at the beginning, it was SIPHANDONE. (don't know the time period) somewhere along the way (again don't know the time period) it had been changed to SITHANDONE until 1975 when it was changed back to SIPHANDONE.
SITHANDONE PROVINCE was established in the mid 1960's when southern part of Laos was divided into smaller provinces such as SEDON, WAPIKHAMTHONG,CHAMPASACK AND SITHANDONE.
The word SITHAN is the name of an elephant belonging to the king of Laos. The elephant died and was floating on Mekong river in the southern part of Laos. The elephant's body was stuck at the head of Khong Island.
When Khong became a province the commissioners chose the name for the province after that elephant instead of Siphandone (4,000 islands).
