The History
Thailand there lived in Central Thailand or the Menam Basin, in or about the 5th to the 7th century A.D., a people probably akin to the Mons of Lower Burma. They are known archaeologically by the name of their kingdom, the so-called Dvaravati. Later in the 11th century the Dvaravati kingdom was under the domination for a time being of the Javanese-Sumatran Empire of Sri Vijaya, later on degenerated in power and held on to a lingering life as a remnant in southern Thailand and which two centuries later became part of modern Thailand. The Dvaravati kingdom in Central Thailand subsequently in the 12th century A.D. became part of the Khmer Empire and later on in the 13th century A.D. passed from the rule of the now decaying Khmer Empire to that of the Thai of Sukhodaya which finally became the nucleus of the present Thai kingdom.
Though there are many books written both in Thai and other foreign languages on the origin of the Thai race and of their earliest homes the subject is so shadowy a field that we have to tread with weariness The following are hard facts not because they fit in with somebody' s personal inclination but because I have been able to cull them
Further south, in which is now Central Thailand in the Menam valley or Chao Phya Basin, there were evidently some settlements of the Thai people. At first they were minority groups, which probably late on, formed themselves into semi -independent principalities under the dominant rule of the Khmer Empire in about the 12th century A.D. The Thai of Center Thailand are named Thai-Noi or Minor Thai in contradistinction to the Shans of Upper Burma who are named Tai Long or Thai-Yai i.e. Major Thai. it is a traditional belief that the Thai-Noi or Minor Thai of central Thailand came from the Thai of Northern Thailand and the Lao kingdom. This may be so but on the other hand there are indications that the Shans of Upper Burma might have had a share, if not much, in making up the ingredients of the Thai-Noi too.
In recounting the early history of the Thai of Thailand, we deal with the common history of all Thai-speaking people to an identical extent as with the history of Laos and Shans in particular. Nobody, I believe, knows for certain the earliest home of the ancestors of the Thai-speaking people. Some authorities believe that the Thai's first historical appearance was in China some three thousand years ago. There are certain surmises that their earliest home was somewhere in the vast tract of land in West China, and from that time onwards, they appeared frequently in the Chinese records as "the Barbarians" south of the yang-tse king river. Whether "the Barbarians" as recorded by the Chinese, were the ancestors of the Thai is a matter of conjecture . However we will pass over this until we reach more definite ground in the 7th century A.D., evidence of a kingdom known to the Chinese as Nan-chao. The name Nan-chao is a hybrid combination of two words . "Nan" means south in Chinese, and " Chao " is a Thai word meaning lord, or in its present day meaning among the Thai , the Laos and the Shans, a prince.
Before the kingdom of Nan-chao came into being , the Thai people in Southern China evidently in more or less independent groups . They were called by their neighbors by various names, and chief among them was the Ai-Lao tribe. The present name of the Lao kingdom and people is said to have derived from this ancient word Ai-Lao. There were before the 7th century A.D., according to the Chinese , six chieftainships of the Ai-Lao people in Yunnan , and one of the southernmost of these six chieftainships , which was called by the Chinese "lok chao" or six lords , succeeded in unifying the other five chieftainships and the Thai kingdom of Nan-chao was born . There are challenges by some scholars that Nan-chao was probably a kingdom of Lolos , a tribe akin to the Tibetans who undoubtedly mixed freely with the Thai in Southern China. Here we enter into the realm of academic controversy which we had better leave forthwith .
Judging from the description of the Nan-Chao kingdom as chronicled by the Chinese, We can say that Nan-Chao kingdom was a comparatively powerful state with a high level of culture. It lasted for some seven centuries until it fell in 1253 A.D. to Kublai Khan. the great Mogul emperor of China. The Nan-Chao kingdom during the zenith of her power, sometime in the 9th century A.D. might have extended her suzerainty southward to the sparsely populated territories in the North of Indo-China as hinted vaguely in the many earliest recorded histories and legends of the Thai, the Laos and the Shans. Hall in his "A history of South -East Asia" says that the Tai (or Thai) never ceased to be on the move. (from the earlier days of Nan-Chao) , and slowly that infiltrated along the rivers and down the valleys of Central Indo-China. Small groups settled among the Khmers, the Mons and the Burmese, and, long before that, they had been crossing into the Menam valley (in central Thailand) from the river Mekong and undoubtedly from the river Salween too.
