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diff --git a/44679-0.txt b/44679-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ea55677 --- /dev/null +++ b/44679-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,990 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44679 *** + + SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION + WAR BACKGROUND STUDIES + NUMBER EIGHT + + + SIAM--LAND OF FREE MEN + + + By + H. G. DEIGNAN + + + (Publication 3703) + + + CITY OF WASHINGTON + PUBLISHED BY THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION + FEBRUARY 5, 1943 + + + + + The Lord Baltimore Press + BALTIMORE, MD., U. S. A. + + + + + CONTENTS + + Geography + Peoples + Prehistory + Kingdom of Sukhothai-Sawankhalok + Kingdom of Ayuthia + Kingdom of Tonburi + Kingdom of Siam + Thailand + + + ILLUSTRATIONS + + PLATES + + 1. 1, Gorge of the Me Ping + 2, Ancient wall at Chiengmai + 2. 1, A monolith in the Me Ping gorge + 2, Boat being pulled upstream through the rapids by ropes + 3. 1, The "mai kwao," tree that yields gum resin + 2, Transplanting young rice plants + 4. 1, Fishing from the roadsides after the rains + 2, Water buffalo + 5. 1, A primitive type of cart + 2, Elephants breaking up a log jam + 6. 1, Small river boats, and bamboo water wheel + 2, A temple + 7. 1, A reliquary + 2, The high altar of a Buddhist shrine + 8. 1, Royalty visits Chiengmai + 2, A princely funeral at Chiengmai + + + TEXT FIGURE + + 1. Map of Siam + + + + +[Illustration: FIG. 1.--Map of Siam.] + + + + + SIAM--LAND OF FREE MEN + + + By H. G. DEIGNAN + _Associate Curator, Division of Birds_ + _U. S. National Museum_ + + + (WITH 8 PLATES) + + + + +From the earliest times the great peninsula which lies between India +and China .... has been peculiarly subject to foreign intrusion. +Successive waves of Mongolian humanity have broken over it from the +north, Dravidians from India have colonised it, Buddhist missions from +Ceylon have penetrated it, and buccaneers from the islands in the +south have invaded it. Race has fought against race, tribe against +tribe, and clan against clan. Predominant powers have arisen and +declined. Civilisations have grown up, flourished and faded. And thus +out of many and diverse elements a group of nations have been evolved, +the individuals of which, Môn, Kambodian, Annamese, Burmese, Shan, +Lao, Siamese and Malay, fundamentally much alike, but differing in +many externals, have striven during centuries for mastery over each +other, and incidentally over the countless minor tribes and clans +maintaining a precarious existence in their midst. Into this mêlée +of warring factions a new element intruded in the sixteenth century A. +D. in the shape of European enterprise. Portuguese, Dutch, French and +English all came and took part in the struggle, pushing and jostling +with the best, until the two last, having come face to face, agreed to +a cessation of strife and to a division of the disputed interests +amongst the survivors. Of these there were but three, the French, the +English, and the Siamese, and therefore Further India now finds +herself divided, as was once all Gaul, into three parts. To the east +lies the territory of French Indo-China, embracing the Annamese and +Kambodian nations and a large section of the Lao; in the west the +British Empire has absorbed the Môn, the Burmese and the Shans; +while, wedged between and occupying the lower middle part of the +subcontinent, with the isolated region of British Malaya on its +extreme south border, lies the kingdom of Siam, situated between 4° +20' and 20° 15' N. latitude, and between 96° 30' and 106° E. +longitude.[1] + +So wrote Graham at a period when the Siamese held sway over a +territory of more than 200,000 square miles or an area equivalent to +the combined areas of the States of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, +Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, +Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and almost half of Ohio. It must not +be supposed, however, that the Thai[2] had permanently resigned +themselves to a continuation of this political division of the +peninsula. Rich provinces to which they had more or less cogent +claims, based on facts of history or ethnography, lay under foreign +rule and, with the rise of world-wide nationalism in the 1920's and +1930's a lively irredentism came into flower. This irredentism and its +accompanying nationalistic fervor have colored the policies of the +Thai Government during the decade just passed and serve to explain +many political actions which are otherwise puzzling to the western +world. + +[1] Graham, W. A., Siam, vol. 1, pp. 1-2, London, 1924. + +[2] Pronunciation near English "tie." + + + + +GEOGRAPHY + + +Whatever more or less final rectifications of frontiers result from +the current war, the land of the Thai will still, for general +purposes, fall into four geographic divisions of major importance: +Northern, Central, Eastern, and Peninsular. + +Northern Thailand, lying between the Salwin and the Me Khong, two of +the world's most majestic rivers, is, for the most part, a country of +roughly parallel ranges and valleys running north and south. At the +heads of the flat-floored valleys, which vary in elevations above sea +level from 800 feet in the southeast to 1,200 feet in the northwest, +arise important streams, the Me Nan, the Me Yom, the Me Wang, and the +Me Ping, which, falling through narrow defiles to debouch in the low +land of Central Siam, eventually there conflow to form the Me Nam Chao +Phraya, the chief artery of that division. On the alluvia of these +streams, as might be expected in a country whose civilization was +originally based upon riziculture, live the great bulk of the northern +Thai or Lao, in a setting of rich fields and orchards. The ranges +similarly rise, southeast to northwest, from low, rounded hills to +imposing peaks, many of which exceed an altitude of 5,000 feet and two +of which achieve more than 8,000 feet. These mountains, rising +abruptly from the valley floors and, on the whole, densely forested, +are scarcely inhabited by man except for scattered groups of +seminomadic hill tribes, which exist there by hunting and a primitive +agriculture. The northernmost province, Chiengrai, is separated from +the sister provinces by a mountain wall and belongs wholly to the Me +Khong drainage; it is largely a region of marshes and grassy savannas. + +Central Siam, the heart of Thailand, is the vast alluvial plain of the +Chao Phraya and may be described as 55,000 square miles of almost +unbrokenly