Far East Kingdoms

Sukhothai Kingdom (Thais)
AD 1238 - 1438
Incorporating Bang Yang & Mưang Rat

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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.

From the twelfth century onwards Thais expanded outwards, predominantly southwards, where they defeated the Mons of Dvāravatī and reached the Malay-Thai peninsula. State-building swiftly followed to create a patchwork of kingdoms which eventually would form modern Thailand.

The kingdom of Sukhothai is also known as Sukhodaya in Khmer. The name means 'dawn of happiness'. At the height of its power around AD 1300, this Thai state controlled several vassal regions to encompass much of modern central and western Thailand, northern Laos, and the southern coastal area of Burma, plus the Malay peninsula almost to the extent of the modern Thai border there.

To its west lay the Andaman Sea and the vassal state of Hongsawadi in southern Burma, Along its northern boundary lay Pagan, Lan Na, and Phayao. To the north-east were the vassal state of Muong Sua and a wider population of Tai-speaking Muang.

To the south-east were what was left of the Khmer empire along with the kingdom of Lavo. To the east of the Malay peninsula lay the Gulf of Thailand. Much of the peninsula itself was still under the control of the vassal state of Nakhon Sri Thammarat.

Thais inhabited the area around the city of Sukhothai and the middle Chao Phraya valley for some centuries prior to the founding of this kingdom. Recent changes meant that they had lived under Khmer domination at least since the reign of the Khmer King Jayavarman VII who gained the throne in 1181.

Sukhothai was founded in the north-central region around 1238 by two Thai governors for the Khmer empire. Khun Bang Klang Thao (Si Inthrathit) and Khun Pha Muang broke away at a relatively peaceful time for the empire, but just as it had started a long, slow terminal decline following the dramatic flooding of Angkor Wat.

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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 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 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).)

c.1238

The Khmer empire has for some time governed an extensive set of territories, with this including Thai people to the west of the empire's heartland. The Khmer ruler now awards Pha Mưang, the Thai chief of Mưang Rat, the title of 'Kamrateng An' Śri Indrapatīndrātidya'.

A good deal of information about the state of Sukhothai under the rule of Rama 'the Great' is contained on an inscribed stone stele which was discovered at the Wat Mahathat temple in Sukhothai Historical Park

After marrying a Khmer princess, Pha Mưang and his friend, Bang Kiang Thao, chief of Bang Yang, seize what today is Sawankhalok and overthrow the Khmer governor of Sukhothai. Pha Mưang crowns Bang Kiang Thao as the region's new ruler and gives him his own title. Pha Mưang himself, now better known as Śri Īndrāditya, founds the Phra Ruang dynasty.

c.1240 - 1270

Founded the first great Thai empire.

1247

Candrabhānu, described as king of Tambaliṇgu by Sri Lankan chronicles, invades the kingdom of Dambadeniya in Sri Lanka during the reign there of Parakrambahu II.

Candrabhānu is seeking Buddhist relics from the land which South-East Asians regard as being especially holy. He fails, but later obtains them through diplomacy thanks to the help of Ramakhamhaeng of Sukhothai.

Declining during the fourteenth century, around 1431 Angkor Wat was abandoned, leaving few clues to help modern historians understand how and why the city was left so completely to the jungle

1259

Mangrāi (Mengrai), the last prince of Ngoenyang, founds the kingdom of Lan Na with its later capital at Chiang Mai, and with it the Mangrāi dynasty. Ngoenyang serves as its first capital.

c.1270 - 1279

Son.

c.1279 - 1298?

Brother. Drowned, but date uncertain.

1283

Ramakhamhaeng creates and confirms a Thai script as a derivative of Khmer cursive writing. Thanks to this and other achievements in a stable and prosperous state he is considered to be one of the greatest of Thai rulers.

1286 - 1297

During his reign Ramkhamhaeng begins acknowledging Mongol overlordship. This status of subservience to the Yuan lives on until the kingdom's very end.