Confining ourselves to the history of the Thai of Thailand, some tribes of the Thai migrated at different times and from different directions into present Thailand a thousand or more years ago. These are conjectural statements, compounded from inadequate evidence. At first they settled themselves in what is now the Northern Area of Thailand in many small independent states ruled by their own chief or kings. Not until the latter part of the 13th century A.D. Did the Northern Area of Thailand, with Chiang Mai as its capital, became a relatively fair-sized kingdom under its first king Mengrai.
Further south, in which is now Central Thailand in the Menam valley or Chao Phya Basin, there were evidently some settlements of the Thai people. At first they were minority groups, which probably late on, formed themselves into semi -independent principalities under the dominant rule of the Khmer Empire in about the 12th century A.D. The Thai of Center Thailand are named Thai-Noi or Minor Thai in contradistinction to the Shans of Upper Burma who are named Tai Long or Thai-Yai i.e. Major Thai. it is a traditional belief that the Thai-Noi or Minor Thai of central Thailand came from the Thai of Northern Thailand and the Lao kingdom. This may be so but on the other hand there are indications that the Shans of Upper Burma might have had a share, if not much, in making up the ingredients of the Thai-Noi too.
There arose in the earlier part of the 13th century A.D. two chief of the Thai-Noi who wrested from the Khmers the area of Central Thailand and one of them became the first Thai King of Sukhodaya, a town some 250 kilometers as the crow-flies northward from Bangkok. Under the reign of its third king. Ram Khan hang the Great, a contemporary and friend of the aforesaid Thai King Nengrai of Northern Thailand, the Kingdom of Sukhidaya became a relatively large empire stretching southward through the length of the Malay Peninsula which was the last remnant of the once Javanese Sumatran Empire of Sri Vijaya. Northward, the Sukhodaya Empire touched that of Northern Thailand where reigned, as already mentioned King Mengrai. Eastward but in northerly direction, thought what is now the North-East Area of Thailand which was at that time partly under the spheres of influence of the now decaying Khmer Empire and of the Lao kingdom, the Sukhdaya Empire of King Ram kamhang reached further beyond the river Mekong. Westward it included a part of the Mon country of what is now Lower Burma. Ram Khamhang's outstanding achievements to the present day are his invention of the Thai alphabet in 1283 A.D. ,and the adoption of Buddhism of they Ceylonese's Sect which has remained to this day. He also introduced the manufacturer of glazed pottery by importing artisans, no doubt from China.
In 1350 A.D. there arose a new Thai power in the south of Sukhodaya proper, Ramadhibodi I, known vulgarly as King U-Thong, the first King of Ayudhya. Some 90 years later Sukhodaya was politically incorporated with Ayudhya. Ethnologically and culturally by this time the Thai had mixed to a not less appreciable degree with the Mons and the Khnurs, their fore remners in this part of Thailand The Mons were Southern Buddhistic in culture while the latter were more Hindu-ized and at times northern Buddhistic. In the south, the Thai were influenced in culture more or less in certain localities by the Malays.
Northern Thailand where King Mengrai reigned as its first king in the 13th century A.D. was ruled by many succeeding king; but later on in the latter part of the 16th century A.D. It became a part of the Burmese Empire for some two centuries. Under Burmese influence the Northern Thai acquired certain characteristics of culture unlike those of the other parts of the country. Northern Thailand was finally relieved from the alien hold and formed part of the present kingdom of Thailand.
Thailand, with Ayudhya as its capital and its succession of kings both weak and strong,endured for 417 years and came to an end in 1767 A.D. through a war with Burma. One of the general of the last king of Ayudhya, known vulgarly as Phya Tak Sin, succeeded by an heroic in driving the enemies out of the country. He became a king of Thailand but moved his capital from Ayudhya, which by now was in ruins and depopulated, to Thon Buri, a city on the right bank of River Menam (Chao phya) of the present Greater city of Bangkok King Tak Sin was succeeded by king Rama 1 of the present Chakri dynasty in 1782 A.D. Not until the reign of King Mongkut, Rama IV (1851-1868 A.D.) and his great son King Chulalongkorn, Rama v (1868-1910 A.D.) did Thailand pass from her medieval period and enter a new phase of progressive.
