History of Thailand

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Part of a series on the

History of Thailand

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List

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Prehistory

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Initial states

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Regional kingdoms

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Main history
Sukhothai Kingdom 1238–1438
 Ayutthaya Kingdom 1350–1767
Thonburi Kingdom 1767–1782
Rattanakosin Kingdom 1782–present
1782–1932
1932–1973
1973–2001
2001–present

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Topics

 Peopling of Thailand
 Constitutional
 Military
 Economic
 Isan
 Phitsanulok
 Bangkok

 Thailand portal

 v
 t
 e

The Tai ethnic group migrated into mainland Southeast Asia over a period of centuries.

The word Siam (Thai: สยาม RTGS: Sayam) may have originated
from Pali (suvaṇṇabhūmi, "land of gold") or Sanskrit श्याम (śyāma, "dark") or Mon ရာမည
(rhmañña, "stranger"), probably the same root as Shan and Ahom. Xianluo (Chinese: 暹
羅) was the Chinese name for Ayutthaya Kingdom, merged from Suphannaphum city
state centered in modern-day Suphan Buri and Lavo city state centered in modern-
day Lop Buri. To the Thai, the name has mostly been Mueang Thai.[1]
The country's designation as Siam by Westerners likely came from the Portuguese.
Portuguese chronicles noted that the Borommatrailokkanat, king of the Ayutthaya
Kingdom, sent an expedition to the Malacca Sultanate at the southern tip of the Malay
Peninsula in 1455. Following their conquest of Malacca in 1511, the Portuguese sent a
diplomatic mission to Ayutthaya. A century later, on 15 August 1612, The Globe,
an East India Company merchantman bearing a letter from King James I, arrived in
"the Road of Syam".[2] "By the end of the 19th century, Siam had become so enshrined
in geographical nomenclature that it was believed that by this name and no other would
it continue to be known and styled."[3]
Indianised kingdoms such as the Mon, the Khmer Empire and Malay states of the Malay
Peninsula and Sumatra ruled the region. The Thai established their states: Ngoenyang,
the Sukhothai Kingdom, the Kingdom of Chiang Mai, Lan Na, and the Ayutthaya
 Kingdom. These states fought each other and were under constant threat from
the Khmers, Burma and Vietnam. In the 19th and early 20th centuries,
only Thailand survived European colonial threat in Southeast Asia due to centralising
reforms enacted by King Chulalongkorn and because the French and the British
decided it would be a neutral territory to avoid conflicts between their colonies. After the
end of the absolute monarchy in 1932, Thailand endured sixty years of almost
permanent military rule before the establishment of a democratically elected
government.

Contents

 1Prehistory
 2Initial states and Indianized states
o 2.1Central Thailand
o 2.2Southern Thailand
o 2.3Northern Thailand
 3Arrival of the Tais
 4Sukhothai Kingdom (1238–1438)
 5Ayutthaya period (1351–1767)
o 5.1Burmese wars
 6Thonburi and Early Rattanakosin period (1767–1851)
o 6.1Unification under Taksin
o 6.2Restoration under Rama I
o 6.3Maintaining the status quo under Rama II and Rama III
 7Modernization under Rama IV and Rama V (1851–1910)
o 7.1Western colonialism and cessation of protectorates
 8Nation formation under Vajiravudh and Prajadhipok (1910–1932)
o 8.1World War I
 9Early years of constitutional monarchy (1932–1945)
o 9.1Revolution and difficult compromise
o 9.2Khana Ratsadon's rise
o 9.3Dictatorship of Phibunsongkhram
o 9.4World War II
 10Cold War period
o 10.1Allied occupation of Thailand (1946)
o 10.2Democratic elections and the return of the military
o 10.3Thailand during the Indochina wars and communist insurgency
o 10.4The 1973 democracy movement
 11Democratisation and setbacks
 12Political conflicts since 2001
o 12.1Thaksin Shinawatra period
o 12.22006 coup d'état
o 12.32008–2010 political crisis
o 12.42013–2014 political crisis
o 12.52014 coup d'état
o 12.6Military Junta (2014 - 2019)
 o 12.7Maha Vajiralongkorn reign (2016–present)
 13See also
 14Notes
 15References
o 15.1Citations
o 15.2Bibliography
 16External links

