Q 01/05

What is the capital and most populous city of Laos?

A) Luang Prabang

B) Savannakhet

C) Vientiane

D) Pakse

Answer · why

C) Vientiane

It sits on the Mekong close to the Thai border and had 840,000 people at the 2023 census.

Q 02/05

Laos holds what distinction among the countries of Southeast Asia?

A) The largest by area

B) The only monarchy

C) The most populous

D) The only landlocked one

Answer · why

D) The only landlocked one

It borders Myanmar, China, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand but has no coastline.

Q 03/05

Who added the final "s" to the name Laos, in 1893?

A) French colonial administrators

B) British mapmakers

C) Siamese chroniclers

D) Portuguese missionaries

Answer · why

A) French colonial administrators

It pluralised the name across the three former kingdoms of Luang Prabang, Vientiane and Champasak.

Q 04/05

What does the name of the historic Lao kingdom Lan Xang mean?

A) A million elephants

B) Kingdom of the rivers

C) Country of a thousand hills

D) Land of the golden Buddha

Answer · why

A) A million elephants

Prince Fa Ngum founded it in 1353 with 10,000 Khmer troops and made Theravada Buddhism the state religion.

Q 05/05

In which year did Lan Xang split into three kingdoms, including Luang Prabang and Champasak?

A) 1690

B) 1707

C) 1548

D) 1637

Answer · why

B) 1707

The three were reunited only under French rule in 1893.