{{more citations needed|date=May 2020}} {{use dmy dates|date=May 2020}} {{Infobox settlement |name = Pakxan |native_name = {{nobold|ປາກຊັນ}} |native_name_lang = lo |settlement_type = District & municipality |official_name = Pakxan District |image_skyline = NR13S, Laos.jpg |imagesize = |image_caption = | image_map = Pakxan District in Laos 2015.svg | mapsize = | map_caption = Location of Pakxan district in Laos |subdivision_type = Country |subdivision_name = {{flag|Laos}} |subdivision_type1 =Province |subdivision_name1 = Bolikhamsai Province |subdivision_type2 =District |subdivision_name2 = Pakxan District |subdivision_type3 = |subdivision_name3 = |subdivision_type4 = |subdivision_name4 = |leader_title = |leader_name = |established_title = |established_date = |area_total_km2 = |population_as_of = 2015 |population_footnotes = <ref name="Census2015">{{cite web |url=https://lao.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/pub-pdf/PHC-ENG-FNAL-WEB_0.pdf |title=Results of Population and Housing Census 2015 |publisher=Lao Statistics Bureau |access-date=19 February 2024}}</ref> |population_total = 45,000 |population_density_km2 = auto |timezone = ICT |utc_offset = +7 |coordinates = {{coord|18|23|47|N|103|39|21|E|region:LA-BL|display=inline,title}} |elevation_footnotes = |elevation_m = 153 |elevation_ft = |website = |footnotes = }} '''Pakxan''' ({{IPAc-en|p|ɑː|k|ˈ|s|ɑː|n}}; ({{langx|lo|ປາກຊັນ}}, {{IPA|lo|pȁːk̚sán|pron}}) is a district and town in Bolikhamsai Province, Laos.
==History== Pakxan was founded in the 19th century. The Pakxan region had experienced insecurity since the invasion by Annam in 1834, followed by invasions by the Siamese, and Siamese sovereignty over Laos in 1836, and especially after 1865 with the invasions of Haws or "red flags", gangs from southern China. These invasions began to reduce the populations of Xieng Khouang and Bolikhamsai, and it was the Siamese who completed the depopulation by deporting most of the Phou Eun inhabiting the region.<ref name="Archet16">Jean-Louis Archet, ''Formes et résultat des activités du monde rural dans le Koueng Borikhane (Laos)'', mémoire de géographie du sous-développement, Université de Provence, Aix-en-Provence, 1973, p.16-17</ref>
In 1876, Rama V, King of Siam, ordered the creation of Bolikhamsai with the last survivors of the Haw invasion of 1874. Bolikhamsai was placed under the authority of Kha Luang Nong Khai. From 1885, the French, who took over neighboring Vietnam, challenged Siamese sovereignty over Laos. After Auguste Pavie's mission dating the Mekong to Luang Prabang, the Siamese were forced to leave the left bank of the Mekong and evacuate the position they had created at the mouth of the Nam Xan River. At that time, Patchoum Muong (or Paxum) was the largest town near the confluence of the Nam Xan, and it is on the Nam Xan, a half-day by boat up the Mekong.<ref name="Archet16"/>
In the course of the 1890s, missionaries of the Missions étrangères de Paris, attached to the mission of Christianity to a Bangkok-based Keng-Sadok, on the Mekong River, miles from the mouth of the Nam Xan. Then the missionaries occupied Pakxan, abandoned by the Siamese, and there built a church.<ref name="Archet16"/>
thumb|center|upright=3|The market in Pakxan
==Climate==
{{Weather box|width=auto |metric first=y |single line=y |collapsed = Y |location = Pakxan (1990–2019) |Jan high C = 29.0 |Feb high C = 30.8 |Mar high C = 32.6 |Apr high C = 33.9 |May high C = 32.9 |Jun high C = 32.1 |Jul high C = 31.5 |Aug high C = 31.5 |Sep high C = 31.8 |Oct high C = 31.8 |Nov high C = 30.6 |Dec high C = 28.7 |Jan mean C = 22.6 |Feb mean C = 24.5 |Mar mean C = 26.9 |Apr mean C = 28.7 |May mean C = 28.6 |Jun mean C = 28.4 |Jul mean C = 28.0 |Aug mean C = 28.0 |Sep mean C = 27.9 |Oct mean C = 27.2 |Nov mean C = 25.3 |Dec mean C = 22.9 | year mean C = |Jan low C = 16.2 |Feb low C = 18.2 |Mar low C = 21.1 |Apr low C = 23.4 |May low C = 24.3 |Jun low C = 24.6 |Jul low C = 24.4 |Aug low C = 24.4 |Sep low C = 23.9 |Oct low C = 22.6 |Nov low C = 20.0 |Dec low C = 17.0 | year low C = |precipitation colour = green |Jan precipitation mm = 10 |Feb precipitation mm = 28 |Mar precipitation mm = 53 |Apr precipitation mm = 124 |May precipitation mm = 401 |Jun precipitation mm = 690 |Jul precipitation mm = 796 |Aug precipitation mm = 640 |Sep precipitation mm = 431 |Oct precipitation mm = 113 |Nov precipitation mm = 17 |Dec precipitation mm = 5 | year precipitation mm = | Jan humidity = 67.9 | Feb humidity = 63.4 | Mar humidity = 66.1 | Apr humidity = 67.0 | May humidity = 72.7 | Jun humidity = 76.6 | Jul humidity = 80.7 | Aug humidity = 81.4 | Sep humidity = 78.1 | Oct humidity = 72.7 | Nov humidity = 68.3 | Dec humidity = 64.7 | year humidity = |Jan sun = 221.6 |Feb sun = 192.7 |Mar sun = 240.4 |Apr sun = 205.9 |May sun = 157.3 |Jun sun = 96.7 |Jul sun = 78.5 |Aug sun = 84.2 |Sep sun = 141.3 |Oct sun = 202.5 |Nov sun = 231.2 |Dec sun = 218.5 |year sun = |source 1 = Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations<ref name=FAO>{{cite web | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20240317000317/https://www.fao.org/3/cb9713en/cb9713en.pdf | archive-date = 17 March 2024 | url = https://www.fao.org/3/cb9713en/cb9713en.pdf | title = Climatology and agroclimatology atlas of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic | publisher = Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations | access-date = 17 March 2024}}</ref> | source 2 = Bureau of Meteorology (sun 1938–1944)<ref name=BOM>{{cite web | url = http://www.bom.gov.au/water/about/waterResearch/document/nam_theun.pdf | title = Climatological Information | publisher= Bureau of Meteorology | access-date = 4 August 2025}}</ref> SeaDelt (humidity 2016–2022)<ref name=Seadelt>{{cite web | url = https://seadelt.net/Documents/ | title = Statistical Yearbook 2016–2022 ສະຖຕິ ປິ ະຈາ ປີ 2016–2022 | publisher= Lao Statistics Bureau, Ministry of Planning and Investment | access-date = 4 August 2025}}</ref> }}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *{{Wikivoyage-inline|Paksan}}
{{Districts of Central Laos}}
Category:Laos–Thailand border crossings Category:Populated places in Bolikhamsai province Category:Populated places on the Mekong River Category:Provincial capitals in Laos