Prehistory[edit]
Main article: Prehistoric Thailand
Mainland Southeast Asia had been a home to various indigenous communities for
thousands of years. The discovery of Homo erectus fossils such as Lampang man is an
example of archaic hominids. The remains were first discovered during excavations
in Lampang Province. The finds have been dated from roughly 1,000,000–500,000
years ago in the Pleistocene. Stone artefacts dating to 40,000 years ago have been
recovered from, e.g., Tham Lod rockshelter in Mae Hong Son and Lang Rongrien
Rockshelter in Krabi, peninsular Thailand. [4] The archaeological data between 18,000–
3,000 years ago primarily derive from cave and rock shelter sites, and are associated
with Hoabinhian foragers.[5]

Initial states and Indianized states[edit]

Main article: Initial states of Thailand
There are many sites in present-day Thailand dating to the Bronze (1500–500 BCE)
and Iron Ages (500 BCE-500 CE). The site of Ban Chiang (around Udon Thani
Province) currently ranks as the earliest known center of copper and bronze production
in Southeast Asia and has been dated to around 2,000 years BCE. [6] Thailand also
participated in the Maritime Jade Road, which existed for 3,000 years, from 2000 BCE
to 1000 CE.[7][8][9][10]
The oldest known records of a political entity in Indochina are attributed to Funan -
centered in the Mekong Delta and comprising territories inside modern day Thailand.
[11]
 Chinese annals confirm Funan's existence as early as the 1st century CE.
Archaeological documentation implies an extensive human settlement history since the
4th century BCE.[12]
The region also hosted a number of indigenous Austroasiatic-speaking and Malayo-
Sumbawan-speaking civilisations. However, little is known about Thailand before the
13th century, as the literary and concrete sources are scarce and most of the
knowledge about this period is gleaned from archaeological evidence. Similar to other
regions in Southeast Asia, Thailand was heavily influenced by the culture and religions
of India, starting with the Kingdom of Funan around the first century until the Khmer
Empire.[13] These "Indianised kingdoms" are composing of Dvaravati, Srivijaya and the
Khmer Empire.[14] E. A. Voretzsch believes that Buddhism must have been flowing into
Thailand from India at the time of the Indian emperor Ashoka of the Maurya Empire and
into the first millennium.[14] Later Thailand was influenced by the south Indian Pallava
dynasty and north Indian Gupta Empire.[14]
Central Thailand[edit]
Main articles: Dvaravati and Lavo Kingdom
Dvaravati

Territory of Dvaravati.

Khmer period sculpture of Vishnu c. 10th century CE.

A 13 meter long reclining Buddha, Nakhon Ratchasima.

The Chao Phraya River in what is now central Thailand had once been the home of the
Mon Dvaravati culture, which prevailed from the 7th century to the 10th century.
[15]
 Samuel Beal discovered the polity among the Chinese writings on Southeast Asia as
"Duoluobodi". During the early 20th century archaeological excavations led by George
Coedès found Nakhon Pathom Province to be a centre of Dvaravati culture. The two
most important sites were Nakorn Pathom and U Thong (in modern Suphan Buri
Province). The inscriptions of Dvaravati were in Sanskrit and Mon using the script
derived from the Pallava alphabet of the South Indian Pallava dynasty.
The religion of Dvaravati is thought to be Theravada Buddhism through contacts with Sri
Lanka, with the ruling class also participating in Hindu rites. Dvaravati art, including the
Buddha sculptures and stupas, showed strong similarities to those of the Gupta Empire
of India. The eastern parts of the Chao Phraya valley were subjected to a more Khmer
and Hindu influence as the inscriptions are found in Khmer and Sanskrit. [16]
Dvaravati was a network of city-states paying tribute to more powerful ones according to
the mandala political model. Dvaravati culture expanded into Isan as well as south as
far as the Kra Isthmus. The culture lost power around the 10th century when they
submitted to the more unified Lavo-Khmer polity.

The Khmer temple of Wat Phra Prang Sam Yod, Lopburi.

