Thailand History

The word "Thai" means free, and therefore Thailand means the "land of the free". Previously the country was well-known to the world as "siam" and only on May 11, 1949 did an official proclamation changed the name of the country into " Prathet Thai" or "Thailand" by which it has since come to be known throughout the world.

The Thais, most historians believe, began migrating from southern China in the early part of the Christian era. At first they formed a number of city-states in the northern part of the country, in places like Chiang Saen, Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai, but these were never strong enough to exert much influence outside the immediate region. Gradually the Thais migrated farther south to the broad and fertile Central Plains, the area which is now Thailand, and expanded its dominance over nearly the entire Indochina Peninsula. Contradictory as it may seem, however, recent archaeological discoveries around the northeast hamlet of Ban Chiang suggest that the world's oldest Bronze Age civiliz.ation was tlourishing in Thailand some 6,000 years ago.

By the early 1200s the Thais had established small northern city-states in Lanna, Phayao and Sukhothai. In 1238 two Thai chieftains, Khun Bang Klang Tao and Khun PhaMuang, successfully rebelled against Khom suzerainty and established the first truly independent Thai kingdom in Sukhothai a kingdom that was short lived but of immense cultural importance in the nation‘s history.

Sukhothai saw the Thais' gradual expansion throughout the entire Chao Phraya River basin and the establishment of Theravada Buddhism as the paramount Thai religion. lt was here that the first evidence of written Thai was left, along with distinctively Thai styles of art such as painting, sculpture, architecture and literature, which survived after Sukhothai was absorbed by the kingdom of Ayutthaya a dynamic young kingdom further south in the ChaoPhraya River valley.During ‘Ayutthaya's 417 years as the capital, under the rule of 33 kings, the Thais brought their distinctive culture to full fruition,totally rid their lands of Khom presence and fostered contact with Arabian, Indian, Chinese, Japanese and European powers, especially during the reign of King Narai the Great (1656-1688) in which an envoy was sent to France to establish foreign diplomacy with the country. Founded in 1350 Ayutthaya remained the Thai capital until the advent of the Thonburi Period (1767-1782).

Ayutthaya’s downfall was as severe a blow to the Thais as the loss of Paris or London would have been to the French or British.However, a Thai revival occurred within a few months and the Burmese were expelled by King Taksin who later made Thonburi the shortest-lived capital in Thai history. In 1782 the first king of the present Chakri dynasty, Rama I, established his new capital en the site ef a riverside hamlet called Ban Kek (Village ef the Wild Plums).

During the Rattanakesin Peried (1782 - present) twe Chakri menarchs, King Mengkut (Rama IV) whe reigned between 1851 and 1868 and his sen King Chulalengkern (Rama V, 1868-1910),saved Thailand fren} the pewerful tides of Western celenialism threugh adreit diplemacy and selective medernizatien.

Teday, Thailand is a Modern censtitutienal monarchy. Since 1932, Thai kings, including the present monarch H-M. King Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX), have exercised their legislative powers through a national assembly, their executive wers through a cabinet headed by a prime minister and their judicial powers through the law courts.