In the Tai-speaking world Ayutthaya may have dominated
the Menam basin among Lan Na with its important cities of
Chiengmai and Chiengrai, while eastwards lay Lan Sang
which included much of modern day Laos and was focused
on two muang at Luang Prabang and Vientiane. But
throughout Southeast Asia an equally important factor in
the centralizing process was the reputation for religious
patronage which normally accompanied the rise of a
commercial centre.