A History Of Thailand Read online

  munnai

  an overseer

  naga

  a mythological serpent

  nai

  a boss; an overseer

  nakleng

  a tough guy

  nibbana

  nirvana; release from worldly existence in Buddhist teaching

  nirat

  a poetic form combining travel, remembrance of loved one(s), and observation of nature

  phatthana

  development

  phleng phua chiwit

  songs for life

  pho khun

  a paternal ruler in the legendary mode of the Sukhothai kings

  pho liang

  patron

  pho yu pho kin

  ‘enough to live and eat’; sufficiency

  phrai

  in the traditional order, a freeman commoner bound to corvée

  phrai mangmi

  a rich commoner

  phrakhlang

  the royal treasury (and its minister) in traditional government

  phramahakasat

  a great king

  phu di

  ‘good people’; the aristocracy

  phu noi

  little (ordinary) people

  phu yai

  big (powerful) people

  phueng ton eng

  self-reliance

  phumibun

  a ‘man of merit’; a person of special or supernatural power, sometimes a leader of millenarian revolt

  prathet

  country

  prathetchat

  nation-state

  protégé

  someone under the protection of a colonial power (such as Britain or France) in accordance with the extraterritorial provisions of colonial treaties

  rachasap

  ‘royal language’; a specialized vocabulary for addressing kings

  rai

  a unit of area, = 0.16 hectare

  ratchathani

  abode of kings; the inner, core kingdom

  ratthaniyom

  a cultural mandate; a state edict

  sae

  a Chinese clan name

  sakdina

  ‘power over fields’; a traditional system of numerical ranks; sometimes used as a referent for the Thai equivalent of feudalism

  samakhom lap

  a secret society

  samakkhi(tham)

  unity

  sanchat thai

  of Thai nationality

  sawatdi

  greeting

  Seri Thai

  Free Thai, a resistance movement against the Japanese during the Second World War

  siwilai

  Thai adaptation of the word ‘civilized’, encapsulating aspirations for ‘progress’

  sukhaphiban

  sanitary district

  thamma

  dharma, the teachings of the Buddha; righteous conduct

  thammaracha

  dharmaraja, a ruler adhering to Buddhist morality

  thammathut

  an ambassador of thamma

  that

  a slave

  thesaphiban

  ‘control over territory’

  thotsaphit ratchatham

  the 10 laws of royal conduct

  thudong

  pilgrimage

  Traiphum

  ‘Three Worlds’; an early Buddhist cosmology, perhaps written in the 14th century

  wat

  a Buddhist temple; a monastery

  wihan

  an assembly hall in a Buddhist temple

  winaya

  the code of discipline for Buddhist monks

  Chronology

  1351 Legendary foundation of Ayutthaya

  1569 First fall of Ayutthaya to the Burmese

  1767 Second fall of Ayutthaya

  1782 New capital established at Bangkok; King Yotfa, Rama I, accedes

  1822 First trade treaty with Britain signed, negotiated by John Crawfurd

  1851 King Mongkut, Rama IV, accedes

  1855 Bowring treaty signed

  1863 French protectorate of Cambodia established

  1868 King Chulalongkorn, Rama V, accedes

  1872 Chulalongkorn visits India

  1874 Front Palace Incident takes place; Anglo-Siamese Treaty over Chiang Mai signed; edict abolishing slavery issued

  1885 Prince Prisdang’s memorial on a constitution prepared

  1890 Privy Purse Bureau established

  1892 Ministerial council formed

  1893 French gunboats threaten Bangkok (Paknam Incident); Ministry of Interior founded

  1897 Chulalongkorn makes first visit to Europe

  1901 Ubon phumibun revolt takes place

  1902 Revolts break out in Phrae and the southern states revolt; Sangha Act passed

  1905 Conscription edict issued

  1908 Sun Yat-Sen visits Bangkok

  1909 Anglo-Siamese Treaty finalizes Siam’s boundaries

  1910 King Vajiravudh, Rama VI, accedes; Chinese strike in Bangkok

  1912 Plot uncovered in military

  1913 Nationality Act passed; Surname Act passed; Vajiravudh’s The Jews of the East published

  1916 Chulalongkorn University founded

  1917 Siamese contingent established to fight on Allied side in Europe; first ‘political newspaper’ published

  1920 Prince Damrong’s Our Wars with the Burmese first published

  1923 Press Act passed; W. C. Dodd’s The Tai Race published

  1925 King Prajadhipok, Rama VII, accedes

  1927 People’s Party founded in Paris

  1928 Kulap Saipradit’s Luk phu chai (A Real Man) published; Khun Wichitmatra’s Lak Thai (Origins of the Thai) published; Wichit Wathakan’s Mahaburut (Great Men) published; Japanese goods boycotted