The History
Thailand there lived in Central Thailand or the Menam Basin, in or about the 5th to the 7th century A.D., a people probably akin to the Mons of Lower Burma. They are known archaeologically by the name of their kingdom, the so-called Dvaravati. Later in the 11th century the Dvaravati kingdom was under the domination for a time being of the Javanese-Sumatran Empire of Sri Vijaya, later on degenerated in power and held on to a lingering life as a remnant in southern Thailand and which two centuries later became part of modern Thailand. The Dvaravati kingdom in Central Thailand subsequently in the 12th century A.D. became part of the Khmer Empire and later on in the 13th century A.D. passed from the rule of the now decaying Khmer Empire to that of the Thai of Sukhodaya which finally became the nucleus of the present Thai kingdom.
Though there are many books written both in Thai and other foreign languages on the origin of the Thai race and of their earliest homes the subject is so shadowy a field that we have to tread with weariness The following are hard facts not because they fit in with somebody' s personal inclination but because I have been able to cull them
Further south, in which is now Central Thailand in the Menam valley or Chao Phya Basin, there were evidently some settlements of the Thai people. At first they were minority groups, which probably late on, formed themselves into semi -independent principalities under the dominant rule of the Khmer Empire in about the 12th century A.D. The Thai of Center Thailand are named Thai-Noi or Minor Thai in contradistinction to the Shans of Upper Burma who are named Tai Long or Thai-Yai i.e. Major Thai. it is a traditional belief that the Thai-Noi or Minor Thai of central Thailand came from the Thai of Northern Thailand and the Lao kingdom. This may be so but on the other hand there are indications that the Shans of Upper Burma might have had a share, if not much, in making up the ingredients of the Thai-Noi too.
In recounting the early history of the Thai of Thailand, we deal with the common history of all Thai-speaking people to an identical extent as with the history of Laos and Shans in particular. Nobody, I believe, knows for certain the earliest home of the ancestors of the Thai-speaking people. Some authorities believe that the Thai's first historical appearance was in China some three thousand years ago. There are certain surmises that their earliest home was somewhere in the vast tract of land in West China, and from that time onwards, they appeared frequently in the Chinese records as "the Barbarians" south of the yang-tse king river. Whether "the Barbarians" as recorded by the Chinese, were the ancestors of the Thai is a matter of conjecture . However we will pass over this until we reach more definite ground in the 7th century A.D., evidence of a kingdom known to the Chinese as Nan-chao. The name Nan-chao is a hybrid combination of two words . "Nan" means south in Chinese, and " Chao " is a Thai word meaning lord, or in its present day meaning among the Thai , the Laos and the Shans, a prince.
Before the kingdom of Nan-chao came into being , the Thai people in Southern China evidently in more or less independent groups . They were called by their neighbors by various names, and chief among them was the Ai-Lao tribe. The present name of the Lao kingdom and people is said to have derived from this ancient word Ai-Lao. There were before the 7th century A.D., according to the Chinese , six chieftainships of the Ai-Lao people in Yunnan , and one of the southernmost of these six chieftainships , which was called by the Chinese "lok chao" or six lords , succeeded in unifying the other five chieftainships and the Thai kingdom of Nan-chao was born . There are challenges by some scholars that Nan-chao was probably a kingdom of Lolos , a tribe akin to the Tibetans who undoubtedly mixed freely with the Thai in Southern China. Here we enter into the realm of academic controversy which we had better leave forthwith .
Judging from the description of the Nan-Chao kingdom as chronicled by the Chinese, We can say that Nan-Chao kingdom was a comparatively powerful state with a high level of culture. It lasted for some seven centuries until it fell in 1253 A.D. to Kublai Khan. the great Mogul emperor of China. The Nan-Chao kingdom during the zenith of her power, sometime in the 9th century A.D. might have extended her suzerainty southward to the sparsely populated territories in the North of Indo-China as hinted vaguely in the many earliest recorded histories and legends of the Thai, the Laos and the Shans. Hall in his "A history of South -East Asia" says that the Tai (or Thai) never ceased to be on the move. (from the earlier days of Nan-Chao) , and slowly that infiltrated along the rivers and down the valleys of Central Indo-China. Small groups settled among the Khmers, the Mons and the Burmese, and, long before that, they had been crossing into the Menam valley (in central Thailand) from the river Mekong and undoubtedly from the river Salween too.
