Ayutthaya Kingdom

Writing E06 / Cultural Study

century to the eighteenth century (Historic City). It was known as the world’s largest city during

that time. Ayutthaya was the most developed and flourished kingdom in Thailand’s history.

Many of travellers and traders visited Ayutthaya and wrote down evidence about what the

kingdom was like.

Ayutthaya is surrounded by three large rivers that connect to the gulf of Thailand and led

to the south China sea, people in Ayutthaya used boats to travel around. Their geography helped

avoid the sea war, because they were not directly located on the sea but connected to the sea by

rivers. Also their house structure helped them with seasonal floods by lifted up high off the

ground. Houses were made from wood, and other natural materials. Based on their resident near

the river which made them able to catch some fish and shrimps. Their diet were mainly

vegetables, fish and shrimps. The geography also helped with their economy, the rivers that

connected to the sea brought traveller ships to come in and explore.

More and more people started to come to Ayutthaya led by the Portuguese. As in the last

paragraph, lots of foreigners visited Ayutthaya and came with trading ships. “In 1537, the

German Mandelsloh visited Ayutthaya and called it Venice of the East” (Foreign Travellers), for

the reason that it surrounded by water and people transport by boat. Trading ships and traveling

ships entered the kingdom through the rivers that connected to the sea. Ayutthaya traded with

many countries such as Portugal, France, China, Japan, England, India, Holland and Persia.

“Ayutthaya became a center of economics and trade at the regional and global levels” (Historic

City). Goods that foreigners brought in and traded were silks from China, fabrics and spices from

India. Goods that traders most wanted were of limited resources, the king was worried that if

they trade it freely, the resources would be all gone. So they decided to do an official store to

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trade these things specifically, such as rhino’s horns, elephants skin, tins, ivories and

sandalwood. The goods that traders could bring in were suppose to either help the military such

as gun or gunpowder, or goods that officials agreed it would make benefits such as silks and

potteries. Which the customers are kings, nobles and higher class people.

Trading with other countries were not only bringing in goods, they also brought in

religions along with them. King Narai was open to religions, so there were new religions during

the Ayutthaya Kingdom. The main religion in that time was Buddhism. After there were more

trading ships and traders that came from different regions and different believes, Christianity

came along with the traders too. The king allowed them to build Christian churches in

Ayutthaya. Since the majority of foreigners were Christians. This showed that King Narai was

really open to other cultures and religions.

King Narai was the king during the Ayutthaya kingdom era. He’s the son of King

Prasatthong. He was in power from 1656 to 1688 (Hays). He was famous for how he kindly

adopted foreign cultures and policy, and he welcomed all of the foreigners and gave them

freedom, especially the western cultures. He even offered Constantine to work at the court,

because of his abilities. This action displayed that King Narai was not negative towards different

race and cultures.

Ayutthaya had relationship with other countries, the most known in Thailand’s history

was with France. Ayutthaya received their first diplomatic mission from Portugal. France also

had a relationship with Ayutthaya’s court, and they exchanged diplomatic missions in 1680.

King Narai made a relation with King Louis XIV of France, because of the power purpose. He

wanted to use power from France to stable his power, reason for this is to avoid other country

colonized Ayutthaya, such as Holland who forced King Narai to agree on trading contract sign

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which was not fair for Ayutthaya side. The people who King Narai sent to France on diplomatic

missions went in the name of the country not the kingdom which was led by Chaophraya

Gosathibodi or also known as Gosa Pan. This idea was told to King Narai by Constantine Falcon

who served as part of the court in Ayutthaya. Constantine came from Greece at the age of twelve

and lived in Ayutthaya, because of his abilities to do things well and he was capable to learn

Thai language quickly, he was able to work in Ayutthaya’s court. He is also known as

Chaophraya Wichayen which was named by King Narai. King Narai approved his idea and sent

his people to France.