monotonous scenery. The level of the land is but little +higher than that of the sea and, during the dry season, tidal +influence is plainly evident as much as 50 miles from the river's +mouth. Alluvial deposits, brought in the season of floods from the +northern hills, are, however, raising this level at an astonishing +rate; geological evidence shows that within comparatively recent times +a great part of the plain was covered by the sea and even now the +northern shores of the Gulf of Siam, at the mouth of the Chao Phraya, +are advancing seaward at a rate of almost a foot a year. Its rich +soil, its abundance of watercourses, both natural and artificial, and +its comparatively dense population combine to make it one of the most +eminently suitable areas of the world for the production of fine rice. + +As Central Siam is the heart of the Kingdom, the royal city of Bangkok +or Krungthep is the very core of that heart. Situated on the banks of +the Chao Phraya, some 20 miles from its mouth, this metropolis, whose +history goes back not earlier than the mid-eighteenth century A.D., is +the center for scholarship and the arts, the filter through which pass +all goods and ideas received by the interior from the outside world, +and the nucleus of one of the most highly centralized of national +governments. Its citizenry of some 800,000 represents no less than 5 +percent of the total population of the country. + +Eastern Thailand is a huge, shallow, elevated basin, tilted toward the +east, so that while its western rim stands 1,000 feet above the sea, +its eastern rim is formed by low hills. The plateau is watered by the +system of the Me Nam Mun, a tributary of the Me Khong. A +poverty-ridden country of unproductive soil and adverse climatic +conditions, it supports indifferently well a comparatively limited +population. + +Peninsular Siam is the narrow, northern two-thirds of the Malay +Peninsula, sharply divided longitudinally by a mountain chain which +passes down its whole length. It is a country rich in forests, cattle, +fisheries, mines, and agriculture, and possessed of great natural +beauty in the countless islets off its shores, its beaches lined with +palms and casuarinas, and the verdure of it mountain-backed +landscapes. Most of the developed natural wealth of the Kingdom is +found in this portion, which has fine systems of highways and +railroads. + +The whole of Siam lies between the Tropic of Cancer and the Equator +and is subject to the typical monsoonal climate of southeastern Asia, +by which the prevailing winds, from the latter part of April to the +middle of October, consistently blow from the southwest and from +mid-October to April, from the northeast. In Northern, Central, and +Eastern Thailand there are three distinct seasons--the hot weather, +the rains, and the cold weather, the first extending from February or +March to May, the second from June to October, and the third covering +the remaining months of the year. When the northeast winds blow +strongly, the cold weather is very marked, but at such times as the +seasonal winds fail, the cold weather is scarcely distinguishable from +the hot. In Northern Siam, which lies at greatest distance from the +sea and possesses greater radiation, the days may be hot even during +the cold weather when the night temperatures afford a strong contrast +by dropping to as low as 50° F. and on the mountains even lower, +although never reaching freezing temperatures. The basin of Eastern +Siam, with its thin vegetation and cut off from cooling breezes by its +surrounding rim, is subject to terrific heats during the day and, +during the winter, very low temperatures at night. The central plain, +outside of Bangkok, is pleasantly cooled during the hottest season by +the continuous sea winds, night and day; in Bangkok, however, perhaps +owing to houses of masonry in place of thatch and the drainage of +surrounding marshes, the climate is not only appallingly hot but +actually becoming perceptibly more so year by year. Peninsular Siam +has the mildest and most equable climate, the greatest annual +rainfall, and only two noticeable seasons--the hot weather from +February to August and the rains from September to January, with the +peak of the wet season coming in December. + +Owing to the fact that the political frontiers have little +relationship to biogeographical boundaries, the Kingdom possesses a +fauna and flora richer than those of most areas of comparable size. +The primeval jungles of the western and northern mountains show +untrammeled Nature at her tropical best. The slopes are enlaced with +countless streams and waterfalls, from roaring torrents to rills which +flow only during and after the rains. In the forests of these hills +and valleys, huge epiphyte-laden trees, bound together by vines, +shelter such animals as the elephant, the tiger, and the gaur, but so +dense is the cover that the presence of large game is more often made +known by signs than by actual sight, and only the hunter who is +willing to work hard and long is likely to shoot a worth-while trophy. +More than 1,000 different birds are recorded from the country, while +fishes of almost endless variety abound everywhere, from the Gulf to +the smallest roadside ditches. The natural vegetation ranges from the +most typically tropical plants, such as the mangosteen, to forms of +the Temperate Zone, such as pines and violets, on the northwestern +mountains. The central plain, where not devoted to rice cultivation, +shows the characteristic flora and fauna of a marsh and the eastern +plateau has an impoverished biota, characterized by a certain number +of endemic forms; the Peninsula, however, like the west and north, +bears great forests rich in species of animals and plants. + + + + +PEOPLES + + +Archeology can still tell us little of the first human occupants of +Siam. The earliest evidence of man's existence here is furnished by +celts, uncovered in the Peninsula and on the eastern plateau, which +are supposed to date from the later Neolithic period; geology, +however, gives us no reason to conclude that the makers of these +implements were not preceded by other races. + +[Illustration: 1. The rivers fall from the northern plateaus to the +central plain through narrow defiles.] + +[Illustration: 2. Ancient wall at Chiengmai. The city walls are +preserved as picturesque ruins.] + +[Illustration: 1. An international incident was caused by the European +alpinist who first scaled the monolith to plant his nation's flag upon +it.] + +[Illustration: 2. Boats must be pulled upstream through the rapids