Far East Kingdoms

Thonburi Kingdom (Ayutthaya Splinter State) (Siam / Thailand)
AD 1769 - 1782
Incorporating Phimai, Phitsanulok, & Sawangburi

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The first historical records to concern Thais in South-East Asia date to the eleventh century AD. These people of Early Thailand were known as 'Syāṃ', with them being described as slaves of the powerful Cham people who could count Champa as their greatest state-building achievement.

As the second Thai empire after the founding of Sukhothai, the state of Ayutthaya was founded in 1350. Located roughly fifty-five kilometres to the north of Bangkok, the kingdom's eponymous core city of Ayutthaya itself was erected on the ruins of Sano (Sornau or Shahr-i-nao), the ancient capital of the kingdom of Lavo.

When the Burmese destroyed Ayutthaya in 1767 they were unable to hold onto it, quickly being expelled. The kingdom still fractured into five strongholds, each of which was under the command of a prince or general. The most enduring of these was established in today's south-western Thailand by General Phaya Taksin, who had recently led the Thai resistance to the Burmese and had to flee to Krung Thonburi (in 1769), where he promoted himself to the rank of king.

The others were located around Thonburi, with Sawangburi being located in the farthest north of today's north-eastern Thailand. This was ruled by Chao (prince) Phra Fang. To the south and west of Sawangburi in western-central Thailand was Phitsanulok, ruled by Rueang Rojanakun. To the east of Phitsanulok and Thonburi in modern central Thailand was Phimai, governed by Prince Thepphiphit, and on the Malay peninsula in southern Thailand to the south of Thonburi was Nakhon Si Thammarat, under Phrachao Kahttlyarachanikom.

Thonburi was on the River Chao Phrya. The first part of its name, 'thon', came from the Pali word, 'dhána', meaning 'wealth', and the Thai word 'púna', meaning 'fortress'. The name described the state's role as a critical garrison town. Its full formal name, Thon Buri Si Mahasamut, meant 'City of Treasures Gracing the Ocean'. Like its successor, Thonburi was also known as the kingdom of Thailand, 'Ratcha Anachak Thai', and as 'Siam'.

Having defeated his rivals between 1768-1770 and ruled over consolidation and expansion, Phaya Taksin was overthrown in 1782. He was replaced by a new dynasty, the Chakris, which remains in power to this day. They governed from the city of Rattanakosin, popularly known as Bangkok, and it was their state which would gradually swallow up the remaining Thai states to create a unified Thai kingdom.

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(Information by Peter Kessler & John De Cleene, with additional information from the John De Cleene Archive, from Early Mainland Southeast Asia, C Higham (River Books Co, 2014), from Encyclopaedia of Ancient Asian Civilizations, Charles F W Higham (Facts on File, 2004), from Historical Atlas of the World, R R Palmer (Ed, Chicago, 1963), from A History of Thailand, Chris Baker & Pasuk Phongpaichit (2005), from The Restoration of Thailand under Rama I, 1782-1809, Klaus Wenk (1968), from Southeast Asia: A Historical Encyclopaedia, from Angkor Wat to East Timor, Keat Gin Ooi (ABC-Clio, 2004), from Southeast Asia: Past & Present, D R SarDesai (Westview Press, 1989), and from External Links: Ancient Chinese farmers sowed literal seeds of change in south-east Asia (Science News), and Ayutthaya (Encyclopaedia Britannica), and Ayutthaya Historical Research, and The Indianized States of Southeast Asia, George Coedès (Walter F Vella (Ed), Susan Brown Cowing (Trans), University of Hawaii Press, 1968, and available online via the Internet Archive), and Thon Buri and Early Bangkok periods (Encyclopaedia Britannica).)

1768 - 1769

With the kingdom of Ayutthaya breaking up in even though the Burmese invasion has been repulsed, General Phaya Taksin, a leader of the resistance, has had to withdraw to the more strategically-placed Krung Thonburi in 1769, where he quickly defeats his rival warlords and promotes himself to the rank of king.

Ayutthaya Historical Park in Thailand once served as the thriving capital of the Ayutthaya kingdom, from 1350 until it was razed to the ground by the Burmese in 1767, leaving majestic ruins of temples, palaces, and statues

1769 - 1782

Former general of Ayutthaya who filled a power vacuum.

c.1770

When Taksin leads his Siamese resurgence, he conquers Nakhon Si Thammarat as part of that process. Governor Vithian of Songkhla flees to Patani, so Hao Yiang is able to pay Taksin for trading rights and for authority over a couple of Songkhla islands.

Hao Yiang also receives the title 'Luang Inthakhiri' while Taksin appoints Yom as the state's governor (phra Songkhla). Not long after that, the king raises the 'Luang Inthkhiri' to the position of governor (in 1775) in recognition of his effectiveness as a tax farmer.

1774 - 1776

With the Thai people of Lan Na having revolted in 1771 against Burmese rule. Krung Thonburi in 1774 takes advantage of the situation to expel the Burmese and annexe the country. Phaya Taksin rebuilds what had been the Thai kingdom of Ayutthaya and expands it, adding north-eastern Khmer territory, Laos as far as Vientiane, and the northern Malay peninsula.

General Phaya Taksin of Ayutthya soon announced his own state at Krung Thonburi, although it would only be short-lived

Lan Na becomes a principality under Taksin's overlordship, with the ruling title reduced to the status of chao (the Thai term for 'prince'). Lan Na's former capital at Chiang Mai is abandoned until 1796. Kawila, a major player in the revolt, is related to the new Thai king by marriage. Kawila is elevated in 1782 to the rank of prince of the newly reconquered Chiang Mai, but the restored Lan Na encompasses only the area around Lampang.

1782

Just thirteen years after founding his kingdom, General Taksin is executed by his ministry, specifically by General Chao Phraya Chakri, allegedly because he has become psychotic. Rule of the country passes to the Chakris.