Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
History & Politics
Thai history begins as a story of migrants heading into a frontier land claimed by dis-
tant empires for trade, forced labour and patronage. Eventually the nascent country
develops its own powerful entities that unite feuding localities and begins to fuse a na-
tional identity around language, religion and monarchy. The kings resist colonisation
from the expansionist Western powers on its border only to cede their absolute grip
on the country when challenged from forces within. Since the transition to a constitu-
tional monarchy in 1932, the military predominantly rules the country with a few
democratic hiccups in between.
