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Fa Ngum

Type Figure Region Southeast Asia Time c. 1316–1393 Also known as Fa Hom、Founder-king of Lan Xang

Fa Ngum (c. 1316–c. 1393) founded Lan Xang; exiled in Angkor as a youth, he returned c.…

Timeline

  1. c. 1316–1349Angkor · CambodiaBorn in Muang Sua (near present-day Luang Prabang), his father Phi Fa was convicted and exiled; Fa Ngum accompanied him to the Khmer capital Angkor, was educated at the Khmer court, and married Khmer princess Chao Kan Ya, preparing political and military resources for his later northern return with troops.
  2. c. 1350–1353Muang Sua · LaosFrom around 1350 he led Khmer forces north up the Mekong valley, gradually absorbing the muangs of the middle and upper reaches; in 1353 he took his ancestral Muang Sua, took the title of king, and established Lan Xang (Land of a Million Elephants and the White Parasol), with Xiang Dong Xiang Thong as political center.
  3. 1353–1371Luang Prabang · LaosDuring his reign he continued expanding toward Xiangkhouang and Vientiane, and made the Theravada Buddhism introduced from the Khmer the dynasty's ideology, enshrining sacred relics such as the Phra Bang Buddha to legitimize royal authority. By the 1370s the kingdom's position in the mainland Indochinese interior had taken shape.
  4. c. 1372–1393Nan · ThailandGrandees, dissatisfied with his constant warfare and harsh rule, deposed him around 1372–1373; the throne passed to his son Oun Heuan (Samsenthai). Fa Ngum was moved to the Muang Nan area, and tradition records his death in exile around 1393.

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