The standard Gibbs energy changes for the formation of an ionic or metallic monoxide from rare earth metal and sesquioxide have been calculated. Under high pressures ionic ytterbium monoxide and lighter rare earth metallic monoxides should be obtained, which is confirmed by experiments in a belt-type apparatus in the range 15–80 kbar and 500-1200°C. For Ln =La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, a face-centered cubic compound is obtained from each reaction. The cell parameters are respectively 5.144, 5.089, 5.031, 4.994, and 4.943 ± 0.005A˚. The compounds appear golden yellow with a metallic luster. From chemical analyses and cell parameter consideration it is concluded that these compounds are the rare earth monoxides. For Ln =Gd, Dy, Tm, no reaction is observed at 50 kbar and 1000°C. The rare earth monoxides show a variety of properties: LaO, CeO, PrO, and NdO are metallic with the rare earth in the trivalent state; EuO and YbO are semiconductors with the rare earth in the divalent state; SmO is metallic with samarium in an intermediate valence state close to 3.