Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The Age of Politics
European Influence & the 1932 Revolution
Facing increasing pressure from British colonies in neighbouring Burma and Malaya, in
1855 Rama IV (King Mongkut; r 1851-68) signed the Bowring Treaty with Britain. This
agreement marked Siam's break from exclusive economic involvement with China, a rela-
tionship that had dominated the previous century.
The signing of this document, and the subsequent ascension of Rama V (King Chu-
lalongkorn; r 1868-1910) led to the largest period of European influence on Siam. Wishing
to head off any potential invasion plans, Rama V ceded Laos and Cambodia to the French,
and northern Malaya to the British between 1893 and 1910. The two European powers, for
their part, were happy to use Siam as a buffer state between their respective colonial do-
mains.
Rama V gave Bangkok 120 new roads during his reign, inspired by street plans from
Batavia (the Dutch colonial centre now known as Jakarta), Calcutta, Penang and Singapore.
Germans were hired to design and build railways emanating from the capital, while the
Dutch contributed the design of Bangkok's Hualamphong train station, today considered a
minor masterpiece of civic art deco.
In 1893 Bangkok opened its first railway line, extending 22km from Bangkok to Pak
Nam, where Mae Nam Chao Phraya enters the Gulf of Siam. A 20km electric tramway
opened the following year, paralleling the left bank of Mae Nam Chao Phraya.
Americans established Siam's first printing press along with the kingdom's first newspa-
per in 1864. The first Siamese-language news- paper,
Darunovadha,
came along in 1874,
and by 1900 Bangkok boasted three daily English-language newspapers: the
Bangkok
Times, Siam Observer
and
Siam Free Press.
Rama IV was the first monarch to show his face to the Thai public.
As Bangkok prospered, many wealthy merchant families sent their children to study in
Europe. Students of humbler socio-economic status who excelled at school had access to
government scholarships for overseas study as well. In 1924 a handful of Siamese students
in Paris formed the Promoters of Political Change, a group that met to discuss ideas for a
future Siamese government modelled on Western democracy.