Simon de la Loubere who lead the mission to Ayutthaya from France in 1847, wrote

about his journey which was published as a book named “Du Royaume de Siam”. It is another

important source that tells about Ayutthaya during that time period. There were many foreigners

that came from governments overseas or missionaries, they lived in the city down the river near

the Ayutthaya Royal Palace. King Narai allowed them to build houses in their country’s style,

those houses can still be seen today. They are located in Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya; there is a

Portuguese village, a Japanese village and many more. This means that foreigners have much

freedom as the local people.

Nearly the end, the fall of the Ayutthaya Kingdom came in 1767 . The Burmese attacked

Ayutthaya and burned down temples, Buddhism monuments, and everything in the kingdom.

This was called the Burmese-Siamese War, it went on from 1765-1767. It was also known as the

second lost of Ayutthaya in Thai history. The first lost was also to Burma, due to the argument

between the countries but Ayutthaya did not fall. Burma showed up again with three thousand

soldiers and surrounded Ayutthaya After that they burned everything down and only left the

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ruins that can be seen today in Ayutthaya province. The city has never been rebuilt, instead the

capital of Siam down was moved to Thonburi, which is the second capital.

There were many reasons that Ayutthaya lost the war. The first reason was that at that

time people were fighting for power within the royal family and the court. The second reason

was Ayutthaya had not been in a war for hundreds of years after the Phra Naresuan era. The third

reason was that the Burmese had planned this for almost many years, they collected all armies

from different directions. They have been planning this for many years the other cities did not

come and help Ayutthaya. Three years before the war, King Hsinbyushin’s assistant, Ne Myo

Thihapate, went to collect soldiers from cities in the north of Siam; he got about two thousand

soldiers. King Hsinbyushin was the king of Burma in the Konbaung Dynasty. King Hsinbyushin

thought that since Ayutthaya never lost a war before, he needed to get more soldiers so he told

another assistant, ​Mang Maha Noratha, to go collect more soldiers from cities located in the

southwest of Ayutthaya; he got about thousand soldiers. Ayutthaya was surrounded; no one

could help Ayutthaya because they all had lost to Burma and all the head cities of Ayutthaya

were defeated before Burma entered Ayutthaya.

To wrap this up, Ayutthaya era lasted for about four centuries. There were many

foreigners who visited Ayutthaya, either because of trade, diplomatic missions or has

missionaries. Foreigners had freedom, King Narai gave land so they could build houses in their

own country’s style. King Narai even asked Greek person to work in the court based on his

abilities. Ayutthaya had many relationships with other countries, such as France and China, they

exchanged diplomatic missions between the countries. It was the biggest trade era in Thailand’s

history, and it was the time when many foreigners came to Siam for peace not war. Sadly, after

King Narai’s era, problems started inside the royal family with competition for the throne, and

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the court, too. The city was never rebuilt, but it is one of the most important periods of the

Thailand's history.

Work Cited

“Foreigner Travellers To 19th-Century Siam.” Blogs.bl.uk, N.D., blogs.bl.uk/asian-and-african

/2015/04/foreign-travellers-to-19th-century-siam.html. 24 January, 2019.

Hays, Jeffery. “​Ayutthaya Period (1350-1767) Of Thai History.” Factsanddetails, May 2014,

factsanddetails.com/southeast-asia/Thailand/sub5_8a/entry-3186.html. 31 January,2019.

“Historic City of Ayutthaya.” Unesco, N.D., ​https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/576.​ 24 January, 2019

“Kings Of Thailand.” Thaimain, N.D., www.thaimain.com/eng/monarchy/ayutthaya/narai.html.

31 January, 2019.

“Ministry Of Foreign Affairs.” Mfa.go.th, N.D., www.mfa.go.th/main/en/organize/1085/19294

-The-Beginning-of-Relations-with-European-Nations-a.html. 31 January, 2019.

“Narai.” Britannica, N.D., www.britannica.com/biography/Narai. 31 January, 2019.

“Second Lost Of The City.” Sites.google, 25 August, 2016, sites.google.com/site/pongsagorn

45434/hetukarn-sakhay/seiy-krung-khrang-thi-2. 31 January, 2019.

“The Interpretation Of European Settlements (Portuguese, Dutch and French) On The Chao

Phraya River During The Ayutthaya Era.” 5.2. 31 August, 2012. Web.