Thai history

[SunWuKong]

i found a very comprehensive site on Thai history. it also covers things like Thai myths and legends, weapons, and the Thai royalty, amongst other things. check it out.

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BC 600 - AD 1900 ...In the beginning...

The peoples who finally became the nation of Thailand where known as the 'Ai Lo' by the Chinese, and as Nanchaoans by others, first migrated out of northern India almost 4,000 years ago. They traveled up towards southern China skirting round the mountainous regions of Tibet and entering the Hunan province of China. battling the imperial Chinese army for over 50 years before the Imperial court allowed the Nanchaoans to stay if they agreed to pay tribute.

When Tibet moved against China in a serious of political wars based on the rejection of China to allow a royal member of the Chinese imperial court to become wife to one of the kings of Tibet.

The Nanchaoans like the Tibeto- Burmans were the unfortunate buffer between both countries, but an invading Mongol army from China's eastern borders had swept into the region, the Nanchaoans moved out after 400 hundred years, not being able to compete against the invading Mongol armies and defending their backs against the Tibetans. Throughout this period the Tai peoples had been gradually migrating southwards down the great river valleys of mainland Southeast Asia and settling among the Khmer, Mon and Burman populations whom they encountered on the way. By the 12th century they had established several small states in Upper Burma (Shans), the Mekong valley (Laos) and the Chao Phraya valley (Thais).

Thailand before the Thais.

The area covered by the modern state of Thailand, known until 1939 as Siam, is one of considerable diversity. The term Thai or Siamese is therefore primarily not ethnic, but political, denoting a subject of the king of Thailand, secondarily linguistic, meaning a speaker of the Thai language, and thirdly cultural, signifying a product of the culture to which the various ethnic groups that have formerly lived or live today in the region have all contributed.

The term Tai is generally used to denote the various related peoples, among them the Shans, the Laos and the Siamese Thais, who, as early as the 7th century, began a gradual process of migration into mainland Southeast Asia from southwest China and of whom the Siamese Thai branch now form the majority of the population of the kingdom of Thailand.

Trading relations between the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia go back far into the prehistoric period, but the earliest evidence of Indian influence penetrating into Southeast Asia in the wake of this trade dates from the Its. century AD with the formation in mainland Southeast Asia, the Malay peninsula and the western islands of the Indonesian archipelago of states in which, the kings in order to legitimise their power, had adopted either Hinduism or Buddhism, together with other Indian ideas of kingship, statecraft, law and administration, and forms of religious art and architecture derived from Indian models.

Among the earliest of these kingdoms was the state called Funan by the Chinese. According again to the Chinese sources, Funan was replaced as the leading power in the Mekong valley by one of its vassals, the Khmer state of Zhenla, which was centered round Bassac in southern Laos. When Funan was being threatened by the rising power of Zhenla, the dominant people of central Thailand seem to have been the Mons, an ancient people, related to the Khmers, who probably settled in the region at about the same time. While under the rule of Funan, the Mons adopted Indian religion, chiefly Theravada Buddhism. unlike the predominantly Hindu Khmers. There appear to have been numerous small Mon states in the region, of which the most important was Dvaravati. Little is known about Dvaravati, and even its name occurs only once, in an inscription that refers to the 'Lord of Dvaravati'. Many believe that it was a federation of Mon states rather than a single state, but the term is now applied to all Mon art and culture of this period in Thailand. The principal Mon-Dvaravati centers were U Thong, Lopburi, Khu Bua and Nakhon Pathom. In the north in the Lamphun area was the Mon kingdom of Haripunjaya, called Hariphunchai in Thai.

Haripunjaya is traditionally believed to have been founded in the late 7th century by a group of holy men at whose invitation the Buddhist ruler of Lop Buri sent his daughter Cham Tewi with a large retinue of Mons to Lamphun to be the first ruler of the new state. At about the time that Haripunjaya was founded, Dvaravati seems to have become politically, though not culturally, subject to the great maritime empire of Sri Vijaya, the capital of which is thought to have been at Palembang on the east coast of Sumatra and which at various times between the 7th and 13th century extended its rule over much of western Indonesia, the Malay peninsula and southern Thailand as far as the Kra Isthmus and other parts of the coast of the Gulf of Thailand.

In the early eleventh century the eastern part of the Mon realm fell under Khmer rule, while the western part was conquered by the Burmese King Anawrahta of Pagan (ruled 1044 -77). Haripunjaya also fell under Khmer rule in the II century and was finally conquered at the end of the 13th by King Mangrai, ruler of the northern kingdom of Lan Na. (Lanna).

Finally after a serious of battles they succumbed to Khmer domination, but by early 13th century, they outnumber the titular overlords; it was at this point that several groups united, proclaimed their freedom and in 1238 founded the independent kingdom of Sukhothai, (Dawn of happiness) in the Pali language. Under its second ruler, King Ramkhamhaeng, Sukhothai expanded its empire pushing the Khmer as far back as Malaysia and the Philippines. The kingdom of Sukhothai is remembered for its culture rather than political power. in a brief but brilliant period, it was the scene of a 'golden age' that saw the introduction of the Theravada Buddhism as the state religion, the creation of the Thai alphabet and the establishment of a paternal monarchy that made a vivid contrast to the aloof Khmer god-kings of Ankor.

[teaz0r]

Tai means free.
Thailand = Land of the Free

Lan = million
Na = paddy fields
Lanna - Land of million paddy fields

[hooligan]

i went to a thai culture night at my school. it was really interesting because the backdrop was all about the student protests during the ... 1960s? i learned a lot that night.

[teaz0r]

Originally Posted by hooligan

i went to a thai culture night at my school. it was really interesting because the backdrop was all about the student protests during the ... 1960s? i learned a lot that night.

october 14th?
the student's demonstration?
after the death of a field marshal?

<3

[hooligan]

Originally Posted by teaz0r

october 14th?
the student's demonstration?
after the death of a field marshal?

<3

yeah! or something, i'm going to have to dig out my show handout thingie, but i think that was it.

[krome]

Fascinating. I think the Siam-Thailand name change happened in 1939. And they make really good food too! Who don't like Thai food?

[younggiftedandblack]

Originally Posted by teaz0r

Tai means free.
Thailand = Land of the Free

Lan = million
Na = paddy fields
Lanna - Land of million paddy fields

That's cool. I was always told it meant Land of smiles.

[teaz0r]

no. is just dubbed as land of smiles.
our airline is smooth as silk.

[thaite]

There's a restaurant in Phoenix called Thai Lana. Yum Yum.

[teaz0r]

Originally Posted by thaite

There's a restaurant in Phoenix called Thai Lana. Yum Yum.

does is serve northern style food?
Lanna is in the north.

[thaite]

Not really. Pretty much every restaurant around here serves Bangkok style.

[hooligan]

Originally Posted by thaite

Not really. Pretty much every restaurant around here serves Bangkok style.

what's the difference?

[amietron]

Originally Posted by hooligan

what's the difference?

...more peanuts?

i've only had thai food twice. =O

[teaz0r]

Originally Posted by hooligan

what's the difference?

most restaurants in the us serve what
is called "royal thai cusine" which is
essentially bangkok/central-thai food.

northern cusine is eaten with sticky rice,
as opposed to normal jasmine rice. northern
food is much more spicier, and doesn't have
as much coconut milk as bangkok food.

[amietron]

iiiii want to try northern thai food!