Thailand History

Thailand - national flag

The flag was officially adopted in 1917; originally the country's flag was completely red. In the 1800's. a white elephant was inserted, which during World War I was replaced by a blue stripe, Thailand's national color. Likewise, the two white stripes were added so that the flag got the same colors as the flags of the country's allies in World War II. The red, white and blue stripes symbolize respectively. the nation, Buddhism and the monarchy.

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Thailand - prehistory

The oldest finds are from northern Thailand; it is early-Paleolithic pebble-tools. The oldest are dated from 1.2 million. to 800,000 years before now, but most are probably between 700,000 and 560,000 years old. From approximately 10,000 BCE, the Hoabinhian culture appeared in caves in mountainous Thailand. The culture is characterized by one-sided hewn stone tools, which are finer and more carefully shaped, and the number of tool types has increased. In the Mon Khiew cave at Krabi, in addition to gear, animal bones, fish bones and seashells, three skeletons of Homo sapiens sapiens belonging to the Australianoid race have been found. The population was hunters, fishermen and gatherers.

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The Neolithic was introduced with the Ban Kao culture approximately 2140 BCE; occurrence of agriculture can be indirectly detected through finds of stone sails for harvest. In southeastern Thailand, coastal, almost kitchen-man-like settlements with sharpened stone axes and a very refined decorated pottery have been found. The Nong Nor settlement dates to approximately 2500 BCE, while the large residential and burial site Kok Phanom Di only 22 km away is dated 2000-1500 BCE There are no traces of agriculture, but the communities were highly developed in their burial patterns with rich burial gifts. Racially, the population was probably Australian, as opposed to the Mongoloid populations of Ban Kao, Ban Chiang, and the rest of Northeast Thailand's habitats.

From Central Thailand, an extensive copper production is known from around 1000 BC In the Bronze Age, approximately 1000-500 BCE, copper, lead, and tin were used to cast bronze weapons, tools, and jewelry.

Around 500 BCE, a series of profound cultural changes occurred. Iron was used for weapons, tools and jewelry; most crucial was the fabrication of plowshares that improved agricultural production opportunities. At the same time, an international exchange network was launched, connecting the Roman Empire with China and with Southeast Asia, including Thailand. At this time, especially in Northeast Thailand, the first large settlements arose that were surrounded by violence and tombs and had rich tombs. It was these communities that later developed into the early principalities of Southeast Asia.

Thailand - history

Although Thailand as the only country in South Asia was not colonized, the current extent of the country is the result of the demarcation of European colonial powers around 1900. The history of Thailand is generally divided into the kingdoms of Sukhothai (approximately 1240-1419), Ayutthaya (1351- 1767) and Bangkok (from 1767). Before 1939 and in the period 1945-49, the country was called Siam.

It is unknown when the immigration of Thai people began, but in the 1000-t. Many Thais lived in the region, which was dominated by the Buddhist mon-culture and the Hindu-Buddhist Khmer civilization. From here, the originally animistic Thais received a strong political, religious and cultural influence. The first independent Thai kingdoms, founded in Sukhothai (approximately 1240) and Chiang Mai (1296), were important centers of Buddhist religion and culture. The original faith was not rejected, but integrated into Buddhism into a powerful political ideology. Ever since, Buddhism, monarchy, and state have been closely linked. Sukhothai is considered in Thailand as the historical forerunner of the later Thai state and is associated with a harmonious golden age from which a Thai alphabet and the first text in Thai are believed to originate;

The collapse of the Cambodian Angkori in the 14th century. allowed the Thais to establish themselves as a regional power factor, which happened with the rapidly expanding kingdom of Ayutthaya, which established control over large parts of the territory that Thailand today covers. Sukhothai represented an unstable political structure, based on personal alliances, and in 1378 became vassal of Ayutthaya. In an effort to strengthen Ayutthaya, political power was centralized, and the personal patron-client relationships that had previously formed the cornerstone of the Thai social organization were incorporated into a formalized hierarchy. A more bureaucratic system of government was built; many legal texts date from this period. Ayutthaya was an enterprising port city where several European countries in the 1600's. established trading houses. The biggest threat came from the Burmese,

