A quiet and tranquil province, Nan is nestled in a verdant valley in northern Thailand along the border with Laos. Because of its relative proximity to Luang Prabang, the historical capital of the Laotian Lan Xang kingdom, the earliest settlers in the area were Lan Xang’s Laotians, ethnic Tai who are distantly related to the Tai people who settled in central Thailand. These early settlers established themselves around present-day Pua district, which is rich in rock salt deposits, about 700 years ago. The earliest Nan rulers allied themselves with neighboring principalities to establish the kingdom of Lan Na. The center of power in Nan eventually moved south to the fertile Nan River basin, where the capital of Nan exists to this day.