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Thailand The Chakkri Dynasty
With the death of Taksin, the Thai throne fell to Chakkri, a
general who had played a leading role with Taksin in the struggle
against the Burmese. As King Yot Fa (Rama I, 1782-1809), he
founded the present Thai ruling house and moved the court to
Bangkok, the modern capital (see
table 2, Appendix). During an
energetic reign, he revived the country's economy and restored
what remained of the great artistic heritage lost in the
destruction of Ayutthaya. The king is credited with composing a
new edition of the Ramakian (the Thai version of the
Ramayana) to replace manuscripts of the Thai national epic
that were lost in the conflagration.
In the following years Thai influence grew until challenged
by Western powers. In 1795 the Thai seized the provinces of
Battambang and Siem Reap in Cambodia, where throughout the first
half of the next century Chakkri kings would resist Vietnamese
incursions. The conflict between the Thai and the Vietnamese was
resolved finally by a compromise providing for the establishment
of a joint protectorate over Cambodia. The Thai also pressed
their claim to suzerainty in the Malay state of Kedah in the face
of growing British interest in the peninsula. As a result of the
Anglo-Burmese War (1824-26), Britain annexed territory in the
region that had been contested by the Thai and the Burmese for
centuries. This move led to the signing of the Burney Treaty in
1826, an Anglo-Thai agreement that allowed British merchants
modest trade concessions in the kingdom. In 1833 the Thai reached
a similar understanding with the United States.
Chakkri expansionism had been halted in all directions by the
end of the reign of Nang Klao (Rama III, 1824-51) as tributary
provinces began to slip away from Bangkok's control and Western
influence grew. In 1850 Nang Klao spurned British and American
requests for more generous trading privileges similar to those
that Western powers had exacted by force from China. Succeeding
Thai monarchs, however, were less successful in controlling
Western economic influence in their country.
The first three Chakkri kings, by succeeding each other
without bloodshed, had brought the kingdom a degree of political
stability that had been lacking in the Ayutthaya period. There
was, however, no rule providing for automatic succession to the
throne. If there was no uparaja at the time of the king's
death--and this was frequently the case--the choice of a new
monarch drawn from the royal family was left to the Senabodi, the
council of senior officials, princes, and Buddhist prelates that
assembled at the death of a king. It was such a council that
chose Nang Klao's successor.
Data as of September 1987
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