462 Part VI: European Empires in Asia
The Ayutthaya that was destroyed in 1767 had been built on wealth gained
largely through international trade during the previous two centuries. The Sia-
mese kings had made Ayutthaya a leading entrepôt for ships coming up and
going down the Chao Phrya River to the Gulf of Siam. There was nothing intro-
verted about Ayutthaya. The Siamese kings, who had a monopoly on all trade
in their realm, welcomed traders from all over the world to their court, as long
as the traders respected the royal monopoly (Pombejra 1993). They exchanged
embassies with other Asian and European nations, and hundreds of Europeans
lived in Ayutthaya and served in the court. One of these was a Greek named
Phaulkon who became a high minister of state. Most of the king’s revenues
came from foreign trade and were spent on magnificent architecture, merit mak-
ing on a grand scale, and support of an enormous royal establishment. The
royal monopoly allowed setting high prices on goods leaving the kingdom like
lead, tin, copper, gunpowder, areca, precious woods, deerskins, elephants, ivory,
and rhinoceros horn. The Dutch viewed the Siamese king as a key rival. The
Siamese sent junks to China, Japan, India, and the Philippines, conducting their
own trade, and these countries also sent ships regularly to Ayutthaya. Troubles
occurred, however, with the East India Company and the VOC (Dutch East
India Company) who wanted their own monopolies on trade with Ayutthaya.
The events of 1767, however, put a halt to this internationalism while the Sia-
mese rebuilt their state under the brilliant general Taksin in Bangkok.
Burma ran into trouble on its western frontier when it captured the border
region of Arakan in 1784 and carted off the great gold-covered Mahamuni
Buddha that was the pride of the Arakanese people. This put them up against
the British in India. Arakan dissidents fled to the Indian town of Chittagong,
and unfriendly exchanges across this frontier became common. In 1819 the
Arakanese rebelled and Burma pursued the rebels across the border, occupied
Assam, attacked Manipur and Chohar, and threatened Chittagong. This led to
the First Anglo-Burmese War in 1824. British and Indian forces captured Ran-
goon and camped in the Golden Pagoda. Burma was forced to accept a humil-
iating treaty. They ceded Tesasserim, Arakan, Manipur, and Assam to Britain;
accepted a British Resident and a commercial treaty; agreed not to attack Siam
again; and paid an indemnity of 10 million rupees.
In 1840 the Burmese king repudiated this treaty and broke off diplomatic
relations. Britain was then involved in the Opium War, and since Burma was a
“tributary state” to China, in name, at least, it seemed like a good time to make
a try at getting out from under the British. But in 1852 there came a second
Anglo-Burmese war that ended with Burma losing the rest of its coastline and
the fertile heartland of lower Burma including the whole Irrawady Delta. The
Bay of Bengal was now a British lake and Burma was incorporated into the
Indian Empire. There was a third Anglo-Burmese war in 1885 when British
troops went by steamship up the Irrawady. This time the Burmese monarchy
was abolished even though, in the rest of the Indian Empire, relations with
India’s princes had never been better and their security was virtually guaranteed.