The Tai or Thai 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"), Sanskrit श्याम (śyāma, "dark"), or Mon ရာမည
(rhmañña, "stranger"), with likely the same root as Shan and Ahom. Xianluo
(Chinese: 暹羅) was the Chinese name for the 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 of their country has mostly
been Mueang Thai.[1]

The country's designation as Siam by Westerners likely came from the Portuguese.
Portuguese chronicles noted that Borommatrailokkanat, king of Ayutthaya, 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 the European colonial threat in Southeast Asia due to
centralising reforms enacted by King Chulalongkorn, and because the French and the
British decided to maintain it as a neutral territory to avoid conflicts between
their colonies. After the end of absolute monarchy in 1932, Thailand endured sixty
years of almost permanent military rule before the establishment of a
democratically elected government.

Prehistory
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 and 3,000 years ago primarily derive from cave and rock shelter sites, and
are associated with Hoabinhian foragers.[5]

Initial states and Indianized states

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). Areas comprising what is now Thailand participated
in the Maritime Jade Road, as ascertained by archeological research. The trading
network existed for 3,000 years, between 2000 BC and 1000 AD.[6][7][8][9] 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.[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 first
century CE. Archaeological documentation implies an extensive human settlement
history since the fourth 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 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 composed 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
Main articles: Dvaravati and Lavo Kingdom
Dvaravati

Territory of Dvaravati.

Khmer period sculpture of Vishnu c. tenth 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 seventh century to the tenth
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.

It is believed that the Dvaravati borrowed Theravada Buddhism through its contacts
with Sri Lanka, while the ruling class participated 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. Dvaravati culture lost its influence
around the tenth century when they submitted to the more unified Lavo-Khmer polity.

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

Around the tenth century, the city-states of Dvaravati merged into the mandalas of:
Lavo (modern Lopburi) and 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 (1006–1050), thus bringing Lavo
under Khmer domination through marital union. Suryavarman I also expanded into the
Khorat Plateau (later styled "Isan"), constructing many temples.

Suryavarman, however, had no male heirs and Lavo again became independent. After
the death of King Narai of Lavo, the Lavo kingdom was plunged into a bloody civil
war. The Khmer Empire under Suryavarman II took advantage by invading Lavo and
installed 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 part of the Lavo army, a century before the establishment of the
Sukhothai Kingdom.

Southern Thailand
Malay civilisations dominated the area below the Kra Isthmus. Early 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 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 7th century
Tang monk Yijing stopped at Langkasuka to study Pali grammar and Mahayana during
his journey to India. At that time, the kingdoms of Southern Thailand quickly fell
under the influences of the Malay kingdom of Srivijaya from Sumatra. The Tamil King
Rajendra Chola I of the Chola dynasty invaded Tambralinga in the 11th century.
[18]: 866

Northern Thailand
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.[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

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 proposes
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 eighth–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)

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.

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)

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 merchants and warriors from Luzon, Philippines were also present.[26]
Philippines-Thailand relations already had precursors in that, Thailand often
exported ceramics to several Filipino states as evidenced that when the Magellan
expedition landed at the Cebu Rajahnate, they noted a Thai embassy to the king,
Rajah Humabon.[27][28] When the Spanish colonized the Philippines via Latin
America, Spaniards and Mexicans joined the Filipinos in trading at Thailand.

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.[29]

Burmese wars
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.[30][31] 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.[31]
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)

Main articles: Thonburi Kingdom and Rattanakosin Kingdom
Unification under Taksin
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 fell apart due to the lack of a central
authority. Besides King Taksin, who had organised his force in the southeastern
provinces, four other claimants and warlords had seized power and set up their own
sphere of influence. Prince Thepphiphit, 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. The Governor of Phitsanulok, whose first name was Ruang, had
proclaimed himself independent, with the territory under his control extending to
the province of Nakhon Sawan. A Buddhist monk named Ruan made himself a prince,
appointing fellow monks as army commanders, at the town of Sawangburi (known as
Fang in Uttaradit Province). Previously, He had pursued Buddhist studies at
Ayutthaya with such excellent results that he had been appointed the chief monk of
Sawangburi by King Boromakot. In 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 warlord first: Prince
Thepphiphit of Phimai was subjugated and executed in 1768. Chao Narasuriyawongse,
one of Taksin's nephews, replaced Thepphiphit as governor. The last so-called ruler
who still challenged the King was the Prince of Sawangburi (Ruan) 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. 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.[32]

In the 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 supposedly suffered mental
breakdowns. After a coup d'état removing Taksin from power, stability was restored
by Chaophraya Chakri (later King Rama I). Taksin was sentenced to death on
Wednesday, 10 April 1782.[33]

Restoration under Rama I

Rattanakosin period

The Temple of the Emerald Buddha, one of the king's many construction projects.

Greatest extent of Rattanakosin's orbit (c. 1805)

Wat Phra Kaew or the Temple of the Emerald Buddha as seen from the Outer Court of
Grand Palace.

