the name thailand was invented in 1939. The country it described,formerly called Siam, had been defined by borders drawn in the 1890 and 1900. Its capital Bangkok, had been founded in 1782 in succession to an older city, Ayutthaya, destroyed 15 years earlier. Ayutthaya had been one of the great port cities of Asia, with trading links stretching from Persia to Chaina and a political and economic hinterland focused on the basin of the choa phraya river system