THE WORLD ATLAS

Empire · since 1782 · Southeast Asia

Rattanakosin Siam (Thailand)

Also known as Rattanakosin Kingdom, Siam, Thailand

After Ayutthaya fell in 1767, the general Taksin drove out the Burmese and ruled from Thonburi. In 1782 his general Chao Phraya Chakri took the throne as Rama I, founding the Chakri dynasty and a new capital at Bangkok across the river; the period is named Rattanakosin after its royal island.

The kingdom extended its rule over Laos, western Cambodia and northern Malay sultanates. Kings Mongkut and Chulalongkorn modernised Siam, signing trade treaties, abolishing slavery and building railways and ministries, and skilfully played Britain and France against each other, so that Siam alone in Southeast Asia escaped colonisation, though it ceded outlying lands. A revolution in 1932 ended absolute monarchy, and the country was renamed Thailand in 1939. Military governments alternated with elected ones, while King Bhumibol reigned for seventy years.

See it on the map

Wat Arun on the Chao Phraya in Bangkok, rebuilt in its present form under Rama II and Rama III in the early 19th century
Wat Arun on the Chao Phraya in Bangkok, rebuilt in its present form under Rama II and Rama III in the early 19th century Diego Delso · CC BY-SA 3.0
Years
since 1782
Capital
Bangkok
Greatest extent
1805, about 1.12 million km²
Region
Southeast Asia

c. 1.12M km² (432,000 sq mi, Wikipedia), including vassal Lan Na, Laos, western Cambodia and northern Malay sultanates; by 1893 it had shrunk to c. 727,000 km²

Legacy

Thailand is the only Southeast Asian country never colonised by a European power, and the Chakri dynasty still reigns.

Rulers

Realms on the map

Wars

Sources