The name Pattaya evolved from the march of Phraya Tak (later King Taksin) and his army from Ayutthaya to Chanthaburi, which took place before the fall of the former capital to the Burmese invaders in 1767.
Pattaya was a small fishing village until the 1960s. Then during the Vietnam War American servicemen stationed at nearby U-tapao or other US bases in Thailand started