by +ropes.] + +[Illustration: 1. The valuable gum resin, Bengal kino, is yielded by +the "mai kwao" (_Butea frondosa_).] + +[Illustration: 2. Young rice plants are transplanted from a seedbed to +the flooded fields.] + +[Illustration: 1. At the end of the rains, fish may be captured from +the roadsides.] + +[Illustration: 2. Cows and water buffaloes are treated as family +pets.] + +Among the mountains of the Malay Peninsula exist to this day small +groups of dwarf, black-skinned, kinky-haired people, different from +all other races of the country but closely related to the natives of +the Andaman Islands and the Negritos of the Philippines; it has been +surmised that these Ngo (Semang) are the dwindling remnant of a once +numerous population, successors to (and possibly descendants of) the +Neolithic men. + +Following the Ngo and sometime during the past few millennia, it is +believed that there came successive waves of a people of Mongolian +origin who, making their way down the rivers, drove the primitive +Negritos into the hills and settled in their place. Now conveniently +known as the Mon-Annam family, their descendants are the Mon +(Peguans), the Cambodians, and the Annamese, as well as numerous +semibarbarous lesser tribes which persist among the mountains of the +subcontinent. + +Probably between two and three thousand years ago and certainly after +the arrival of the Mon-Annam immigrants, another great population +wave, known as the Tibeto-Burman family, rolled southward over +Indo-China but chiefly descended the valley of the Irrawaddy (where +they have given rise to the modern Burmese), thus scarcely entering +Siam at all. Only in comparatively recent times, driven from their +former homes by political disturbances, have tribes of this stock +(Yao, Meo, etc.) migrated into Thailand and the territories to the +east, where they are constantly being joined by others of their blood +brothers from farther north. + +While the Mon and the Khmer (Cambodians) were still spreading over the +southern parts of Indo-China and before they had begun, under the +influence of colonists from India, to emerge from a condition of +savagery, the tribes which they had left behind them at different +points during their southward movement were already being driven back +into the mountains and brought into a state of partial subjugation by +the members of a third great family of migrants from the north. These +were the people now known as Lao-Tai, who, sending out bands from +their ancient seat in the valley of the Yangtze, had already, 2,500 +years ago, established a powerful state on the banks of the Me Khong +in the neighborhood of the modern Wieng Chan (Vientiane). + +The Lao-Tai of the Yangtze Valley were evidently very numerous, for +not only did they thus early establish kingdoms far from home but also +became a power in their own land and for some time bid strongly for +the mastery of all China. For centuries they waged successful wars on +all their neighbors, but their strong propensity for wandering +weakened their state and finally caused its disintegration. The +Chinese attacked them repeatedly, each attack producing a fresh exodus +until, during the thirteenth century A.D., the Emperor Kublai Khan +dealt them a final blow which crushed their power and scattered them +in all directions. Fugitives entered Assam, where earlier emigrants +had already settled, and became the dominant power in that country; +others invaded Burma, where for two centuries a Lao-Tai (Shan) dynasty +occupied the throne; while down the Salwin and Me Khong Valleys came +band after band of exiles who mingled with their cousins already +established in those valleys and, in time fusing with the Mon and the +Khmer, produced the race which, since the founding of the city of +Ayuthia, has been dominant in Siam. + +The principal divisions of the Lao-Tai family now living within the +borders of Siam are the Thai ("free men") or Siamese proper; the Lao, +who occupy the former seats of those tribes of their own stock that +afterward developed into the Thai; and the Shans, a later intrusion of +distant cousins, descended from the Lao-Tai tribes that settled in the +more eastern districts of Burma in the twelfth century and earlier. + + + + +PREHISTORY + + +The history of Siam prior to the fourteenth century A.D. is chiefly +known from a hodgepodge of disconnected stories and fragments known as +the "Pongsawadon Mu'ang Nu'a" ("Annals of the North Country"), +compiled at different periods from such of the official records of +various cities and kingdoms as had escaped the destruction which at +intervals overtook the communities to which they referred. With the +omission of the numerous supernatural happenings there recorded and +comparative study of the chronicles of neighboring countries, scholars +have been able to draw a rough picture of the condition of Siam at the +dawn of historical time. + +Their researches show a country inhabited by primitive people of +Mon-Khmer stock among whom had settled groups of their more civilized +cousins from Cambodia, who had brought with them the religion and +customs acquired by contact with colonists from India. These +communities grew from villages into cities and at the same time sent +out offshoots in all directions, which in time became the capitals of +small states, the chiefs of which constantly made war on each other +and against the Lao-Tai tribes at their borders and now and again rose +to sufficient strength to repudiate the vague suzerainty claimed over +them all by the empire of Cambodia. + +Contemporary records of the period subsequent to the fourteenth +century A.D. are easily available. The most important is the +"Pongsawadon Krung Kao" ("Annals of the Old Capital" or "Annals of +Ayuthia"), which contains a complete and fairly accurate account, +compiled in successive reigns, of the history of the country from A.D. +1349 to 1765. The seventeenth and later centuries have also seen the +production of numerous works, by European travelers and missionaries, +which deal wholly or partly with Siam. + + + + +KINGDOM OF SUKHOTHAI-SAWANKHALOK + + +The most ancient Mon-Khmer settlement of which anything definite is +known was Sukhothai (located on the river Me Yom some 200 miles north +of the site of modern Bangkok), which by 300 B.C. was already a +sizable village. At first putting forth no pretensions to the status +of kingdom, the community evidently increased rapidly in importance, +for some two centuries later the chief, Phraya Thammarat, declared +himself King of the district, founded the new capital of