ABSTRACT
In polyethnic Laos some sixty-five ethnic groups have been identified, at various stages of social, economic and cultural development. The main feature of the human demography of Laos, is the vertical pattern of ethnic distribution. In general, the minority tribal people live at higher altitudes than the majority Lao. Lao history proper begins with the formation of the Kingdom of Lan Xang in 1353 and the statist orientation of that kingdom set the pattern of Lao Loum Theravada Buddhist hegemony at the center over the marginalized and the peripheralized minorities — the tribal and largely non-lndianized Lao Tai and the indigenous proto-Indochinese Lao Theung or Kha. As in the nineteenth century Thailand, slaves in Laos originated from both outside and inside their respective social formations. Typically, those from outside originated from other states or were drawn from the proto-Indochinese population. Indeed, the pejorative appellation "Kha" means "slave" in Thai-Lao versus "Thai" which means "free".
