Xiangkhouang

Xiangkhouang (Lao: ຊຽງຂວາງ, meaning 'Horizontal City') is a province of Laos on the Xiangkhoang Plateau, in the nation's northeast. The province has the distinction of being the most heavily bombed place on Earth. The province was originally known as the Principality of Muang Phuan (Muang Phouan / Xieng Khouang). Its present capital is Phonsavan. The population of the province as of the 2015 census was 244,684. Xiangkhouang province covers an area of and is mountainous. Apart from floodplains, the largest area of level land in the country is on the province's Xiangkhoang Plateau. The plateau is characterized by rolling hills and grassland whose elevation averages . The country's highest peak, Phou Bia (), rises at the south side of the plateau. Nam Et-Phou Louey is a National Biodiversity Conservation Area (NBCA) in the province, covering an area of 5,959 km2, and overlaps into Houaphanh and Luang Prabang provinces. The province's Plain of Jars was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2019. While the origin of the Plain of Jars' people is unknown, the recorded history of Xiangkhouang is interlinked with the Tai Phuan. As an ancient civilization, its prehistory is linked to the enigmatic megalithic stone jars of the Plain of Jars (with prehistoric material dating back to 2000 BCE, with an Iron Age period of 500 BCE and 500–800 CE period dominating the archaeological finds) representing burial grounds. The Tai Phuan or Phuan people are a Buddhist Tai-Lao ethnic group that migrated to Laos from southern China and by the 13th century had formed the independent principality Muang Phuan on the Plain of Jars with Xieng Khouang (the contemporary Muang Khoun) as its capital. They prospered from the overland trade in metals and forest products with India and China. In the mid-14th century, Muang Phuan was incorporated into the Lan Xang Kingdom under King Fa Ngum. The Xieng Khouang Plateau was the center of trade for a large area of upland Southeast Asia, extending to Vietnam, Samrong Sen in Cambodia, the Khorat Plateau in northeast Thailand, Da Nang, and the North Cachar Hills of northeastern India.