Sawankhalok, +and appointed one of his sons viceroy of Sukhothai, which itself soon +grew into a fortified city. Thereafter, the two towns served +alternately as the capital of a country which, as the Kingdom of +Sukhothai-Sawankhalok, gradually grew to great wealth and strength. + +Its monarchs occupied themselves with the waging of war against the +petty chieftains of neighboring states (founded in the same manner and +upon the same principles as their own but at somewhat later dates) +and, in course of time reducing all of them to vassalage, came to be +recognized as rulers of the whole country. The vague overlordship of +Cambodia continued for many centuries but with little or no influence +upon the destinies of its nominal dependency, which was left to manage +itself and its own subordinates as seemed to it best. + +At the same time as the various Mon-Khmer states of Siam were +struggling to subdue each other, the Lao tribesmen inhabiting the +mountainous districts to the north, emboldened by their increasing +numbers and constantly raiding the rich villages of the plains, were +demanding an ever greater amount of attention and as early as the +fifth century A.D., the reduction of the Lao had become almost the +main preoccupation of the kings of Sukhothai-Sawankhalok. Expeditions +against them were constant, but while they were frequently defeated +and large numbers of them carried captive to Sukhothai or Sawankhalok, +the intercourse thus brought about served only to strengthen them, +since it enabled them to adopt the customs and civilization of the +conquerors and then turn the acquired knowledge against their +instructors with an ever-growing degree of success. + +About A.D. 575, a Lao city, built in imitation of the Khmer capitals, +was founded at a spot about 250 miles north of Sawankhalok and given +the name of Haribunchai (later corrupted to Lamphunchai and the modern +Lamphun). The chief of this town married a princess of the Khmer state +of Lopburi and established a dynasty which closely followed the +Brahman rites and ceremonies in vogue at Sukhothai. During this time +other Lao states arose and the time soon came when the Khmer could no +longer hold the Lao in check. During succeeding centuries Lao armies +advanced far south into the Mon-Khmer kingdoms, marital and political +alliances between Lao and Khmer royalty became common, and Lao +settlements were established in various parts of southern Siam. + +Despite wars with rival states to the south and the Lao to the north, +the Kingdom of Sukhothai-Sawankhalok prospered greatly and in time +attained to a high civilization. The arts were encouraged, the people +were well governed, trade was extensive, and friendly relations were +maintained with China and other distant countries by frequent exchange +of embassies. Envoys from the Emperor of China, who visited Sukhothai +in the seventh century A.D., have left records which indicate that the +populace were chiefly engaged in the cultivation of rice and the +manufacture of sugar and that in manners and customs they closely +resembled the modern inhabitants of Siam. The style of architecture, +remains of which still survive, followed, in somewhat degenerated +form, that seen in the ruins of Angkor and other Cambodian cities. + +During the reign of the hero-King Rama Khamheng (Phra Ruang) the +country reached the zenith of its greatness and when he died, about +A.D. 1090, he left to his heir an empire which embraced much of the +Lao states to the north and all of the more southern Khmer kingdoms of +Siam. This heritage, however, was fated to endure but a short time. +During the eleventh century the Khmer King of Lopburi and the Lao King +of Lamphun, both vassals of Phra Ruang, had been intermittently at war +with each other without interference from the suzerain; toward the end +of the century Lopburi was finally overcome and, declaring itself +subordinate to Lamphun, was forced to admit large numbers of Lao to +settle within its borders. Soon after Phra Ruang's death, a great Lao +army composed of the warriors of several allied states and led by a +chief known as Suthammarat, invaded Sukhothai-Sawankhalok itself, +defeated its armies, overran its lands to the south, reduced the +cities, and founded the capital of Pitsanulok, southwest of Sukhothai +and in the heart of the Khmer Kingdom. Thereafter, although the rulers +of Sukhothai-Sawankhalok continued for some time to maintain regal +state, they were never again to hold a paramount position and were, in +fact, to become mere vassals of the ancient enemy until eventually, +some four centuries subsequent to the foundation of Pitsanulok, they +were to be no more than provincial governors representative of the +kings of Ayuthia. + +Suthammarat, an admirer of the Khmer, in setting up his throne in the +conquered kingdom, imitated as closely as possible the ways of +Sukhothai and, by marrying a lady of the country, set an example for +his following which gave great impetus to that fusion of Lao and Khmer +which, already begun in Lopburi, was soon to result in the evolution +of the Thai (Siamese) race. + +The early thirteenth century saw the beginning of the last and +greatest influx of Lao into the south of Siam. The suppression of the +Lao-Tai undertaken in southwestern China, culminating in the decisive +victories of the Emperor Kublai Khan, drove many thousands of these +people down into the mountainous regions of northern Siam, where the +newcomers upset the balance of power among their predecessors and +caused the disruption of several of their states. As a result, many +impoverished petty chieftains of ancient lineage gathered their people +together and set off down the rivers to seek new fortunes in the +kingdoms to the south. During the following century, mingling with the +Khmer and the Lao-Khmer and acquiring great strength of numbers, the +Lao wrested control from the original inhabitants and established +capitals of their own, one of which, Supanburi, was in time to become +dominant over all the rest. When, at the middle of the fourteenth +century, Phra Chao Uthong, King of Supanburi, fleeing from a +pestilence, marched westward to found a new capital, Nong Sano, now +the seat of the weak successors of the great Suthammarat, fell into +his hands almost without a struggle, its King fled to Cambodia, and +Uthong erected near the fallen city the new city of Maha Nakhon Si +Ayuthaya (Ayuthia), which was destined to become famous throughout the +world as the capital of one of the greatest kingdoms in the history of +Farther India. + + + + +KINGDOM