Thailand History - Overview

South East Asia has been inhabited for more than half a million years. Around 4000BC. The Thai's are related linguistically to groups originating in southern China.

Migrations from southern China to South East Asia may have occurred in the 6th and 7th centuries. Malay, Mon and Khmer civilizations flourished in the region prior to the arrival of the ethnic Thai.

The Thai nation was founded in the 13th century. In 1238 Thai chieftains overthrew their Khmer warlords at Sukhothai and established a Thai Kingdom. After its decline a new Thai Kingdom emerged in 1350 on the Chao Praya River.

The first ruler of the Kingdom of Ayutthaya, King Rama Thibodi made two important contributions to Thai history: the establishment and promotion of Theravada Buddhism as the official religion (to differentiate his Kingdom from the neighboring Hindu Kingdom of Angkor) and the compilation of the Dharmashastra - a legal code based on Hindu sources and traditional Thai custom.

The Dharashastra remained a tool of Thai law until late in the 19th century. Beginning with the Portuguese in the 16th century Ayutthaya had some contact with the West but until the 1800s its relations with neighboring nations as well as with India and China were of primary importance.

In 1767 the Kingdom of Ayutthaya was brought down after 400 years in power by invading Burmese armies and Thailand's then capital was burned to the ground. After a single reign the capital was established at Thonburi by Taksin.

A new capital city was founded in 1782 across the Chao Phraya at the site of present day Bangkok by the founder of the Chakri dynasty.

The first Chakri king was crowned Rama I. Rama's heirs became increasingly concerned with the threat of European colonialism after British victories in neighbouring Burma in 1826.

The first Thai recognition of Western power in the region was the Treaty of Amity and Commerce with the United Kingdom in 1826. In 1833 the United States of America began diplomatic exchanges with Siam (as Thailand was called until 1938).

However it was during the later reigns of Rama IV (King Mongkut 1851-1868) and his eldest son Rama V (King Chulalongkorn 1868-1910 ) that Thailand established firm ties with Western powers.

The Thai's believe that the diplomatic skills of these two great monarchs combined with the modernizing reforms of the Thai Governments made Siam the only country in South and Southeast Asia to avoid European colonization.

In 1932 a bloodless coup transformed the Government of Thailand from an absolute to a constitutional monarchy. King Prajadhipok (Rama VII) initially accepted this change but later surrendered the kingship to his 10 year old nephew.

Upon his abdication King Prajadhipok said that the obligation of a ruler was to reign for the good of the whole people not for a select few.

Although nominally a constitutional monarchy, Thailand was ruled by a series of military governments interspersed with brief periods of democracy from that time until the 1992 elections.

Since the 1992 elections Thailand has been a functioning democracy with constitutional changes of government.

As with the rest of South East Asia, Thailand was occupied by the Japanese Imperial Army during the Second World War.

Since Japan's defeat in 1945 Thailand has had very close relations with the US due to the threat of communist revolutions in neighbouring countries such as Burma (Myanmar), Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.