Pakse (or ''Pakxe'';

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

: ''Paksé''; Laotian: ປາກເຊ 'mouth of the river') is the capital and most populous city of the southern Laotian province of Champasak. Located at the confluence of the Xe Don and

Mekong River The Mekong or Mekong River ( , ) is a transboundary river in East Asia and Southeast Asia. It is the world's List of rivers by length, twelfth-longest river and List of longest rivers of Asia, the third-longest in Asia with an estimated l ...

s, the district had a population of approximately 77,900 at the 2015 Laotian

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

History

The French established an administrative outpost in Pakse in 1905. The city was the capital of the Lao

Kingdom of Champasak The Kingdom of Champasak (Lao: ຈຳປາສັກ ɕàmpàːsák or Bassac, (1713–1904) was a Lao kingdom that emerged under King Nokasad, a grandson of King Sourigna Vongsa, the last king of Lan Xang. Bassac and the neighboring p ...

until 1946 when the

Kingdom of Laos The Kingdom of Laos was the form of government in Laos from 1947 to 1975. Located in Southeast Asia at the heart of the Indochinese Peninsula, it was bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, North Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the sou ...

was formed. After the

Franco-Thai war The Franco-Thai War (October 1940 – 28 January 1941, ; ) was fought between Thailand and Vichy France over certain areas of French Indochina. Negotiations shortly before World War II had shown that the French government was willing to alter th ...

the French ceded

Preah Vihear Province Preah Vihear (, UNGEGN: ''Preăh Vĭhar'', ALA-LC: ''Braḥ Vihār'' ; lit. 'sacred sanctuary') is a province (''khaet'') of Cambodia. It borders the provinces of Oddar Meanchey and Siem Reap to the west, Kampong Thom to the south and Stung Tr ...

, formerly belonging to the

French protectorate of Cambodia The French protectorate of Cambodia (; ) refers to the Kingdom of Cambodia when it was a French protectorate within French Indochina, a collection of Southeast Asian protectorates within the French colonial empire. The protectorate was establi ...

, and the part of Champasak Province located on the other side of the

Mekong The Mekong or Mekong River ( , ) is a transboundary river in East Asia and Southeast Asia. It is the world's twelfth-longest river and the third-longest in Asia with an estimated length of and a drainage area of , discharging of wat ...

river from Pakse, which had been part of

Laos Laos, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic (LPDR), is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by Myanmar and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the southeast, and Thailand to the west and ...

, to

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

Demographics

In 1943, 62% of the population of Pakse were Vietnamese.Stuart-Fox, Martin (1997).
A History of Laos
'. Cambridge University Press, p. 51. . Today, Pakse is a centre of the

Laotian Chinese The Laotian Chinese (, ) are Laotian citizens of Han Chinese ancestry. They constitute one of the many Overseas Chinese residing in Southeast Asia. At present, they constitute an estimated 1 to 2 percent of the Laotian population. The Laotian Chi ...

community, with a large number of businesses being owned by Laotians of Chinese ancestry.

Religion

The population is predominantly Buddhist and the city has temples. These include: Wat Luang, which was built in 1935 and is the largest temple in Pakse, and the Chinese temple Wat Sopsé.

Infrastructure

Health

There are 2 hospitals in the city.

Transportation

Pakse International Airport Pakse International Airport is one of the three international airports in Laos. Pakse is the former southern capital city of the Kingdom of Champasak. Facilities The airport has been in use since 1959 and re-opened after renovations in 2001. ...

construction was completed on 2 November 2009.

Climate

Pakse has a

tropical savanna climate Tropical savanna climate or tropical wet and dry climate is a tropical climate sub-type that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification categories ''Aw'' (for a dry "winter") and ''As'' (for a dry "summer"). The driest month has less than ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

''Aw''). Temperatures are higher in the months before the monsoon season (March–April). There is a

wet season The wet season (sometimes called the rainy season or monsoon season) is the time of year when most of a region's average annual rainfall occurs. Generally, the season lasts at least one month. The term ''green season'' is also sometimes used a ...

(April–October) and

dry season The dry season is a yearly period of low rainfall, especially in the tropics. The weather in the tropics is dominated by the tropical rain belt, which moves from the northern to the southern tropics and back over the course of the year. The t ...

(November–March).

Tourism

Visitors to Pakse's Champasak Province grew from 113,684 in 2006 to 493,180 in 2013.

References

* {{Districts of South Laos Laos–Thailand border crossings Populated places in Champasak Province Populated places on the Mekong River Provincial capitals in Laos