OF AYUTHIA + + +Phra Chao Uthong (under the name of Phra Ramathibodi) became King at +Ayuthia in A.D. 1350 and thereafter was fully occupied in bringing the +outlying states and provinces into line, in organizing his government, +and in setting up a system of law, parts of which continue in use to +the present time. Before his death in 1369, he had brought together +the whole of the components of the Sukhothai-Sawankhalok Kingdom and +had welded them so closely together that, when Cambodia, annoyed by +the independent attitude of what was theoretically its vassal, sent an +army to reassert its rights of suzerainty, the united Siamese not only +defeated the enemy but pursued him well within the confines of his own +country. + +Under Ramathibodi's successors the Kingdom continued to prosper. +During the next two centuries, Buddhism definitely succeeded +Brahmanism as the popular religion throughout the country and great +treasure was expended in beautifying the cities by the erection of +graceful temples and reliquaries in the adapted Cambodian style which +persists in Siam to this day. + +About A.D. 1527, the King of Pegu, enraged by the exploits of Siamese +marauders in his frontier province of Tavoy, collected an army at +Moulmein and sent it into Siam under the leadership of the heir +apparent, Bureng Naung. Defeating the Siamese near Supanburi, the +Peguan prince advanced to the walls of Ayuthia itself; so stout was +the resistance, however, and so prolonged the siege that his supply +system broke down and he was forced to return to his own country, +fighting rear-guard actions and losing heavily all the way. After 3 +years, Bureng Naung, now King, taking the assumption by the King of +Siam of the title "Lord of the White Elephants" as a casus belli, +again attacked Siam with a great army and once more besieged the +capital. This time, to save the city, the "Lord of the White +Elephants" was compelled to negotiate and to turn over several of the +animals in question to the invader, who then retired. Only a few years +later, however, the Siamese King repudiated Peguan suzerainty; Bureng +Naung returned, by treachery gained admission to the city, sacked and +partially destroyed it, and sent the King, with many of his followers, +in chains to Pegu. Leaving the Siamese governor of Pitsanulok as his +viceroy in Ayuthia, Bureng Naung pressed on to subdue other cities but +was scarcely out of sight when a Cambodian army, burning to avenge +recent defeats and to reestablish ancient rights, appeared to begin a +new siege of Ayuthia; this enemy was repulsed but not before the +unprotected districts around the capital had been thoroughly looted. + +Just now, when, attacked from east and west, her provinces despoiled +and her people fugitive or captive, Ayuthia seemed doomed to early +extinction, a hero arose to redeem her. This was Phra Naret, a son of +Bureng Naung's viceroy, who, appointed by his father governor of +Pitsanulok, in his youth saw military service defending his province +against robber bands and in the wars of Nanda Bureng, son and +successor to Bureng Naung, against the rebellious province of Ava. By +his ability bringing upon himself the dislike of the Peguan King, to +such a degree that his life was endangered, he revolted (ca. A.D. +1565) and led a Siamese army to sack and pillage Tenasserim and +Martaban. Two punitive expeditions sent against him were signally +defeated by Naret, who was then crowned King of Siam and at once began +to restore Ayuthia and to repopulate it by captives brought from +outlying districts which had attempted to cast off their allegiance. + +Having established his supremacy at home, Naret inflicted a crushing +defeat upon yet another Burmese army sent to subdue him and then, to +avenge the humiliations imposed upon his country during her time of +weakness, led a strong force against Cambodia; this campaign ended +with the destruction of the Cambodian capital and the carrying of the +King and many of his people captive to Ayuthia, where the former was +executed. Finally, some time about the year 1600, Naret, at the head +of a great army, invaded Burma with the object of conquering the whole +of that country, but this was not to be: the King met death in one of +the early battles and his son and heir, abandoning the enterprise, +returned to his own dominions. But within the space of not more than +35 years, Naret had raised Siam from a condition of almost complete +ruin to a position of ascendancy over all the neighboring kingdoms and +he left to his successors a great empire which was to endure for a +period of 175 years. + +During this period, Siam was becoming well known to the European +merchant adventurers trading in the Orient under the flags of +Portugal, Holland, and England. Early in the sixteenth century, the +Malay Kingdom of Malacca had been conquered by the Portuguese; +individuals of this nation had penetrated to Ayuthia and Pegu and had +served in the ranks of the contending armies during the Siamo-Burmese +wars; Portuguese factories had been established at the various Siamese +ports. At the beginning of the seventeenth century, Portuguese +missionaries arrived at Ayuthia, where they were well received and +given land for their churches. About this time also, English and Dutch +ships first appeared in Siamese waters and a bitter rivalry soon +sprang up among the foreigners, who competed for commercial supremacy +and the favor of the King, without which trade could scarcely be +carried on at all. This antagonism resulted in endless quarreling and +even in desperate battles between the representatives of the rival +powers and by 1634 the Dutch had so far prospered that they had built +a fortified factory at Amsterdam on the river Chao Phraya, carried on +extensive commerce throughout Siam, and monopolized the carrying trade +to China and Japan. With the taking of Malacca by the Dutch in 1641, +the influence of the Portuguese soon declined, although many +individuals continued to live in Siam, where such surnames as da Silva +and da Jesus persist to this day in families which no longer show any +other trace of European ancestry. The Dutch rapidly succeeded to all +the commercial outposts of Portugal in Siam, devoting themselves +chiefly to trade and taking little or no interest in internal +politics, except insofar as their commercial prospects were affected. +The first formal treaty contracted by Siam with any western power was +that entered into, in the year 1664, with the representatives of the +Dutch East India Company, authorized by the Dutch Republic. Dutch +trade