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Plain of Jars

(Encyclopedia)Plain of Jars, region, N Laos, at the northern end of the Annamese Cordillera. Over 300 carved stone jars, c.1,500 to 2,000 years old, are scattered across its landscape. Averaging 272 lbs (600 kg), t...

French Union

(Encyclopedia)French Union, 1946–58, political entity established by the French constitution of 1946. It comprised metropolitan France (the 90 departments of continental France and Corsica); French overseas depar...

Annamese Cordillera

(Encyclopedia)Annamese Cordillera änˌnämēzˈ kôrˌdĭlyârˈə [key], Fr. Chaîne Annamitique, principal mountain range of mainland Southeast Asia, extending c.700 mi (1,130 km) from N central Laos SE to S cen...

Far East

(Encyclopedia)Far East, in the most restricted sense, region comprising the countries of E Asia, namely China, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Mongolia, and Taiwan, and the easternmost portion of Russian Siberia (...

Khmer Empire

(Encyclopedia)Khmer Empire kəmĕrˈ [key], ancient kingdom of SE Asia. In the 6th cent. the Cambodians, or Khmers, established an empire roughly corresponding to modern Cambodia and Laos. Divided during the 8th ce...

Pathet Lao

(Encyclopedia)Pathet Lao pätˈət lou [key], left-wing nationalist group that was ultimately victorious in the Laotian civil war that began in the mid-1950s. The name was first used in 1950 by Lao forces after the...

Southeast Asia

(Encyclopedia)Southeast Asia, region of Asia (1990 est. pop. 442,500,000), c.1,740,000 sq mi (4,506,600 sq km), bounded roughly by the Indian subcontinent on the west, China on the north, and the Pacific Ocean on t...

Association of Southeast Asian Nations

(Encyclopedia)Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), organization established by the Bangkok Declaration (1967), linking the nations of Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. Subsequent...

Southeast Asia Treaty Organization

(Encyclopedia)Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO), alliance organized (1954) under the Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty by representatives of Australia, France, Great Britain, New Zealand, Pakistan, ...

Garnier, Marie Joseph François

(Encyclopedia)Garnier, Marie Joseph François gärnyāˈ [key], 1839–73, French explorer and naval officer, usually known as Francis Garnier. He served (1860–62) against Annam and China, then in the administra...

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