Phraya Kamphong, ruler of Sri Sattanak (Muong Sua), allies himself to Ramkhamhaeng between 1286-1297 who, in turn, is doing the bidding of the Mongols. Together they finish driving the Khmer out of what today is central Laos. In their enthusiasm Lao troops even invade Dai Viet whilst it is fending off repeated Mongol invasions, albeit unsuccessfully.

Initial Mongol interest in Dai Viet seemed purely designed to be able to use it as a conduit for troops to outflank the Southern Song, but following their fall in 1279, invasion and permanent occupation was on the cards

Ramakhamhaeng has a fling in 1287 with one of the wives of Ngam Mưlang, prince of Phayao. Rather than kill him, Mưlang appeals for a solution to Mangrāi, prince of Chiang Rāi. Mangrāi arbitrates, fines Ramakhamhaeng nine hundred thousand cowries, and the three forge an alliance. By 1292 Ramakhamhaeng claims to be sovereign ruler of all Thais.

1295 - c.1318

The date of death of Ramkhamhaeng is unknown. The date could fall anywhere between 1295 and 1318. This record relies on the History of the Yuan, which states that he dies between 1295-1299. Other sources, such as Rājādhirāja (History of Martaban), place his death as late as just before 1318.

1298 - 1346/47

Son.

1318

Martaban invades Tavoy and Tenasserim on the Isthmus of Kra. Eventually, Sukhothai is able to recapture these territories. After Lo Thai's grandson dies trying to seize the throne of Martaban, Martaban itself is able to throw off Sukhothai suzerainty.

1346/47 - 1347

Confusion reigns following the death of Lo Thai until his son, Luthai, viceroy of Si Satchana, returns to capture the capital city and restore stable government.

Ayutthaya took on influences from many external players, including Sukhothai and the Khmer, as well as China, Japan and - later - several European countries, with that influence being seen in Wat Chaiwatthanaram

1346 - 1347

Short-lived ruler.

1347 - 1368/74

Son of Lo Thai. Reign may have begun in 1346.

1350 - 1351

The chao (prince) of Uthong establishes a new capital at Ayutthaya, and Sukhothai begins to decline in importance. The chao takes the name Rāmādhipati (Ramathibodi) when he takes the title of king in 1351. Due to its proximity, the new capital is a much greater threat to the Khmer empire.

1361

Too peaceful to resist the ambitions of the second great Thai state, Ayutthaya, and having become subordinate to that state's king, Luthai enters a monastery.

1368/74 - c.1398

Son.

1375 - 1378

Ayutthaya in 1375 captures Phitsanulok, Sukhothai's second capital, and removes numerous captives including the city's leading officer. Chankangrao is annexed in 1378 along with the western part of Sukhothai. The Sukhothai king is little more than a tributary ruler.

Mengrai, in the centre, was the founder of the kingdom of Lan Na at Chiang Mai in 1259, a late medieval rival to Sukhothai in what is now Thailand

1390

Sukhothai lures Saen Mūang Ma, king of Chiang Mai, with a request for help in throwing off Ayutthaya controls. When Saen Mūang Ma brings with him an army, Sukhothai attacks and inflicts a major defeat. Saen Mūang Ma barely escapes with his life.

1396

Either Sukhothai (most likely) or Ayutthaya sends an envoy to consecrate Chao Kamtan, ruler of Nan. The consecrated water is poured over his head, but he dies during the night. The envoy flees, giving rise to the possibility that Chao Kamtan has been poisoned. He is succeeded by son, Chao Si Kanta.

1398 - 1419

Son.

1419

Upon the death of Mahathammaracha III, Sukhothai's master, Ayutthaya, has to intervene in order to settle a succession dispute between his two brothers.

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

1419 - 1438

Brother. Last ruler of Sukhothai.

1438

Sukhothai is now fully conquered by Ayutthaya, thereby ending the reign of Mahathammaracha IV and the state itself. The capital of Sukhothai is later abandoned, probably in the late fifteenth or early sixteenth century.