with Siam continued until A.D. 1706, when the royal favor was +finally lost for good and the Company's agents expelled from the +Kingdom. + +In 1659 there arrived at Ayuthia one of the most extraordinary figures +in the history of Siam. This was Constantine Phaulcon, the son of a +Cephalonian innkeeper, who ran away to sea in an English ship and, +eventually making his way to Siam, stayed there to become Chief +Minister of the Crown and the trusted adviser of the King, Phra Narai. +Under Phaulcon's able guidance the country for a time prospered +greatly. Not only were the Portuguese and Dutch merchants, already +established, encouraged to extend the scope of their enterprise but +the English and French East India Companies were invited to set up +factories at the capital. The King himself, in partnership with his +First Minister, operated a profitable fleet of merchantmen and became +the principal trader of his own country. + +About this time it came to be believed in Europe that the whole of the +Far East was ripe for conversion to Christianity and a Roman Catholic +Mission was organized in France to put this ambitious design into +effect. Ayuthia, possessing a cosmopolitan population and strong +commercial ties with Japan, China, the Sunda Isles, and India, was +considered the best central location for the project and, in A.D. +1662, three French bishops with a staff of priests arrived there to +inaugurate the work. These ecclesiastics were favorably received by +the King and within a short period the mission had acquired a +considerable number of adherents. In order further to strengthen their +position, however, they sought and obtained the official support of +Louis XIV of France, who exchanged complimentary letters and embassies +with the Siamese monarch. Phaulcon, in the confidence of the bishops, +was thus brought into correspondence with Colbert, Louis's minister, +and before long the French King's interest was centered on more +material aspects of Siam than its spiritual welfare. A scheme was set +afoot for securing the supremacy of France in the Asiatic kingdom +through the agency of the priests, who, apparently believing that, +with material support from Louis, they could convert the King himself +to Christianity, were not unwilling to do their part. Six French +men-of-war and a body of 1,400 soldiers were therefore dispatched to +Siam, ostensibly to assist in intimidating the Dutch, who were at the +time causing trouble from their fortress of Malacca. The two principal +ports of Bangkok and Mergui were garrisoned by a part of these French +troops and the King was induced to attach another part of them to his +own person. The missionaries then began to exhort the King with all +the eloquence at their command but found that his conversion was a +more difficult matter than had been expected. Their obstinate +insistence with him and Phaulcon's ascendancy over him ended by +alarming the Siamese, and when remonstrances against the +ever-increasing number of foreigners in the service of the State went +disregarded, a conspiracy was formed among high officers of the Court. +Phra Narai was driven from the throne, Phaulcon was killed, the +European troops were driven from the country, and Siam was saved from +becoming the keystone of a great French empire in the Far East. + +[Illustration: 1. A primitive type of cart still is used in remote +districts. The teak logs shown in the background must be carted or +dragged by elephants from the forest to the nearest large stream.] + +[Illustration: 2. Elephants are employed to break up a jam of logs at +the estacades of a bridge.] + +[Illustration: 1. An extensive commerce is carried on between the +riverine towns by small boats. The water wheel of bamboo (left) +irrigates a garden on the shore.] + +[Illustration: 2. The graceful temples of Thailand are adorned with +lacquer, gold leaf, and colored glass.] + +[Illustration: 1. Ransacked reliquaries dot the jungles of Thailand.] + +[Illustration: 2. The high altar of a Buddhist shrine.] + +[Illustration: 1. Royalty visits Chiengmai.] + +[Illustration: 2. A princely funeral at Chiengmai. White is the color +of mourning.] + +The Kingdom of Ayuthia continued to prosper during several subsequent +reigns marked by friendly relations with European nations, including +the French, and a preoccupation with foreign commerce. But, about the +year 1759, the Burmese, reunited, after a long period of internal +strife, under the martial Alaung Phra, initiated hostilities against +the Siamese by an invasion which brought them to the walls of the +capital; the Burmese King, however, sickened at the beginning of the +siege and died before he could regain his own country. In 1766, under +his son, Sin Byu Shin, war was resumed by simultaneous marches on +Ayuthia from north and south and the city was again invested. Phra +Sucharit, the Siamese ruler, was unfamiliar with warfare but +encouraged his people to a spirited resistance, hoping that relief +would be afforded by the annual floods, coming in the wake of the +rains; the enemy merely patrolled the waters in hundreds of boats and, +as they subsided, threw up new earthworks even nearer the walls. In +the spring of 1767, Sucharit, disheartened, attempted to treat with +them but was rebuffed and when, with the arrival of reinforcements, +the Burmese made an assault in force, the weakened city fell to them +and was given over to looting, flames, and slaughter. The King, +unattended, escaped in the confusion but was to die of exposure only a +few days later. + + + + +KINGDOM OF TONBURI + + +Sin Byu Shin, leaving a viceroy with a small garrison to rule the +country, withdrew his army to meet a threatened Chinese invasion of +Burma and once again Siam fell into an interregnum of anarchy, with +outlying districts setting themselves up as independent while robber +bands preyed upon the people. An ex-official named Phraya Taksin, who +had deserted his King when Ayuthia seemed likely to fall, gathered +about himself a large number of deserters and broken men like himself +and, by guile and treachery, soon acquired complete authority in the +southeastern provinces, whence, in due time, he appeared before the +walls of Ayuthia as a national avenger. Overcoming the garrison and +killing the Burmese viceroy, Taksin declared himself King and +selected, as the site of his new capital, the village of Tonburi, on +the shore of the Chao Phraya opposite the settlement of Bangkok, where +a populous city soon came into being. To strengthen his position, +however, it was essential that Taksin destroy a