Mueang Champa Nakhon (Mueang Tha Bo)

Tha Bo, twelve kilometres upstream from Wiang Khuk, is recorded for the period of the mid-sixteenth century. Tha Bo was focused on the area around the site of today's Wat Si Chomphu Ongtue that today features the ruins of many temples and is known by local villagers as a former city called Meuang Champa Nakhon. Wiang Khuk and Meuang Tha Bo were the largest of a group of Lao urban centres strung along a forty-kilometre stretch of the right hank of the Mekong, extending from Sri Xiang Mai (the extension of Vientiane on the opposite side of the river) to Phon Phisai (several kilometres beyond Nong Khai), forming the immediate trans-river hinterland of Vientiane. Dates inscribed on monastery sema stones and Buddha images at these sites suggest that these centres were being established from the early decades of the sixteenth century. They attest to the relatively high population density that was built up along this stretch of the Mekong several decades before Vientiane was established as Lan Chang's capital. Equally, the contrast between their extensive ruins and the current rustic character of the settlements today on the Thai side of the Mekong highlights how severe was the depopulation caused by the conflicts that beset these communities from the late eighteenth century. [Source: Vientiane: Transformations of a Lao Landscape - Marc Askew, Colin Long, William Logan, Routledge, (2006) – page 38-9]

Ayutthaya Historical Research