A new period in the country's history began when the Chakra dynastyin 1782 the capital moved to Bangkok after a short period in Thon Buri under Phraya Taksin (regent 1767-81). In the early Bangkok period, Thailand expanded; former vassals were again attached to the kingdom, and new ones were added. Laws, literary texts, and religious manuscripts were rewritten to reconstruct the cultural heritage of Ayutthaya. Foreign trade grew and so did Europeans' interest in the country. During Mongkut, Thailand came under serious pressure from the colonial powers. The country relinquished control of large areas in Laos, Cambodia and Malaya and entered into trade treaties with many of the European powers, for example with Denmark in 1858. The trade treaties helped the country avoid colonization. In addition, Britain and France wanted Thailand to act as a buffer state between their possessions in respectively. Burma and French Indochina. In the wake of this development, there was a recovery in Thailand's international trade, and large parts of the country's economy were commercialized. At the same time, a large influx of Chinese labor took place. The confrontation with the colonial powers created a need for internal consolidation, and following the Western model, under Chulalongkorn there was a centralization of the country's administration to bind the peripheral areas closer to the political center of Bangkok. For the first time in history, Thailand emerged as a country with clearly defined borders and bound together by railways and telegraph lines. The foundation for the spread of a national culture was laid through the establishment of a standardized school system for both lay people and monks. Around 1900, Danes in Thailand took an active part in the building and development of the nation by e.g. to contribute to the modernization of the navy and the establishment of a paramilitary border gendarmerie. During the same period, the financier HN Andersen in Thailand created the basis for his later business empire, which included EAC.

After the reforms, the monarchy stood more authoritarian than ever, but after a coup in 1932, led by disgruntled military and civil servants, the constitutional monarchy was introduced. Since then, the military has been an important political player, and the country has alternated between being governed by either military or democratically composed governments.

In 1941, Thailand was invaded by Japanese forces, after which the country allied itself with Japan. After World War II, the country was long associated with a clear anti-communist policy and received in the 1950's and 1960's from the United States great financial assistance, which was used to build the country's infrastructure. During the Vietnam War in the 1960's and 1970's, the United States had bases in Thailand, from which bombing raids were carried out on targets in Laos and Cambodia.

Despite coup attempts, civilian governments played an ever-increasing role up through the 1980's. However, a military coup in 1991 showed that the military remains an important political player. Among the middle class, there is strong opposition to military intervention, which was reflected in extensive demonstrations in 1992.

As the former socialist countries in the region have switched to a market economy, Thai capital has largely invested in neighboring countries, e.g. Laos. The financial crisis in South Asia in the second half of the 1990's hit Thailand hard, but after a reform of banking industry experienced Thailand from 2000 again high growth rates.

In the parliamentary elections in 2001, billionaire Thaksin Shinawatra won a major election victory on a populist program with strong financial support for villages and a three-year suspension of debt payments for farmers. The fight against corruption continued, and even the new prime minister had to see himself accused; the case against him, however, was dismissed by a constitutional court.

It came to a crisis in relations with Burma in 2002, and the border between the two countries was closed for much of the year. The following year, the Thai authorities launched a fight against drug crime; the effort was brutal and led to more than 2,000 deaths in the first months of the year. In Muslim southern Thailand, armed fighting broke out in 2004 between Thailand's military and separatist insurgents, and martial law was imposed in the area; the conflict led to a major displacement of Southern Thailand's Buddhist minorities. The tsunami in the Indian Ocean in December 2004 hit parts of the coast of Thailand hard; Among other things, Several of the popular tourist areas such as Phuket were ravaged by the tidal waves, and between 5,400 and 8,000, many of them tourists, perished.

Thaksin Shinawatra was re-elected in 2005, but growing criticism of his government led him to call early elections in April 2006. The main opposition parties declared they would boycott the election, which was never held. In September 2006, Thaksin was overthrown in a military coup. The Transitional Military Government passed a new constitution in August 2007, giving the military increased power over the government. Following the parliamentary elections in December 2007, the People's Power Party, PPP, formed a coalition government. The PPP is seen as a continuation of Thaksin's party, which was banned in 2007. The PPP was also banned, but continued in the Pheu Thai Party, PTP. In 2010, there was a confrontation between Thaksin's supporters, who are especially to be found among the poor section of the population, and the government. The opposition, the so-called "red shirts", walked the streets of Bangkok in extensive demonstrations. The red shirts were increasingly met by combat-ready police, and there were clashes with many killed. The situation was frozen in April 2010. Due to the danger of violence, the tourism industry was hit hard, especially in Bangkok.

In the July 2011 election, the PTP, led by Thaksin's sister Yingluck Shinawatra, won an absolute majority in parliament. In late 2013, there were widespread protests against her government, not least the decision to introduce a new amnesty law, which would allow Thaksin to return to Thailand.