  1930 Ho Chi Minh (intermittently in Siam since 1928 organizing Vietnamese émigrés) forms Communist Party of Siam

  1932 Revolution converts absolute monarchy to constitutional monarchy (24 June)

  1933 Boworadet Revolt takes place

  1934 Thammasat University founded; Phibun becomes minister of defence and army chief

  1935 King Prajadhipok abdicates

  1936 Wichit Wathakan’s play Luat Suphan (Blood of Suphanburi) first performed

  1937 Japanese imports boycotted second time

  1938 Phibun becomes prime minister; Thai Rice Company formed

  1939 Siam renamed Thailand; series of state edicts starts; Constitution Monument completed

  1941 Japanese army enters Thailand; Thailand declares war on Allies; battle with French takes place

  1942 Phibun’s Sangha Act passed; Communist Party of Thailand refounded

  1944 Seri Thai network established; Phibun ousted as prime minister; Bangkok Bank founded

  1945 Seni Pramoj recalled from USA to front peace negotiations

  1946 Pridi’s constitution passed; King Ananda Mahidol, Rama VIII, dies; King Bhumibol Adulyadej, Rama IX, accedes; First May Day rally is held

  1947 First national labour federation formed; coup returns Phibun to power

  1948 Troubles in Muslim south after Haji Sulong’s arrest; Communist Party of Thailand (CPT) adopts Maoist strategy

  1949 Palace Rebellion occurs; Pridi flees

  1950 Phibun makes a sweep against Peace Movement

  1951 King Rama IX returns to Thailand; Silent or Radio Coup occurs; first US military aid arrives

  1954 Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) formed

  1955 Phibun’s democracy interlude occurs

  1957 Sarit Thanarat takes power by coup; Mitraphap highway completed

  1958 Sarit’s second coup and repression takes place

  1960 Thai troops fight in Laos

  1961 Khrong Chandawong executed; CPT forms first rural base in Phuphan

  1962 Sarit’s Sangha Act passed; Rusk-Khoman agreement confirms US security alliance

  1963 Sarit dies, succeeded by Thanom Kittikhachon; Social Science Review founded
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  1964 First air strike on Vietnam flown from Thailand

  1965 ‘First shot’ of communist insurgency

  1966 Jit Phumisak shot dead in Phuphan

  1967 Thai troops fight in South Vietnam; Hmong rebellion takes place in northern hills

  1968 Constitution restored

  1971 Thanom makes a coup against his own government and abrogates the constitution; Village Scouts formed

  1972 Students protest against Japanese goods, and for restoration of constitution

  1973 Student uprising fells Thanom (14 October)

  1974 Peasants Federation of Thailand (PFT) formed; workers strike at Dusit Thani Hotel

  1975 Elected governments headed by Kukrit and Seni Pramoj; Nawaphon and Red Gaurs formed; US troops start to depart

  1976 Massacre at Thammasat University and military coup occurs (6 October)

  1979 Elections and parliament restored

  1980 Prem Tinsulanond becomes prime minister; political policy to end insurgency launched

  1981 Failed April Fool’s Day Coup occurs

  1984 Baht devalued

  1985 A coup fails; Chamlong Srimuang elected mayor of Bangkok

  1986 Nidhi Eoseewong’s study of King Taksin published

  1987 Remnants of CPT arrested; Sujit Wongthet’s Jek pon Lao (Chinese Mixed with Lao) published

  1988 Chatichai Choonhavan becomes first elected prime minister since 1976; Nam Choan dam project cancelled

  1991 Military coup by National Peacekeeping Council (NPKC) takes place; Anand Panyarachun becomes prime minister

  1992 NPKC prime minister Suchinda Kraprayun forced out by street demonstrations of ‘Black May’; Kho Jo Ko protest against forest resettlement takes place; Phumpuang Duangjan dies; Chuan Leekpai becomes prime minister

  1994 Thai Culture Promotion Year celebrated; King Bhumibol’s sufficiency farming scheme instigated; Pak Mun dam completed

  1995 Constitution Drafting Assembly established; Assembly of the Poor founded

  1996 Banharn Silpa-archa ousted after no-confidence debate

  1997 Assembly of the Poor 99-day protest takes place; ‘People’s Constitution’ passed; economic crisis begins

  1998 Thai Rak Thai Party founded by Thaksin Shinawatra

  2001 Thaksin Shinawatra becomes prime minister

  2003 ‘War on drugs’ claims over 2500 lives

  2004 Militancy in the far south revived with Narathiwat armoury raid, Krue-se and Tak Bai incidents take place

  2006 Thaksin government overthrown by coup

  2007 New constitution accepted in national referendum; December elections usher in coalition headed by People Power Party (PPP) with Samak Sundaravej as prime minister

  2008 After Yellow Shirt demonstration closes Bangkok airport, PPP government removed by courts; Abhisit Vejjajiva of the Democrat Party becomes prime minister

