phuan

Muang Phuan was a principality on the Xieng Khouang plateau in the mountains of northeastern Laos. Its capital, also called Xieng Khouang, stood among high valleys near the Plain of Jars, where ancient stone vessels testify to an older past. The Phuan people formed a distinct community in a region traversed by routes between the Mekong country and Vietnam.

By the late thirteenth century the principality had emerged as a centre of overland trade in metals and forest products. In later centuries its rulers navigated the competing demands of Lan Xang and neighbouring powers. Warfare between Siam and the Lao kingdoms brought profound upheaval. After Anouvong's rebellion, many Phuan were forcibly moved westward; further deportations followed between 1834 and 1837, dispersing communities far from their mountain homeland.