Thailand Historical Setting
Stone Wheel of Law, Dvaravati Period (sixth-ninth centuries
AD), found at Phra Pathom Chedi, Nakhon Pathom Province.
LITTLE IS KNOWN of the earliest inhabitants of what is now
Thailand, but 5,000-year-old archaeological sites in the
northeastern part of the country are believed to contain the
oldest evidence of rice cultivation and bronze casting in Asia
and perhaps in the world. In early historical times, a succession
of tribal groups controlled what is now Thailand. The Mon and
Khmer peoples established powerful kingdoms that included large
areas of the country. They absorbed from contact with South Asian
peoples religious, social, political, and cultural ideas and
institutions that later influenced the development of Thailand's
culture and national identity.
The Tai, a people who originally lived in southwestern China,
migrated into mainland Southeast Asia over a period of many
centuries. The first mention of their existence in the region is
a twelfth-century A.D. inscription at the Khmer temple complex of
Angkor Wat in Cambodia, which refers to syam, or "dark
brown" people (the origin of the term Siam) as vassals of
the Khmer monarch. In 1238 a Tai chieftain declared his
independence from the Khmer and established a kingdom at
Sukhothai in the broad valley of the Mae Nam (river) Chao Phraya,
at the center of modern Thailand. Sukhothai was succeeded in the
fourteenth century by the kingdom of Ayutthaya. The Burmese
invaded Ayutthaya and in 1767 destroyed the capital, but two
national heroes, Taksin and Chakkri, soon expelled the invaders
and reunified the country under the Chakkri Dynasty.
Over the centuries Thai national identity evolved around a
common language and religion and the institution of the monarchy.
Although the inhabitants of Thailand are a mixture of Tai, Mon,
Khmer, and other ethnic groups, most speak a language of the Tai
family. A Tai language alphabet, based on Indian and Khmer
scripts, developed early in the fourteenth century. Later in the
century a famous monarch, Ramathibodi, made Theravada Buddhism
the official religion of his kingdom, and Buddhism continued into
the twentieth century as a dominant factor in the nation's
social, cultural, and political life. Finally, the monarchy,
buttressed ideologically by Hindu and Buddhist mythology, was a
focus for popular loyalties for more than seven centuries. In the
late twentieth century the monarchy remained central to national
unity.
During the nineteenth century, European expansionism, rather
than Thailand's traditional enemies, posed the greatest threat to
the kingdom's survival. Thai success in preserving the country's
independence (it was the only Southeast Asian country to do so)
was in part a result of the desire of Britain and France for a
stable buffer state separating their dominions in Burma, Malaya,
and Indochina. More important, however, was the willingness of
Thailand's monarchs, Mongkut (Rama IV, 1851-68) and Chulalongkorn
(Rama V, 1868-1910), to negotiate openly with the European powers
and to adopt European-style reforms that modernized the country
and won it sovereign status among the world's nations. Thailand
(then known as Siam) paid a high price for its independence,
however: loss of suzerainty over Cambodia and Laos to France and
cession of the northern states of the Malay Peninsula to Britain.
By 1910 the area under Thai control was a fraction of what it had
been a century earlier.
In the early decades of the twentieth century, Thailand's
political system, armed forces, schools, and economy underwent
drastic changes. Many Thai studied overseas, and a small,
Western-educated elite with less traditional ideas emerged. In
1932 a bloodless coup d'etat by military officers and civil
servants ended the absolute monarchy and inaugurated Thailand's
constitutional era. Progress toward a stable, democratic
political system since that time, however, has been erratic.
Politics has been dominated by rival military-bureaucratic
cliques headed by powerful generals. These cliques have initiated
repeated coups d'etat and have imposed prolonged periods of
martial law. Parliamentary institutions, as defined by Thailand's
fourteen constitutions between 1932 and 1987, and competition
among civilian politicians have generally been facades for
military governments.
Data as of September 1987
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