Around the 10th century, the city-states of Dvaravati merged into two mandalas,
the Lavo (modern Lopburi) and the Suvarnabhumi (modern Suphan Buri). According to
a legend in the Northern Chronicles, in 903, a king of Tambralinga invaded and took
Lavo and installed a Malay prince on the Lavo throne. The Malay prince was married to
a Khmer princess who had fled an Angkorian dynastic bloodbath. The son of the couple
contested the Khmer throne and became Suryavarman I, thus bringing Lavo under
Khmer domination through the marital union. Suryavarman I also expanded into
the Khorat Plateau (later styled "Isan"), constructing many temples.
Suryavarman, however, had no male heirs and again Lavo was independent. After the
death of King Narai of Lavo, however, Lavo was plunged into bloody civil war and the
Khmer under Suryavarman II took advantage by invading Lavo and installing his son as
the King of Lavo. The repeated but discontinued Khmer domination eventually
Khmerized Lavo. Lavo was transformed from a Theravadin Mon Dvaravati city into
a Hindu Khmer one. Lavo became the entrepôt of Khmer culture and power of the Chao
Phraya river basin. The bas-relief at Angkor Wat shows a Lavo army as one of the
subordinates to Angkor. One interesting note is that a Tai army was shown as a part of
Lavo army, a century before the establishment of the "Sukhothai Kingdom".
Southern Thailand[edit]
Below the Kra Isthmus was the place of Malay civilisations. Primordial Malay kingdoms
are described as tributaries to Funan by second-century Chinese sources, though most
of them proved to be tribal organisations instead of full-fledged kingdoms. [17] From the
sixth century on, two major mandalas ruled southern Thailand, the Kanduli and
the Langkasuka. Kanduli centred on what is now Surat Thani Province and Langasuka
in Pattani Province.
Southern Thailand was the centre of Hinduism and Mahayana Buddhism. The Tang
monk Yijing stopped at Langkasuka to study Pali grammar and Mahayana during his
journey to India around 800. At that time, the kingdoms of Southern Thailand quickly fell
under the influences of the Malay kingdom of Srivijaya from Sumatra. Rajendra Chola
I of the Chola dynasty invaded the Tambralinga Kingdom in southern Thailand in the
11th century.[18]: 866 
Northern Thailand[edit]
Main article: Hariphunchai
A Buddha from Wat Kukkut, Lamphun

According to the Cāmadevivaṃsa, the city of Hariphunchai (modern Lamphun) was

founded by hermits. Camadevi, a princess of the Lavo Kingdom, was invited to rule the
city around 700. However, this date is considered too early for the foundation of
Hariphunchai as Camadevi brought no dharmachakras to the north.[clarification
needed]
 Hariphunchai may be a later (10th century) offshoot of the Lavo Kingdom or instead
related to the Thaton Kingdom.
Hariphunchai was the centre of Theravada in the north. The kingdom flourished during
the reign of King Attayawong who built Wat Phra That Hariphunchai in 1108. The
kingdom had strong relations with the Mon Kingdom of Thaton. During the 11th century,
Hariphunchai waged lengthy wars with the Tai Ngoenyang Kingdom of Chiang Saen.
Weakened by Tai invasions, Hariphunchai eventually fell in 1293 to Mangrai, king
of Lan Na, the successor state of the Ngoenyang Kingdom.

Arrival of the Tais[edit]

