Chulalongkorn and the foundations of modern ThailandMongkut was succeeded by his 15-year-old son Chulalongkorn (Rama V; ruled 1868–1910). Because of Chulalongkorn's youth, the country was ruled by a regent until the prince came of age in 1873. Chulalongkorn was faced with continuing Western pressure, and he maintained his father's policy of making territorial concessions to the West in the hope of retaining Siam's overall independence. In 1893, after French gunboats forced their way up the Chao Phraya River to Bangkok, he was forced to cede all Lao territories east of the Mekong River to France, and in 1907 the French took over three territories in northwestern Cambodia and Lao territory west of the Mekong that had been under Siamese suzerainty. Two years later the Siamese government lost rights over four Malay states to the British.
At the same time as he sought to fend off the Western powers from without, Chulalongkorn undertook major reforms within the country. These were often difficult to achieve, since they undercut the power bases of influential men at court. The young king proceeded gradually, assisted by several of his brothers and half-brothers; many of these—in particular the brilliant and energetic Prince Damrong Rajanubhab—were men of outstanding ability. The internal reforms carried through during Chulalongkorn's reign included the reorganization of the government into ministries with functional responsibilities and the creation of a centralized bureaucracy, the institution of a uniform and centralized system of administration over the outlying provinces, the systematization of government revenue collection, the abolition of slavery and labour-service requirements, the establishment of law courts and reformation of the judiciary, the introduction of a modern school system, and the construction of railways and telegraph systems. In addition, he backed a major reorganization of the Buddhist monkhood, bringing all monks throughout the country into the sangha as a nationwide religious hierarchy that was linked at its apex to the king. By any standards, the sheer scale of Chulalongkorn's reforms are remarkable, and his reign is commonly regarded as one of the greatest in Thai history.
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