(lows, lah-ohs) Mountainous, landlocked republic in South Asia, bordered by Burma to the northwest, China to the northeast, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south, and T
…hailand to the west. Its capital and largest city is Vientiane. .
Part of French Indochina from 1893 to 1949, it was granted full sovereignty in 1954. .
Civil war among communist and noncommunist factions in the 1950s and 1960s attracted extensive covert aid from the Soviet Union , China, and the United States. .
During the Vietnam War , Vietnamese communists established the Ho Chin Min Trail through the remote mountains of Laos to channel troops and supplies from North Vietnam to South Vietnam. .
The communist Pathet Lao, with long-standing close ties to the Vietnamese communists, have been in power since 1975. (MORE) 
