LAOS

LAOS / ລາວ (French Union).

First definitive issue.
Mekong River.
First stamp in a set of 6. issued on 13.11.1951.
Face value: 0.10 French Indochinese piastre.
Printing: Recess.

Catalogues
- Michel No. 1.
- Scott No. 1.
- StampWorld No. 1.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 1.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 1.

In 1893, the three territories of the former kingdom of Lang Xang (Luang Prabang, Vientiane, and Champasak) came under a French protectorate and were united to form what is now known as Laos. After a brief Japanese occupation during World War II, the country declared its independence in 1945, but the French reasserted their control and only in 1950 did Laos gain semi-autonomy as an "associated state" within the French Union. The definitive independence of the country was declared on December 2, 1975, after a bloody war. This stamp belongs to the first issue of Laos as part of the French Union.

The Mekong River is the longest in Southeast Asia, its estimated length is 4,350 km (2,730 mi) and flows through the lands of China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, countries in which it receives different names. Its sources are in the Himalayas, and it runs from north to south to its mouth in the South China Sea. Along the river are important cities, such as Luang Prabang and Vientiane, in Laos, and Phnom Penh, in Cambodia. In Laos it marks a large part of the borders with Myanmar and Thailand.