In addition to being the place of pioneering achievements in architecture and art, language and writing, religion and law, the historic towns of the Sukhothai Kingdom were home to accomplished innovators in hydraulic engineering. They modified the landscape of the kingdom in such a way that water was dammed; reservoirs, ponds and canals were constructed; flooding controlled; and water was brought to serve a variety of agricultural, economic and ritual functions as well as to provide the towns’ inhabitants with water for their daily lives, avenues of communication, and protection in the form of city moats. From that day onwards until the Rattanakosin period, the kings of Thailand have been acknowledged for their ability to control the kingdom’s water.