Thailand - Understand & Survival (Chapter)

HISTORY & POLITICS

HISTORY

10th century

Arrival of Tai peoples

in Thailand.

1240–

Approximate dates of

Sukhothai kingdom.

They settled in villages as farmers, hunters and traders and organised

themselves into administrative units known asmeu·ang, under the rule

of a lord, that became the building block of the Tai state. Over time, the

Tai expanded from the northern mountain valleys into the central plains

and northeastern plateau, where there existed several important trading

centres ruled by various indigenous and ‘foreign’ empires, including the

Mon-Dvaravati, Khmer (Cambodia) and Srivijaya (Malay).

Dvaravati

The Mondominated parts of Burma, western Thailand and into the cen-

tral plains. In the 6th to 9th centuries, the Dvaravati culture emerged as a

distinct Buddhist culture associated with the Mon people. Little is known

about this period but it is believed that Nakhon Pathom might have been

the centre, and that overland trade routes and trading outposts extended

west to Burma, east to Cambodia, north to Chiang Mai and Laos, and

towards the northeast, as evidenced by fi ndings of distinctive Dvaravati

Buddha images, temples and stone inscriptions in Mon language.

The Dvaravati was one of many Indian-infl uenced cultures that estab-

lished themselves in Southeast Asia, but scholars single out the Dvara-

vati because of its artistic legacy and the trade routes that might have

provided an early framework for what would become the core of the

modern-day Thai state.

Khmer

While the Dvaravati are an historical mystery, the Khmers were South-

east Asia’s equivalent of the Roman Empire. This kingdom became fa-

mous for its extravagant sculpture and architecture and had a profound

eff ect on the art and religion of the region. Established in the 9th centu-

ry, the Khmer kingdom built its capital in Angkor (modern-day Cambo-

dia) and expanded westward across present-day central and northeast-

ern Thailand. Administrative centres anchored by Angkor-style temples

were built in Lopburi (then known as Lavo), Sukhothai and Phimai (near

Nakhon Ratchasima) and linked by road to the capital.

The Khmer’s large-scale construction projects were a symbol of impe-

rial power in its frontier and examples of the day’s most advanced tech-

nologies. Khmer elements – Hinduism, Brahmanism, Theravada Bud-

dhism and Mahayana Buddhism – mark this period in Thailand.

Srivijaya

While mainland Thailand was infl uenced by forces from the north and

west, the Malay peninsula was economically and culturally fused to cul-

tures further south. Between the 8th and 13th centuries, the Malay penin-

Relief carvings

at Angkor Wat

depict Tai mer-

cenaries serving

in Khmer armies.

The Khmer called

them ‘Syam’.

The name was

transliterated

to ‘Siam’ by the

English trader

James Lancaster

in 1592.

» Ruins at Sukhothai Historical Park

PAUL BEINSSEN/LONELY PLANET IMAGES ©