Further information: Khun Borom, Tai languages, and Tai peoples

Map showing linguistic family tree overlaid on a geographic distribution map of Tai-Kadai family. This map only
shows general pattern of the migration of Tai-speaking tribes, not specific routes, which would have snaked
along the rivers and over the lower passes.
The most recent and accurate theory about the origin of the Tai people stipulates
that Guangxi in China is really the Tai motherland instead of Yunnan. A large number of
Tai people known as the Zhuang still live in Guangxi today. Around 700 AD, Tai people
who did not come under Chinese influence settled in what is now Điện Biên Phủ in
modern Vietnam according to the Khun Borom legend. Based on layers of
Chinese loanwords in proto-Southwestern Tai and other historical evidence, Pittayawat
Pittayaporn (2014) proposed that this migration must have taken place sometime
between the 8th–10th centuries.[19] Tai speaking tribes migrated southwestward along
the rivers and over the lower passes into Southeast Asia, perhaps prompted by the
Chinese expansion and suppression. Chinese historical texts record that, in 722,
400,000 'Lao'[a] rose in revolt behind a leader who declared himself the king
of Nanyue in Guangdong.[20][21] After the 722 revolt, some 60,000 were beheaded. [20] In
726, after the suppression of a rebellion by a 'Lao' leader in the present-day Guangxi,
over 30,000 rebels were captured and beheaded. [21] In 756, another revolt attracted
200,000 followers and lasted four years. [22] In the 860s, many local people in what is now
North Vietnam sided with attackers from Nanchao, and in the aftermath, some 30,000 of
them were beheaded.[22][23] In the 1040s, a powerful matriarch-shamaness by the name
of A Nong, her chiefly husband, and their son, Nong Zhigao, raised a revolt,
took Nanning, besieged Guangzhou for fifty seven days, and slew the commanders of
five Chinese armies sent against them before they were defeated, and many of their
leaders were killed.[22] As a result of these three bloody centuries, the Tai began to
migrate southwestward.[22]
The Simhanavati legend tells us that a Tai chief named Simhanavati drove out the
native Wa people and founded the city of Chiang Saen around 800 CE. For the first
time, the Tai people made contact with the Theravadin Buddhist kingdoms of Southeast
Asia. Through Hariphunchai, the Tais of Chiang Saen embraced Theravada Buddhism
and Sanskrit royal names. Wat Phrathat Doi Tong, constructed around 850, signified the
piety of Tai people on the Theravada Buddhism. Around 900, major wars were fought
between Chiang Saen and Hariphunchai. Mon forces captured Chiang Saen and its
king fled. In 937, Prince Prom the Great took Chiang Saen back from the Mon and
inflicted severe defeats on Hariphunchai.
Around 1000 CE, Chiang Saen was destroyed by an earthquake with many inhabitants
killed.[24][failed verification] A council was established to govern the kingdom for a while, and then a
local Wa man known as Lavachakkaraj was elected king of the new city of Chiang Saen
or Ngoenyang. The Lavachakkaraj dynasty would rule over the region for about 500
years.
Overpopulation might have encouraged the Tais to seek their fortune further
southwards. By 1100 CE, the Tai had established themselves as Po Khuns (ruling
fathers) at Nan, Phrae, Songkwae, Sawankhalok, and Chakangrao on the upper Chao
Phraya River. These southern Tai princes faced Khmer influence from the Lavo
Kingdom. Some of them became subordinates to it.

Sukhothai Kingdom (1238–1438)[edit]

Main articles: Sukhothai Kingdom and Lan Na
 Sukhothai Kingdom

Spheres of influence in mainland Southeast Asia, end of 13th century CE.

Phra Achana, Wat Si Chum, Sukhothai Historical Park.

The ruins of Wat Mahathat, Sukhothai Historical Park.

Map of Sukhothai in 1293 during King Ram Khamhaeng's Rule

Thai city-states gradually became independent of the weakened Khmer Empire. It is

said that Sukhothai Kingdom was established as a strong sovereign kingdom by Sri
Indraditya in 1238 AC. A political feature which "classic" Thai historians call "father
governs children" existed at this time. Everybody could bring their problems to the king
directly, as there was a bell in front of the palace for this purpose. The city briefly
dominated the area under King Ram Khamhaeng, who tradition and legend states
established the Thai alphabet, but after his death in 1365, Sukhothai fell into decline
and became subject to another emerging Thai state, the Ayutthaya Kingdom in the
lower Chao Phraya area.
Another Thai state that coexisted with Sukhothai was the eastern state of Lan
Na centred in Chiang Mai. King Mangrai was its founder. This city-state emerged in the
same period as Sukhothai. Evidently, Lan Na became closely allied with Sukhothai.
After the Ayutthaya Kingdom had emerged and expanded its influence from the Chao
Phraya valley, Sukhothai was finally subdued. Fierce battles between Lan Na and
Ayutthaya also constantly took place and Chiang Mai was eventually subjugated,
becoming Ayutthaya's vassal.
Lan Na's independent history ended in 1558, when it finally fell to the Burmese. It was
dominated by Burma until the late-18th century. Local leaders then rose up against the
Burmese with the help of the rising Thai kingdom of Thonburi of King Taksin. The
"Northern City-States" then became vassals of the lower Thai kingdoms of Thonburi and
Bangkok. In the early 20th century they were annexed and became part of modern
Siam, the country that is now called "Thailand".

