The chain of limestone and forest between the left-bank Mekong plain (Thakhek, Savannakhet) and the passes down to Nghe An and Quang Binh, held by hill villages of Mon-Khmer and Tai speakers in the modern terms.
It is the other end of the road that Vietnamese chronicles describe as the way of raiders from the west in the 12th century (the Vietnamese notice of 1135 of a Zhenla attack on Nghe An, English Wikipedia, Vientiane); no source names a chief. It is entered as a self-governing country. Modern ethnonyms are used with caution: the evidence for the hill peoples of 1200 is Chinese trade lists, Cham and Khmer stelae naming forest products, Vietnamese notices of campaigns and ethnography of later centuries.
Who holds it
- Title
- Headmen of the hill villages (no name known)
- Since
- not known
- Born
- not known
- Family
- not known
- Confidence
- low
No source we read names a people or a ruler for the central Annamite uplands on the Lao side in 1200; Vietnamese notices speak of Ai Lao beyond the Nghe An passes (from memory, not re-read).
Overlord
None attested.
What it holds
- Hill villages, forest and limestone valleys
- The passes to Nghe An
How things stand that morning
Unrecorded.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: Geography and a Vietnamese notice read through Wikipedia.
On the map: A block over the uplands; the Vietnamese side is the Vietnam and Champa researcher's.
Sources and studies
- English Wikipedia, Vientiane
- OMNIA board notes for the Khmer and Lao area (a lead, not a source)
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.