The Lost Province of Wapikhamthong
(1962-75)
Bouaphet Sygnavong
Independent Scholar
California
USA
Abstract:
As a native of Wapikhamthong, I would like to tell the story of my lost home
province which was created in 1962 by a constitutional amendment of the Kingdom
of Laos, but was erased from the map of the world with the advent of the
People’s Democratic Republic at he end of 1975.
The province took its name from two ancient villages established along the
Sedone River in Southern Laos: Wapi, meaning “source,” and Khamtong “gold.” This
golden district was first elevated to the rank of Muong (mandala) in 1713 by
King Chao Soi-Sisamouth of Champassack. It kept the same status under the
Siamese occupation, from 1779 to 1893. In the meantime, around 1830-40, Chao
Menh, a son of King Anou, found refuge in Khamtong and married a daughter of the
local ChaoMuong (Governor).
In 1893, when the French took over the left bank of the Mekong River from Siam,
they confirmed Chao Anou’s descendents as administrators of Wapi and Khamtong
districts but incorporated them as part of Saravane Province.
In 1945, when Prince Phetsarath, then Vice-Roy and Prime Minister of the Kingdom
of Luang-Prabang, proclaimed the unification of Northern and Southern Laos as a
sole and undivided Lao Kingdom. He chose Phagna Bouakham Maokhamphiou, one of
Chao Anou’s great grandsons, as the first Chaokhoueng (Governor) of Saravane.
In 1962, the new province of Wapikhamtong was carved out of the boundaries of
its former motherland, Sravane. For a full decade, Wapikhamtong, and in
particular, Khongsedone, the provincial capital, witnessed a fast paced
development with communications improvements, administrative buildings, housings
and new businesses. Unfortunately, this boom was suddenly stopped in 1971 by the
expanding civil war, in the aftermath of Operation Lamson 719. The fate of
Wapikhamthong was finally sealed at the end of 1975 when the new communist
Republic decided to re-incorporate it once more as part of Saravane Province.
Nowadays, Wapikhamtong as a separate provincial entity is gone. There only
remains a few sons and daughters of Wapikhamtong who still stick together for
the worse and the better, in spite of all kinds of adversity. Their former
province may be lost forever, yet, they do not want to forget their special
biological or friendship ties that united them in the past. They try to revive
their memory and their common heritage by organizing family reunions in France
and America so that the younger generations of Wapikhamtong’s children in exile
may learn about their distant Lao roots.