legitimate pretender +to the throne whose claims had many adherents; this prince had +established himself at Khorat and thither the King sent an army with +orders to take the city. But in advance of his soldiers he sent secret +emissaries who so demoralized the prince's supporters that when the +usurper's army appeared at last, the city fell into his hands almost +without a struggle and the prince was captured and soon afterward +murdered. With this last threat to his power removed, Taksin was able +to send out expeditions in all directions and soon made himself +undisputed master of the whole country. + +The authority of this ruthless man was not to endure long. His +appointment of humble relatives to high office offended the nobility, +while the popular mind was turned against him by his excesses and by +insidious references to his alien ancestry. In 1781, giving out that +he was mad, a cabal of his courtiers dethroned him and offered the +crown to one of themselves, the son of a secretary to the last kings +of Ayuthia. This nobleman, Phraya Chakkri, already popular through his +achievements as a royal minister and as a leader of the armies, was +readily accepted as King by the people and ascended the throne in A.D. +1782, to found the dynasty which still reigns in Siam. + + + + +KINGDOM OF SIAM + + +Phraya Chakkri (hereafter to be styled as King Rama I) had scarcely +assumed his new dignity when Bodaw Phra, King of Burma, attempted a +new conquest of Siam. King Rama's military ability was such that the +Burmese were finally everywhere defeated and, with the abandonment of +Mergui and Tavoy by the Siamese in 1792, the recurrent wars between +the two powers may be said to have ended for good. With the foreign +danger averted, the King was able to organize his government, the seat +of which was transferred from Tonburi to Bangkok, on the left bank of +the river, where he constructed a fortified city. + +Rama II became involved in war at the beginning of his reign. In 1786, +the regent of the now effete Kingdom of Cambodia had formally +recognized Siamese suzerainty and had sent the infant King to reside +at Bangkok, while he continued to rule the state under Siam's aegis. +Annam, to the east, however, made identical claims to supremacy and +when, in 1809, the Annamese King attempted to enforce his demands, an +army was sent from Bangkok to repel him. The brief campaign ended with +Rama's annexation of the Cambodian province of Phratabong, while the +rest of the country became a dependency of Annam. + +Upon this King's death in 1825, the throne was usurped by one of his +sons by a lesser wife, while the legitimate heir, Chao Fa Mongkut, a +young man of twenty-one, retired to the safety of the Buddhist +monkhood. The reign of Rama III is chiefly notable for Siam's +resumption of political relations with the nations of the West. In +1833, a treaty drawn up between Siam and the United States of America +represented the first formal tie between this country and any Asiatic +power. + +Toward the end of the reign, Cambodian politics again caused bad blood +between Siam and Annam. A youth named Norodom, a son of the Cambodian +King, had some time since been brought to Bangkok and reared at the +Siamese Court. Upon his father's death, he was declared by Siam to be +the rightful heir and, supported by a Siamese army, returned to +Cambodia to gain the throne and, despite former agreements, to place +the country again under Siamese protection. + +During his years of retirement, Chao Fa Mongkut, the King's half +brother, had assiduously devoted himself to the study of the English +language, the sciences, and the manners, customs, and systems of +government of foreign lands; at the same time, he missed no +opportunity to meet and converse with European travelers. Coming to +the throne as Rama IV in 1851, at the age of 47, he brought to his +task a remarkable degree of enlightenment, which resulted in throwing +the country open to foreign trade and intercourse, in the introduction +of such arts as printing and shipbuilding, in the construction of +roads and canals, in laying the foundations for systems of education +and public health, and in numerous other reforms directed toward +increasing the public welfare. His love of learning was indirectly +responsible for his death for, visiting a mountain peak to observe an +eclipse in 1868, he contracted the illness from which he died in that +year. + +The program of modernization initiated by King Rama IV was continued +and expanded by his son, the great Chulalongkon (Rama V). Among the +important reforms instituted during this reign were the abolition of +debt slavery, the establishment of law courts, the construction of +railways, the spread of education, regulation of the conditions of +military service, and radical changes in methods of revenue and rural +administration. The appointment of trained officials under organized +control in place of ignorant provincial governors and hereditary +chieftains welded the loose agglomeration of feudatory dependencies +into the modern, homogeneous state. + +In the year 1863, Norodom, whom Siam had placed upon the Cambodian +throne, made a treaty with France, now master of Annam, by which he +accepted French protection; at almost the same time he made an exactly +similar compact with Siam. Thus each country found itself responsible +for the protection of Cambodia against any possible aggressor, while +each was given the sole right of dictating the foreign policy of that +state. So absurd a situation could not last and, after 4 years of +negotiation, Siam was compelled to yield to the French thesis of their +superior rights as successors to the Annamese kings, to abrogate her +treaty of 1863, and to abandon all claim to suzerainty over Cambodia. + +Soon after Siam's withdrawal from Cambodia, the unofficial advocates +of colonialism in France began to advance the idea that certain +Siamese provinces east of the river Me Khong, having at one time +formed a part of Annam, should be restored to that Kingdom, now a +French protectorate. There is no historical basis for this claim, +which was at first unsupported even in Paris, but when the colonial +party added the argument that the unnavigable Me Khong, as one of the +future trade routes of Southwest China, must at all costs be acquired +by France, the French Government formally demanded of Bangkok the +provinces in question. The Siamese replied by suggesting that the +disputed territory be regarded as neutral until such time as the +frontier could be properly demarcated and this was agreed upon but +merely