Ayutthaya period (1351–1767)[edit]

Main article: Ayutthaya Kingdom
Ayutthaya Kingdom
 Ayutthaya's zones of influence and neighbours, c. 1540 CE.

Painting of Ayutthaya, commissioned by the Dutch East India Company, Amsterdam.

Wat Phra Si Sanphet, Ayutthaya.

The city of Ayutthaya was on a small island, encircled by three rivers. Due to its
defensible location, Ayutthaya quickly became powerful, politically, and economically.
Ayutthaya's name is derived from Ayodhya, an Indian holy city.
The first ruler of the Kingdom of Ayutthaya, King Uthong (r. 1351–1369), made two
important contributions to Thai history: the establishment and promotion of Theravada
Buddhism as the official religion to differentiate his kingdom from the neighbouring
Hindu kingdom of Angkor and the compilation of the Dharmaśāstra, a legal code based
on Hindu sources and traditional Thai custom. The Dharmaśāstra remained a tool of
Thai law until late in the 19th century.
In 1511 Duke Afonso de Albuquerque dispatched Duarte Fernandes as an envoy to the
Ayutthaya Kingdom, known then to Europeans as the "Kingdom of Siam". This contact
with the West during the 16th century led to a period of economic growth as lucrative
trade routes were established. Ayutthaya became one of the most prosperous cities in
Southeast Asia. According to George Modelski, Ayutthaya is estimated to have been
the largest city in the world in 1700 CE, with a population around one million. [25] Trade
flourished, with the Dutch and Portuguese among the most active foreigners in the
kingdom, together with the Chinese and Malayans. Even Luzones warriors from
the Philippines were also present.[26]
The Ayutthaya Period is known as the golden age of Thai literature, Art and Trade with
the eastern and western world. The Ayutthaya period was also considered as "a golden
age of medicine in Thailand" due to progress in the field of medicine at that time. [27]
Burmese wars[edit]
Main article: Burmese–Siamese wars

The ruins of Ayutthaya city was completely buried beneath a mass of jungle vegetation in 1930.

Starting in the middle of the 16th century, the kingdom came under repeated attacks by
the Taungoo Dynasty of Burma. The Burmese–Siamese War (1547–49) began with a
Burmese invasion and a failed siege of Ayutthaya. A second siege (1563–64) led by
King Bayinnaung forced King Maha Chakkraphat to surrender in 1564. The royal family
was taken to Bago, Burma, with the king's second son Mahinthrathirat installed as a
vassal king.[28][29] In 1568, Mahinthrathirat revolted when his father managed to return
from Bago as a Buddhist monk. The ensuing third siege captured Ayutthaya in
1569 and Bayinnaung made Mahathammarachathirat his vassal king.[29]
After Bayinnaung's death in 1581, Uparaja Naresuan proclaimed Ayutthaya's
independence in 1584. The Thai fought off repeated Burmese invasions (1584–1593),
capped by an elephant duel between King Naresuan and Burmese heir-apparent Mingyi
Swa in 1593 during the fourth siege of Ayutthaya in which Naresuan famously slew
Mingyi Swa. The Burmese–Siamese War (1594–1605) was a Thai attack on Burma,
resulting in the capture of the Tanintharyi Region as far as Mottama in 1595 and Lan Na
in 1602. Naresuan even invaded mainland Burma as far as Taungoo in 1600, but was
driven back.
Ayutthaya expanded its sphere of influence over a considerable area, ranging from the
Islamic states on the Malay Peninsula, the Andaman seaports of present-day India,
the Angkor kingdom of Cambodia, to states in northern Thailand. In the 18th century,
the power of the Ayutthaya Kingdom gradually declined as fighting between princes and
officials plagued its politics. Outlying principalities became more and more independent,
ignoring the capital's orders and decrees.
In the 18th century, the last phase of the kingdom arrived. The Bamar people, who had
taken control of Lan Na and had also unified their kingdom under the
powerful Konbaung Dynasty, launched several blows against Ayutthaya in the 1750s
and 1760s. Finally, in 1767, after several months of siege, the Burmese broke through
Ayutthaya's outer and inner walls, sacked the city, and burned it down. The royal family
fled the city and Ayutthaya's last king, Ekkathat, died of starvation ten days later while in
hiding.

