2760 LAOS - Laotian staff at the Colonial Exhibition in Marseille in 1906

2760 Alfred Raquez and staff of Laotian section
at the Colonial Exhibition in Marseille in 1906

In the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century in many European countries (but also in the United States, Australia, South Africa etc.) were organized colonial exhibitions, intended to show the people of the Metropolis the different facets of the colonies. They gave rise to dramatic reconstructions of natural environments and monuments of Africa, Asia or Oceania. In that period the colonial empire of France was the second, behind that of the Brittish Empire.

0778 LAOS - Lao Sung, the highland Lao

A true mosaic of ethnic groups, Laos has, according to Lao Front for National Construction (LFNC), 49 ethnicities consisting of over 160 ethnic groups, which speak a total of 82 distinct living languages, divided into four language groups: the Tai-Kadai family (55%), the Austro-Asiatic family (30%), the Mia-Yao family (10%), and the Sino-Tibetan family (5%). Actually a complete classification of all ethnic groups has never been undertaken in Laos, and detailed ethnographic information about many groups is lacking, so the government divided the people into three groups according to the altitude at which they live, rather than according to ethnic origin: the lowland Lao (Lao Loum) account for 68%, upland Lao (Lao Theung) for 22%, and the highland Lao (Lao Sung, including the Hmong and the Yao) for 9%.

0629 LAOS (Luang Prabang) - Nang Songkran at Luang Prabang

Songkran refer to the celebration of the New Year by the people from Myanmar, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia, but also by the some minorities of Vietnam, Yunnan province of China, Sri Lanka and eastern of India, when the sun transits the constellation of Aries, the first astrological sign in the Zodiac. In Laos is also named Pii Mai, and lasts generally for three days, from April 13 to April 15, with few exceptions, like Luang Prabang, where lasts a week. The first day is the last day of the old year, the second is the "day of no day", and the last one marks the start of the new year.