led to further trouble, each side accusing the other of +violating the compact. Siam asked for arbitration, which was declined +by the French. When, in 1893, bloody collisions occurred along the +border, French gunboats, dispatched from Saigon, ascended the Chao +Phraya, despite efforts of the Siamese naval forces to bar the way. In +consequence of Siamese resistance, the French greatly increased their +demands, now insisting that Siam give up all territory east of the Me +Khong (including about half of the rich province of Luang Phrabang, to +which no French claim had ever previously been laid). After 10 days of +blockade, the Siamese had no choice but to accept a humiliating treaty +which, among other concessions, required immediate evacuation of her +eastern outposts and the payment of an indemnity; as a guarantee, +France established a military occupation of the southeastern province, +of Chanthabun, which was to continue long after all the terms had been +fulfilled. + +Relations between the two countries were far from improved by this +episode and, during the following years, abuses in the exercise of +French extraterritorial rights were a fertile source of provocation. +In fact, despite every effort to avoid unfortunate incidents, the +Government of Siam found itself spending all its energies in replying +to diplomatic representations and to demands for inquiries, +explanations, and reparations. + +As the French demands increased in numbers and severity, there was no +longer any question that Siam's national survival was at stake. But, +in 1896, Great Britain, at last alarmed by France's growing strength +in southern Asia and unwilling to have her approach too near the +eastern confines of India, intervened. High feelings were aroused in +both countries but, after lengthy negotiations, an agreement was +concluded in the same year, by which Siam's autonomy was guaranteed +that she might serve as a buffer between the rival empires. + +Thereafter, relations between France and Siam tended to improve. It +was not, however, until 1907, that, in return for yet another +"rectification of the boundary," the French agreed to revise their +extraterritorial rights and to remove the garrison from Chanthabun. A +second convention of the same year resulted in Siam's restoring to +Cambodia the province of Phratabong, which she had held since 1809, +and receiving in exchange a part of the territory yielded in 1904 and +obtaining a recognition of Siamese jurisdiction over Asiatic French +subjects. Altogether, in warding off the European neighbor, Siam had +been compelled to sacrifice no less than 90,000 square miles of her +eastern lands. + + + + +THAILAND + + +Whether the modern traveler enters Siam by steamer from Hongkong or +Singapore or by comfortable Diesel-engined train from the Malay +States, his destination is certain to be Bangkok. Here, in bewildering +juxtaposition, the old Siam and the new Thailand confront him together +on every side. The former is represented in the complicated network of +canals, upon which thousands of boat-dwellers pass their lives; in the +narrow streets hung with the vertical signboards of the inevitable +multitude of Chinese traders; in the throngs of yellow-robed monks +that appear at daybreak from hundreds of gaily colored shrines whose +spires arise in every direction. The new is seen in the modern +boulevards lined with spacious wooden houses set among gardens and +orchards; in the motorcars competing for space with bicycle-drawn +jinrikishas; in the air-conditioned cinema theaters, where, before +World War II, were shown the new pictures shipped by air from +California; in the cement and match factories; in the great airport of +Don Muang, north of the city, where transports arrived daily from +Britain and Australia, from Java and The Netherlands. + +Until recently, the inhabitants of towns and villages outside the +capital lived a life not greatly different from that of their +ancestors: one which revolved around the annual cycle of planting, +growing, and the harvest, with religious festivals to break the +monotony of living. Poverty, as understood in the industrial Occident, +was unknown for, while little actual money was seen by the average +family during the course of a year, yet a house could be built of +bamboo in a day or two; fruit trees bore around the year; clothing was +woven at home and shoes were little worn; virtually everyone owned +productive land or was at liberty to clear a tract from the forest +which covers much of the thinly populated country; taxes were light +and could be paid by a few days' labor on some project of public +works. + +During the decade just passed the Government has initiated a positive +program aimed at raising the standards of living of the common people +and especially of the peasants who constitute the great majority. +Among the means adopted have been the development of such new sources +of gain as the raising of tobacco and cotton on a large scale; the +construction of great irrigation projects and the development of +sources of electric power; the education of the farmer in livestock +breeding and scientific agriculture; the establishment of agencies to +enable him to obtain a fair market for his produce; the spread of +public-health and medical services in far corners of the provinces. +The results of this experiment had not yet become clear when the war +interfered to hinder its fulfillment. + +The political aspect of the program leaned heavily toward economic +nationalism, in an endeavor to counteract the excessive proportion of +foreign capital in the country and to encourage more active +participation by the Thai in the building-up of their own land. If the +means to these laudable ends were perverted, by the paid agents of +Japanese propaganda and a handful of powerful men within the Thai +Government, to serve the cause of "co-prosperity," it must not +therefore be assumed that the misfortunes which have recently befallen +them are traceable to any activities and desires on the part of the +Thai people themselves. + +A lively resistance to the usurpers continues, inside Thailand and +through her spokesmen abroad; we may confidently expect that the Thai, +with the aid and sympathy of their friends of the United Nations, will +at the earliest opportunity rid themselves both of their quislings and +their Japanese overlords, again proudly to style themselves "the free +men." + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Siam--Land of Free Men, by H. G. Deignan + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44679 *** |