Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
History
Thai history began with immigrants from all directions exchanging dominance over the
land. Eventually the country fused a national identity around language, religion and mon-
archy. While the kings resisted colonisation from the expansionist West, they ceded their
absolute grip on the country when challenged by forces within. Since the transition to a
constitutional monarchy in 1932, the military has predominantly ruled the country with a
few democratic hiccups in between. Thailand's history is still unfolding in the political
dramas of today.
Ancient History
Little evidence remains of the cultures that existed in Thailand before the middle of the 1st
millennium AD.
Homo erectus
fossils in Thailand's northern province of Lampang date
back at least 500,000 years, and the country's most important archaeological site is Ban
Chiang, outside Udon Thani, which provides evidence of one of the world's oldest agrari-
an societies. It is believed that the Mekong River Valley and Khorat Plateau were inhab-
ited as far back as 10,000 years ago by farmers and bronze-workers. Cave paintings in Pha
Taem National Park near Ubon Ratchathani date back some 3000 years.
Relief carvings at Angkor Wat depict Tai mercenaries serving in Khmer armies. The Khmer called them
'Syam'. The name was transliterated to 'Siam' by the English trader James Lancaster in 1592.
Early Empires
Starting around the 10th century, the 'Tai' people, who are considered the ancestors of the
contemporary Thais, began emigrating from southern China into present-day Southeast
Asia. These immigrants came in consecutive waves and spoke Tai-Kadai, a family of
monosyllabic and tonal languages said to be the most significant ethno-linguistic group in
Southeast Asia. Some settled in the river valleys of modern-day Thailand while others
chose parts of modern-day Laos and the Shan state of Myanmar.
They settled in villages as farmers, hunters and traders and organised themselves into
administrative units known as
meu·ang,
under the rule of a lord, which became the build-
ing block of the Tai state. Over time, the Tai expanded from the northern mountain valleys
into the central plains and northeastern plateau, where there existed several important trad-
