Anachak Kang
 | This article is incomplete because it is pending further input from participants, or it is a work-in-progress by one author. Please comment on this article's talk page to share your input, comments and questions. Note: To contribute to this article, you may need to seek help from the author(s) of this page. |
Anachak Kang Hom Khao ອານາຈັກກາງຮົ່ມຂາວ (Kra) | |
|---|---|
 Flag
 Emblem
| |
| Motto: ສະບາສະມາ ສັງຂາບພຸດໂທ ສັງຂານສະມະກິ ວຸທິສາທິກາ "For the harmory of all the people, to prosper and to succeed" | |
| Anthem: Pheng Xat Kra "Hymn of the Kra"  | |
 Location of Anachak Kang (green) in Ochran (grey) | |
| Capital and largest city | Viangchan |
| Official languages | Kra |
| Recognised regional languages | Various local dialects |
| Ethnic groups (2022) |
|
| Demonym(s) | Kra |
| Government | Unitary parlimentary anocratic semi-consitutional monarchy |
• Monarch | Kham Souk |
• Prince Regent | Kham Khanthavong |
• Prime Minister | Koa Cheruene |
| Legislature | National Assembly |
| Senate | |
| House of Representatives | |
| Formation | |
| Area | |
• Total | 1,125,344 km2 (434,498 sq mi) |
| Population | |
• 2022 census | 121,648,117 |
• Density | 108.1/km2 (280.0/sq mi) |
| GDP (nominal) | 2022 estimate |
• Total | $1.387 trillion |
• Per capita | $11,400 |
| Gini (2022) | 36.4 medium |
| HDI (2022) |  0.79high |
| Currency | Kip (₭) (KIP) |
| Time zone | (GST+8) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC+7 ((GST+7)) |
| Date format | dd-mm-yyyy CE |
| Driving side | left |
| Calling code | +856 |
| Internet TLD | .ak |
Anachak Kang, formally Anachak Kang Hom Khao (Kra: ອານາຈັກກາງຮົ່ມຂາວ, lit. 'The Middle Kingdom and the White Parasol'), is a country in Southeast Ochran, located at the centre of the Kra Peninsula, spanning 1,125,344 square kilometres (434,498 sq mi), with a population of 121,648,117. The country is bordered to the northeast by Seonko and shares maritime borders with Daobac to the south and Tsurushima (Kahei) to the east. Viangchan is the nation's capital and largest city.
Modern Kra traces its origins to a cradle of civilisation in the fertile Maena river basin in the Central Kra Plain. Their long occupation, initially in varying forms of hunter-gatherers, emerged into settled life 7,000 years ago, gradually evolving into the Maena Basin Civilisation of the third millennium BCE. By 1400 BCE, an archaic form of Sombhang, an Ochran-Malaio language, had diffused into the Kra peninsula from the southwest. Its evidence today is found in the hymns of the Samaphidthanya. Preserved by a resolutely vigilant oral tradition, the Samaphidthanya records the dawning of Sadthaism in Anachak Kang.
The 1300 BCE would see the foundation of several regional cities that would turn into city-states and petty kingdoms. The semi-legendary kingdom of Lan Na, the subsequent well-attested Kingdom of Chiang Mai, and the Kingdom of Lan Xang would help develop a unique regional political system known as the Aeuad(!Mandala political system). Kra writing, Kra classic literature and the Hundred Schools of Thought emerged during this period and influenced the inhabitants of the Kra peninsula for centuries to come. The Kra petty kingdoms would remain disunited until the third century BCE when Prince Fa Ngum of Viangchan's war of unification created the first Kra empire, the short-lived Fa dynasty. The more stable Baasac dynasty (206 BCE – 220CE) followed the collapse of the Fa, which established a model for nearly two millennia in which the Kra empire was one of the world's foremost economic powers. The empire expanded, fractured and reunified, was conquered and reestablished, absorbed foreign religions and ideas, and made world-leading scientific advances, such as the Five Great Inventions: mathematics, astronomy, the compass, paper, and printing. After centuries of disunion following the fall of the Baasac, the Ngoenyang (581 – 618) and Nanthavong (618 – 907) reunified the empire. During the time of the 3rd emperor of the Nanthavong dynasty, Nanthavong Khampong united the entirety of the Kra peninsula for the first time and introduced the first imperial examination system, creating a new civilian scholar-officials or literati class to replace the aristocratic military class of earlier dynasties. He also reintroduces old philosophical schools of thought such as Legalism* and Neo-Confucianism* to centralise power onto the monarch. However, his reform would eventually become undone after a series of weak successive monarchs, allowing the Bayarid Empire to invade and occupy the nation successfully in 932. The Bayarid invasion established Anachak Kang as a semi-autonomous vassal state and compulsory ally of the Bayarids and its successor, the Great Khan's Court-in-Taizhou*. Anachak Kang would remain under the control of the Khan's Court until the Na dynasty (1358–1674) reestablished ethnic Kra control.
The Na dynasty peaked in the 17th century, until its destruction in the XXX–Kra War. Khampheng Kamchanh quickly reunified the fragmented territory and established the short-lived Khampheng dynasty (1678–1707). She was succeeded in 1707 by Kham Paxathipatai Siharath, the first monarch of the current Kham dynasty. Throughout the era of foreign imperialism in Ochran-Malaio, Anachak Kang was relatively untouched. However, the dynasty faced drastic changes in the world system; foreign intrusion, internal revolts, population growth, economic disruption, official corruption, and the reluctance of the scholar-official elites to change their traditionalist ways and mindset. With peace and prosperity, the population rose to some 90 million, but taxes and government revenues were fixed at a low rate, soon leading to the 1861 Fiscal Crisis. The Xiengthong Rebellion (1861-1875) and the Tha Khek Revolt (1875-1881) in Northern Anachak Kang led to the deaths of over 1 million people from famine, disease, and war. The Xriya Restoration in the 1890s brought vigorous reforms and the introduction of foreign military technology in the Self-Strengthening Movement. However, defeat in the Kra–Daobac–Tsuru War in 1897* led to ratifying the Treaty of XXX, which saw Anachak Kang further weakened at the turn of the century.
Apart from a brief period of republicanism in the early 1900s, Anachak Kang periodically alternated between democratic, monarchic and military rule. Since the 2000s, the country has been caught in the continual bitter political conflict between supporters and opponents of the royalist, the democratically elected government and the military elite, stemming from a failed coup attempt in 2003. The establishment of Anachak Kang's current constitution came from a compromise between the royalist and the nominally democratic government after the 2019 Kra general election, led by Prince Regent Kham Khanthavong and the moderate Prime Minister Koa Cheruene. Since 2019, Anachak Kang has been nominally a parliamentary constitutional monarchy; in practice, however, structural advantages in the constitution due to the compromise have resulted in a complex parliamentary anocratic semi-constitutional monarchy system balanced between the military, the democrats, and the monarchist.