History of Thailand

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Part of a series on the
History of Thailand
Timeline Prehistory Spirit Cave 9000 BCE–5500 BCE Ban Chiang 2,100 BCE–200 CE Initial states Suvarnabhumi Legendary Singhanavati 691 BCE–638 CE Raktamaritika 200 BCE–700 CE Chin Lin 9 CE – 200 CE Tun Sun 52 CE–600 CE Tambralinga 100 CE–1277 CE Langkasuka 100 CE–1500 CE Pan Pan 300 CE–700 CE Lavo 468 CE–1388 CE Dvaravati 500 CE–1200 CE Tou Yuan 600 CE – 647 CE Wen Dan 600 CE–800 CE Haripuñjaya 629 CE–1292 CE Ngoenyang 638 CE–1292 CE Srivijaya 671 CE–1025 CE Canasapura 790 CE–974 CE Ny Wang 800 CE – 1289 CE Regional kingdoms Xiān 1000 – 1438 Phayao 1094–1338 Suphannabhum 1150 – 1438 Nakhon Si Thammarat 1278–1782 Lan Na 1292–1775 Pattani 1457–1902 Singora 1605–1680 Satun 1808–1916 Reman 1810–1902 Main history Sukhothai Kingdom 1238–1438 Ayutthaya Kingdom 1351–1767 Thonburi Kingdom 1767–1782 Rattanakosin Kingdom 1782–present 1782–1932 1932–1973 1973–2001 2001–present
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The Tai or Thai ethnic group migrated into mainland Southeast Asia over a period of centuries. The word Siam (Thai: สยาม RTGS: Sayam) may have originated from Pali (suvaṇṇabhūmi, "land of gold"), Sanskrit श्याम (śyāma, "dark"), or Mon ရာမည (rhmañña, "stranger"), with likely the same root as Shan and Ahom. Xianluo (Chinese: 暹羅) was the Chinese name for the Ayutthaya Kingdom, merged from Suphannaphum city-state, centered in modern-day Suphan Buri; and Lavo city-state, centered in modern-day Lop Buri. To the Thai, the name of their country has mostly been Mueang Thai.^[1]

The country's designation as Siam by Westerners likely came from the Portuguese. Portuguese chronicles noted that Borommatrailokkanat, king of Ayutthaya, sent an expedition to the Malacca Sultanate, at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, in 1455. Following their conquest of Malacca in 1511, the Portuguese sent a diplomatic mission to Ayutthaya. A century later, on 15 August 1612, The Globe, an East India Company merchantman bearing a letter from King James I, arrived in "the Road of Syam".^[2] "By the end of the 19th century, Siam had become so enshrined in geographical nomenclature that it was believed that by this name and no other would it continue to be known and styled."^[3]

Indianised kingdoms such as the Mon, the Khmer Empire, and Malay states of the Malay Peninsula and Sumatra ruled the region. The Thai established their states: Ngoenyang, the Sukhothai Kingdom, the Kingdom of Chiang Mai, Lan Na, and the Ayutthaya Kingdom. These states fought each other and were under constant threat from the Khmers, Burma, and Vietnam. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, only Thailand survived the European colonial threat in Southeast Asia due to centralising reforms enacted by King Chulalongkorn, and because the French and the British decided to maintain it as a neutral territory to avoid conflicts between their colonies. After the end of absolute monarchy in 1932, Thailand endured sixty years of almost permanent military rule before the establishment of a democratically elected government.