Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
From the Beginning
Ayuthaya & Thonburi
Before it became the capital of Siam - as Thailand was then known - in 1782, the tiny set-
tlement known as Bang Makok was merely a back- water village opposite the larger Thon-
buri Si Mahasamut on the banks of Mae Nam Chao Phraya, not far from the Gulf of Siam.
Thonburi had been founded by a group of wealthy Siamese during the reign of King
Chakkraphat (r 1548-68) as an important relay point for sea- and river-borne trade between
the Gulf of Siam and Ayuthaya, 86km upriver. Ayuthaya served as the royal capital of Siam
from 1350 to 1767, and throughout this time European powers tried without success to col-
onise the kingdom.
Eventually, an Asian power subdued the capital when the Burmese sacked Ayuthaya in
1767. Many Siamese were marched off to Pegu (Bago, Myanmar today), where they were
forced to serve the Burmese court. However, the remaining Siamese regrouped under
Phraya Taksin, a half-Chinese, half-Thai general who decided to move the capital further
south along Mae Nam Chao Phraya, closer to the Gulf of Siam. Thonburi was a logical
choice for the new capital.
King Taksin's execution was in the custom reserved for royalty - sealing him inside a velvet sack to ensure
no royal blood touched the ground before beating him to death with a scented sandalwood club.
The Chakri Dynasty & the Birth of Bangkok
Taksin eventually succumbed to mental illness and was executed, and one of his key gener-
als, Phraya Chakri, came to power and was crowned in 1782 as Phraphutthayotfa. Fearing
Thonburi to be vulnerable to Burmese attack from the west, Chakri moved the Siamese
capital across the river to Bang Makok (Olive Plum riverbank), named for the trees that
grew there in abundance. As the first monarch of the new Chakri royal dynasty - which
continues to this day - Phraya Chakri was posthumously dubbed Rama I.
The first task set before the planners of the new city was to create hallowed ground for
royal palaces and Buddhist monasteries. Astrol- ogers divined that construction of the new
royal palace should begin on 6 May 1782, and ceremonies consecrated Rama I's transfer to
a temporary new residence a month later.
In time, Ayuthaya's control of tribute states in Laos and western Cambodia was trans-
ferred to Bangkok, and thousands of prisoners of war were brought to the capital to work.
