Laos is a country in Southeast Asia known for its mountainous terrain, hill tribe settlements, Buddhist monasteries, and French colonial architecture. The Lao Kip (LAK) is Laos' official money, sometimes known as the Laos dollar. A kip is made up of 100 att. In 1945, the Lao kip replaced the Indochinese piastre, 4 years before Laos' independence from France. It became the country's official currency in 1952. Before being titled the Lao Kip, it was initially known as the Royal Kip, the Free Lao Kip, the Lao PDR Kip, and the Pathet Lao Kip. The Lao currency floats freely against others.
The Lao Kip banknote or paper currency was, at first, printed in France in denominations of 1, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, and 500 kip. The symbols for the currency are ₭ and ₭N. After entering the circulation, the Lao Kip has grown to include 200, 1,000, 2,000, 5,000, 10,000, 20,000, 50,000 and 100,000 notes. In 2010, the addition of the 100,000 note happened. It was added to commemorate the 450th founding anniversary of Vientiane, the capital of Laos. The Lao Kip banknotes were originally printed in France until 1975 and, after, were printed in China.