  2009 Large military operation clears Red Shirt demonstration at Thai New Year

  2010 Massive Red Shirt demonstrations end in May 2010 with around a hundred deaths

  2011 Pheu Thai wins absolute majority at July election; Yingluck Shinawatra becomes Thailand’s first female prime minister

  2013 Amnesty bill designed to allow Thaksin to return fails after massive urban protest

  1 Before Bangkok

  The name Thailand was invented in 1939. The country it described, formerly called Siam, had been defined by borders drawn in the 1890s and 1900s. Its capital, Bangkok, had been founded in 1782 in succession to an older city, Ayutthaya, destroyed 15 years earlier. Ayutthaya had been one of the great port cities of Asia, with trading links stretching from Persia to China, and a political and economic hinterland focused on the basin of the Chao Phraya river system.

  The society of this hinterland had evolved over prior centuries in a pattern that was similar throughout Southeast Asia. The landscape was dominated by tropical and subtropical forest. People clustered in city-states. Society was organized around personal ties of service and protection. An era of warfare from the 13th to 16th centuries saw the emergence of a powerful militaristic kingship buttressed by Brahmanical ritual, trading profits, and systems for marshalling forced labour. But since the 17th century, this social and political order had begun to shift with the expansion of a commercial economy, a loosening of labour ties, the emergence of an aristocracy, and the new vitality of Theravada Buddhism.

  Peopling the Chao Phraya basin

  Mainland Southeast Asia is one of the most fertile and biodiverse areas of the planet. To the north, hill ranges divide the region from China and splay southwards, subdividing the region like the fingers of a hand (Map 1). The plains between these ranges are heated to tropical and subtropical temperatures, while five great rivers carry snowmelt from the high mountains of inner Asia, and monsoons sweep the region with four to six months of heavy rainfall a year. High temperatures and plentiful moisture create a spectacularly abundant environment. The natural vegetation is thick forest – deciduous in the north, merging into tropical rainforest further south, and dense mangrove along the coast. In the past, many species found this a much better habitat than people, including elephants, wild cattle, deer, monkeys, tigers, snakes, crocodiles, and a vast range of parasitical insects and micro-organisms.

  Map 1: Mainland Southeast Asia.

  The human population remained sparse until late in the region’s history. There are traces of hunter-gatherers sojourning in mountain caves up to 180 000 years ago, but the traces are few and faint. Settlements increased with the coming of rice agriculture and bronze from around 2500 BCE, and even more with the arrival of iron around 500 BCE.

  These metal age settlements were sited on a raised mound and surrounded by a moat, perhaps for defence, perhaps for water storage. The people grew rice, kept cattle and dogs, continued to hunt and gather in the forests, and traded valuable goods, such as beads and ceremonial drums, over long distances. Archaeologists suspect that new people may have spread through the region in this era, bringing rice agriculture, metalworking, domestic animals, and the languages we now call the Mon-Khmer group. They probably spread along the coasts, but also forged inland along the rivers to the upland plains, which were easier to clear and healthier to settle.

  From around the last century BCE, these people had trade contacts with India, which eventually brought ideas and technologies from a region where urban centres had already developed. Larger settlements began to appear, especially in the lower Mekong basin, and to the west in an area stretching from the lower Chao Phraya basin across the hills on the neck of the peninsula to its western coast. In the 6th century CE, by adapting scripts borrowed from southern India, these two areas began to write the languages of Khmer and Mon, respectively. In the Khmer country, the farmers became expert at trapping and storing water from rainfall, lakes, and rivers to support a dense population. Rulers marshalled this labour – along with Indian ideas about urban living, construction, religion, and statecraft – to create new urban centres, state systems, and monarchies. The magnificent capital at Angkor became a model that was honoured and mimicked by smaller centres scattered westwards across the Khorat Plateau and the Chao Phraya river system.

  This early Mon-Khmer tradition was anchored on the coast and spread inland. A second inflow of people and culture came from the north through the hills.

  The group of languages now known as Tai probably originated among peoples who lived south of the Yangzi River before the Han Chinese spread from the north into the area from the 6th century BCE. As the Han armies came to control China’s southern coastline in the first few centuries CE, some of these peoples retreated into the high valleys in the hills behind the coast. Then, over many centuries, some moved westwards, spreading Tai language dialects along a 1000-kilometre arc from the Guangxi interior to the Brahmaputra valley. They probably took with them some expertise in growing rice using the water flow from mountain streams. Certainly they chose to settle in the mountain basins where this technique could be put to good use. Th
eir communities became identified with rice growing. They may also have acquired some martial skills from their encounters with the Chinese because other peoples saw them as fierce warriors. Some of the earlier, mainly Mon-Khmer, inhabitants retreated upwards into the hills. Others coexisted with this farmer-warrior elite, often adopting a Tai language and gradually losing their own separate identity.