Hanuman on his chariot, a mural scene from the Ramakien in Wat Phra Kaew.
A noble of Mon descent, General Chakri succeeded Taksin in 1782 as Rama I (Phra
Phutthayotfa), the first king of the Chakri dynasty.[34] In the same year he
founded a new capital city across the Chao Phraya River in an area known as
Rattanakosin Island. (While settlements on both banks were commonly called Bangkok,
both the Burney Treaty of 1826 and the Roberts Treaty of 1833 refer to the capital
as the City of Sia-Yut'hia.[35]) In the 1790s, Burma was defeated and driven out of
Siam, as it was then called. Lan Na also became free of Burmese occupation, but was
reduced to the Kingdom of Chiang Mai. The king of the new dynasty was installed as
a tributary ruler of the Chakri monarch.

Main articles: Burmese–Siamese War (1785–86) and Battle of Rạch Gầm-Xoài Mút
It is probable that Chakri and his family had planned his ascent to the throne
during his predecessor Taksin's reign. After his coronation, he operated a
systematic bloody extermination of the followers of Taksin, which corresponds to
the typical approach of the usurpers in Thai history.

The new dynasty moved the capital of Thonburi to Rattanakosin Island, in today's
Bangkok. Bangkok had previously been a small settlement with a fort, but it was
strategically located on the eastern shores of the Chao Phraya river and was known
among the foreign traders as the 'key to Siam'. New palaces and temples were built:
construction of the Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew, where the Emerald Buddha is
held, began. The king's goal was to transfer the old splendor of Ayutthaya to the
new capital. In his new capital, Rama I crowned himself in 1785 in a splendid
ceremony.

During the reign of Rama I, the foreign policy was still focused on the threat of
Burma. In 1786, Burma's new king Bodawpaya ordered the nine Burmese armies in a
surprise attack against Siam. The Burmese army invaded through the Three Pagoda
Pass. The war came to be known as the "Nine Armies' Wars". However, the Siamese
were victorious. In 1805 Lanna (North Thailand) was largely brought under control
of Bangkok. Rama I also attempted unsuccessfully to conquer the important trading
ports of Tenasserim.

At the time of Rama I, Cambodia was practically administered as a province of Siam,

as rival Vietnam had to deal with internal problems. Only when the new Vietnamese
emperor Gia Long had ascended to the throne was the influence of Siam in Cambodia
again contested. Relations with Vietnam took on a prominent place in this epoch, as
there was yet to be significant relations with the European colonial powers during
the reign of Rama I.

One of the most important achievements of Rama I was the codification of all the
country's laws into a work of 1,700 pages called the Three Seals Law. This law
remained valid in its basic traits until the beginning of the twentieth century.

Siam also had a high level of cultural achievement. The Buddhist canon (Pāli Canon)
was collected and reformulated within the framework of a Grand Council. The arts
were promoted, as well as the construction of new palaces and temples in the
capital. Literature and theatre also thrived: important works such as the 3,000-
page Ramakian epic were produced. Additionally, works from Chinese, Mon, Javanese,
Persian, and Indian languages were translated into Thai.

Although Rama I continued the traditions of Ayutthaya in many respects, the new
empire was more centralized than its predecessors. A particularly important
innovation was the stronger emphasis on rationality in the relationship between the
monarch and his subjects. Rama I was the first king in the history of the country
who justified his decisions before the highest officials.

Maintaining the status quo under Rama II and Rama III

Main articles: Siamese–Vietnamese War (1831–34) and Siamese–Vietnamese War (1841–
45)
See also: Sunthorn Phu
King Rama II (Phra Phutthaloetla) was the son of Rama I. His accession to the
throne was accompanied by a plot, during which 40 people were killed. The calmness
of the interior and the exterior, which during the reign of Rama II and his
successor Rama III (Phra Nangklao), prevailed mainly through giving in to conflicts
and building good relations with influential clans in the country.

During Rama II's reign, the kingdom saw a cultural renaissance after the massive
wars that plagued his predecessor's reign; particularly in the fields of arts and
literature. Poets employed by Rama II included Sunthorn Phu the drunken writer
(Phra Aphai Mani) and Narin Dhibet (Nirat Narin).

Foreign relations were initially dominated by relations with the neighbouring

states, while those with European colonial powers started to enter in the
background. In Cambodia and Laos, Vietnam gained the supremacy, a fact which Rama
II initially accepted. When a rebellion broke out in Vietnam under Rama III in
1833–34, he tried to subdue the Vietnamese militarily, but this led to a costly
defeat for the Siamese troops. In the 1840s, however, the Khmer themselves
succeeded in expelling the Vietnamese, which subsequently led to the greater
influence of Siam in Cambodia. At the same time, Siam kept sending tribute to
China.