Confining ourselves to the history of the Thai of Thailand, some tribes of the Thai migrated at different times and from different directions into present Thailand a thousand or more years ago. These are conjectural statements, compounded from inadequate evidence. At first they settled themselves in what is now the Northern Area of Thailand in many small independent states ruled by their own chief or kings. Not until the latter part of the 13th century A.D. Did the Northern Area of Thailand, with Chiang Mai as its capital, became a relatively fair-sized kingdom under its first king Mengrai.
Further south, in which is now Central Thailand in the Menam valley or Chao Phya Basin, there were evidently some settlements of the Thai people. At first they were minority groups, which probably late on, formed themselves into semi -independent principalities under the dominant rule of the Khmer Empire in about the 12th century A.D. The Thai of Center Thailand are named Thai-Noi or Minor Thai in contradistinction to the Shans of Upper Burma who are named Tai Long or Thai-Yai i.e. Major Thai. it is a traditional belief that the Thai-Noi or Minor Thai of central Thailand came from the Thai of Northern Thailand and the Lao kingdom. This may be so but on the other hand there are indications that the Shans of Upper Burma might have had a share, if not much, in making up the ingredients of the Thai-Noi too.
There arose in the earlier part of the 13th century A.D. two chief of the Thai-Noi who wrested from the Khmers the area of Central Thailand and one of them became the first Thai King of Sukhodaya, a town some 250 kilometers as the crow-flies northward from Bangkok. Under the reign of its third king. Ram Khan hang the Great, a contemporary and friend of the aforesaid Thai King Nengrai of Northern Thailand, the Kingdom of Sukhidaya became a relatively large empire stretching southward through the length of the Malay Peninsula which was the last remnant of the once Javanese Sumatran Empire of Sri Vijaya. Northward, the Sukhodaya Empire touched that of Northern Thailand where reigned, as already mentioned King Mengrai. Eastward but in northerly direction, thought what is now the North-East Area of Thailand which was at that time partly under the spheres of influence of the now decaying Khmer Empire and of the Lao kingdom, the Sukhdaya Empire of King Ram kamhang reached further beyond the river Mekong. Westward it included a part of the Mon country of what is now Lower Burma. Ram Khamhang's outstanding achievements to the present day are his invention of the Thai alphabet in 1283 A.D. ,and the adoption of Buddhism of they Ceylonese's Sect which has remained to this day. He also introduced the manufacturer of glazed pottery by importing artisans, no doubt from China.
In 1350 A.D. there arose a new Thai power in the south of Sukhodaya proper, Ramadhibodi I, known vulgarly as King U-Thong, the first King of Ayudhya. Some 90 years later Sukhodaya was politically incorporated with Ayudhya. Ethnologically and culturally by this time the Thai had mixed to a not less appreciable degree with the Mons and the Khnurs, their fore remners in this part of Thailand The Mons were Southern Buddhistic in culture while the latter were more Hindu-ized and at times northern Buddhistic. In the south, the Thai were influenced in culture more or less in certain localities by the Malays.
Northern Thailand where King Mengrai reigned as its first king in the 13th century A.D. was ruled by many succeeding king; but later on in the latter part of the 16th century A.D. It became a part of the Burmese Empire for some two centuries. Under Burmese influence the Northern Thai acquired certain characteristics of culture unlike those of the other parts of the country. Northern Thailand was finally relieved from the alien hold and formed part of the present kingdom of Thailand.
Thailand, with Ayudhya as its capital and its succession of kings both weak and strong,endured for 417 years and came to an end in 1767 A.D. through a war with Burma. One of the general of the last king of Ayudhya, known vulgarly as Phya Tak Sin, succeeded by an heroic in driving the enemies out of the country. He became a king of Thailand but moved his capital from Ayudhya, which by now was in ruins and depopulated, to Thon Buri, a city on the right bank of River Menam (Chao phya) of the present Greater city of Bangkok King Tak Sin was succeeded by king Rama 1 of the present Chakri dynasty in 1782 A.D. Not until the reign of King Mongkut, Rama IV (1851-1868 A.D.) and his great son King Chulalongkorn, Rama v (1868-1910 A.D.) did Thailand pass from her medieval period and enter a new phase of progressive.
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