Thonburi and Early Rattanakosin period (1767–1851) [edit]

Main articles: Thonburi Kingdom and Rattanakosin Kingdom
Unification under Taksin[edit]
Main article: Taksin's reunification of Siam

Five states of Siam that emerged from the dissolution of the Ayutthaya Kingdom in 1767

After more than 400 years of power, in 1767, the Kingdom of Ayutthaya was brought
down by invading Burmese armies, its capital burned, and the territory split. Despite its
complete defeat and occupation by Burma, Siam made a rapid recovery. The resistance
to Burmese rule was led by a noble of Chinese descent, Taksin, a capable military
leader. Initially based at Chanthaburi in the southeast, within a year he had defeated the
Burmese occupation army and re-established a Siamese state with its capital
at Thonburi on the west bank of the Chao Phraya, 20 km from the sea. In 1767 he was
crowned as King Taksin (now officially known as "Taksin the Great").
Wat Arun, the most prominent temple of the Thonburi period, derives its name from the Hindu god Aruṇa. Its
main prang was constructed later in the Rattanakosin period.

After the sacking of Ayutthaya, the country had fallen apart, due to the disappearance of
the central authority. Besides King Taksin, who had organised his force in the
southeastern provinces, Prince Teppipit, King Boromakot's son, who had been
unsuccessful in a diversionary action against the Burmese in 1766, had set himself up
as the ruler of Phimai holding sway over the eastern provinces including Nakhon
Ratchasima or Khorat, while the Governor of Phitsanulok, whose first name was Ruang
(Thai:เรือง), had proclaimed himself independent, with the territory under his control
extending to the province of Nakhon Sawan. North of Phitsanulok was the town of
Sawangburi (known as Fang in Uttaradit Province), where a Buddhist monk named
Ruan had made himself a prince, appointing fellow monks as army commanders. He
had himself pursued Buddhist studies at Ayutthaya with such excellent results that he
had been appointed the chief monk of Sawangburi by King Boromakot. The southern
provinces as far north as Chumphon, a Pra Palad who was the acting Governor
of Nakhon Si Thammarat declared his independence and raised himself to a princely
rank.
Having firmly established his power at Thonburi, King Taksin set out to reunify the old
kingdom, crushing regional rivals. After a temporary repulse by the Governor of
Phitsanulok, he concentrated on the defeat of the weakest one first. Prince Teppipit of
Phimai was quelled and executed in 1768. Chao Narasuriyawongse, one of Taksin's
nephews, was substituted for him as governor. The last so-called ruler who still
challenged the King was the Prince of Sawangburi or Chao Pra Fang, as he had just
annexed Phitsanulok on the death of its Governor. King Taksin himself led an
expedition against him and took it, but the prince disappeared and could not be found
again. In dealing with the Prince of Nakhon Si Thammarat, who was taken prisoner by
the loyal Governor of Pattani, the king not only pardoned him but also favoured him with
a residence at Thonburi.[30]
In Thonburi period, the beginning of the Chinese mass immigration fell to Siam.
Through the availability of Chinese workers, trade, agriculture and craftsmen flourished.
However, the first Chinese rebellions had to be suppressed. However, later due to
stress and many factors, King Taksin went mad. After a coup d'état removing Taksin
from power was restored by General Chakri (later becoming Rama I), Taksin was
sentenced to death on Wednesday, 10 April 1782. [31]