There was a serious touch with British colonial interests when Siam conquered the
Sultanate Kedah on the Malay Peninsula in 1821. Kedah belonged to the sphere of
interest of Great Britain. In the following year, Siam had to recognise the pre-
conquest status after tough negotiations with the British envoy John Crawfurd.
There was also the cautious resumption of trade and missionary activity in this
epoch. In particular, British traders such as Robert Hunter ("discoverer" of the
conjoined brothers Chang and Eng, the original "Siamese twins") or James Hayes, but
also missionaries from Europe and the United States like Jacob Tomlin, Karl
Gützlaff, Dan Beach Bradley and Jean-Baptiste Pallegoix became active in Siam. In
1825 an agreement was signed with British emissary Henry Burney; Siam recognised
British colonial possessions on the Malay Peninsula and made commercial
concessions. This agreement was due not least to the rapid British success in the
First Anglo-Burmese War.

A potentially dangerous event occurred with the Anouvong's Rebellion in 1827, when
the troops of the tributary King Anouvong of the Kingdom of Vientiane advanced
towards Bangkok. They were, however, destroyed, which strengthened the position of
Siam in Laos. The Lao-population of the areas west of the Mekong were relocated to
Thai provinces in Isan.

Under Rama II and Rama III, culture, dance, poetry and above all the theatre
reached a climax. The temple Wat Pho was built by Rama III, known as the first
university of the country.

The reign of Rama III. was finally marked by a division of the aristocracy with
regard to foreign policy. A small group of advocates of the takeover of Western
technologies and other achievements were opposed by conservative circles, which
proposed a stronger isolation instead. Since the kings Rama II and Rama III, the
conservative-religious circles largely stuck with their isolationist tendency.

The death of Rama III in 1851 also signified the end of the old traditional Siamese
monarchy: there were already clear signs of profound changes, which were
implemented by the two successors of the king.

Modernization under Rama IV and Rama V (1851–1910)

King Chulalongkorn
When King Mongkut (Rama IV) ascended the Siamese throne, he was severely threatened
by the neighbouring states. The colonial powers of Britain and France had already
advanced into territories which originally belonged to the Siamese sphere of
influence. Mongkut and his successor Chulalongkorn (Rama V) recognised this
situation and tried to strengthen the defence forces of Siam by modernisation, to
absorb Western scientific and technical achievements, thus avoiding colonisation.

The two monarchs, who ruled in this epoch, were the first with Western formation.
King Mongkut had lived 26 years as a wandering monk and later as an abbot of Wat
Bowonniwet Vihara. He was not only skilled in the traditional culture and Buddhist
sciences of Siam, but he had also dealt extensively with modern western science,
drawing on the knowledge of European missionaries and his correspondence with
Western leaders and the Pope. He was the first Siamese monarch to speak English.

The colonial encroachment in the 1880s in Burma to the West by the British Empire
and Indochina to the East by the French caused anxiety amongst the Siamese elites
including the British-educated Prince Prisdang who put forward a proposal alongside
eleven other senior dignitaries to King Chulalongkorn to strengthen Siamese
institutions following the European model. Some of these reforms reflect need to
keep up with European convention of liberal statecraft and justice to maintain
legitimacy. Prisdang suggested that the following reforms should be carried out:

Change the absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy,

Establish a cabinet system or ministerial government,
Distribute power to the heads of departments,
Promulgate a law of royal succession,
Change the payment system for the bureaucracy from the commission system to a
salary system,
Promote equality under the law,
Reform the legal system on the Western model,
Promote freedom of speech, and
Establish a merit system for the bureaucracy.[36]
The majority of these reforms were implemented decades after Chulalongkorn's death.

As early as 1855, John Bowring, the British governor in Hong Kong, appeared on a
warship at the mouth of the Chao Phraya River. Under the influence of Britain's
achievements in neighbouring Burma, King Mongkut signed the so-called "Bowring
Treaty", which abolished the royal foreign trade monopoly, abolished import duties,
and granted Britain a most favourable clause. The Bowring Treaty meant the
integration of Siam into the world economy, but at the same time, the royal house
lost its most important sources of income. Similar treaties were concluded with all
Western powers in the following years, such as in 1862 with Prussia and 1869 with
Austria-Hungary. From the Prussian emissary Count Friedrich Albrecht zu Eulenburg
comes a much-respected travel report about Siam. The survival diplomacy, which Siam
had cultivated abroad for a long time, reached its climax in this epoch.[37]

The integration into the global economy meant to Siam that it became a sales market
for Western industrial goods and an investment for Western capital. The export of
agricultural and mineral raw materials began, including the three products rice,
pewter and teakwood, which were used to produce 90% of the export turnover. King
Mongkut actively promoted the expansion of agricultural land by tax incentives,
while the construction of traffic routes (canals, roads and later also railways)
and the influx of Chinese immigrants allowed the agricultural development of new
regions. Subsistence farming in the Lower Menam Valley developed into farmers
actually earning money with their produce.[38]

Mongkut's son, King Chulalongkorn (Rama V), ascended to the throne in 1868. He was
the first Siamese king to have a full Western education, having been taught by a
British governess, Anna Leonowens, whose place in Siamese history has been
fictionalised as The King and I. At first Rama V's reign was dominated by the
conservative regent, Somdet Chaophraya Sri Suriwongse, but when the king came of
age in 1873 he soon took control. He created a Privy Council and a Council of
State, a formal court system and budget office. He announced that slavery would be
gradually abolished and debt-bondage restricted.