A Brief History

From 1350 until 1767 the capital of Siam, the former name of Thailand, was Ayutthaya, 85 kilometers north of Bangkok. During this time Thai culture flourished, 33 different kings reigned, and the city became a major center for international commerce. The population grew to one million inhabitants. The present day Ayuthaya, at the confluence of the Chao Phraya, Pa Sak and Lopburi rivers, is well worth visiting since there are many historic ruins, two museums and numerous old temples and monasteries.

In 1782 the Burmese attacked Ayuthaya and King Rama I moved the capital down the river to Bang Makok, which translates to “Place of Olives.” That town was founded as a trading post in the middle of the 16th century and soon became known as Bangkok. The King’s thought was that Bangkok would be easier to defend against future invasion. In addition, his palace in Ayuthaya was sandwiched between two monasteries, making expandsion impossible there. With the help of thousands of prisoners of war, construction of the new city began. The canal system was expanded – much of that work remains today – and stout city walls constructed. The POWs were not to be trusted with temple building, however, so artisans from Ayuthaya were brought in for that job. When work on the new capital was completed in 1785 it was renamed Krung Thep, “City of Angels,” but the name didn’t catch on and people continued, and still continue, to call it Bangkok.

Chinese merchants were as much in evidence then as they are today. King Rama I wanted the land they occupied to build yet another temple, the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, Wat Phra Kaew (wat is the Thai word for temple). The Chinese accepted his offer to relocate to the area that is known as Chinatown today.

King Rama III was a great temple builder, and many of the temples you see today were completed during his reign in the first half of the 19th century. Fortunately the temple-building slowed when the next king arrived on the throne; Rama IV’s initial undertaking was to build a road – the first in the city – alongside the river. That was completed in 1861; by the turn of the century more roads had been completed and the Bangkok elite were traveling in horse-drawn carriages and rickshaws.

Road construction and the introduction of the automobile were major trends at the start of the 20th century, and quickly got out of control as the century proceeded. Many of the canals built hundreds of years before were filled in to create more usable land. Still, travel on the river remained a favored mode of transport.

Thailand established a constitutional government in 1932 and its civil-service headquarters was in Thonburi, a town and province adjacent to Bangkok, to encourage development there. This growth slowed during the Second World War when the Japanese occupied parts of the city of Thonburi. At the same time the Thai resistance, the Seri Thai, came into being helping the allies to undermine the occupation.

During the ’60s there was another invasion. American servicemen on R&R during the Vietnam War brought a dubiously welcome boom to the economy. The sex trade that was created, with its go-go bars, seedy nightclubs and massage parlors, continues today. Much of the money that found its way into the Thai treasury went to improve the city’s infrastructure. However, not enough was spent on roads or public transit systems, which could not keep pace with the economic boom that was to come in the 1980s.

Bangkok, and Thailand in general, did not foresee the economic crash that was to strike Asia in 1997. But in typical Thai tradition the country bounced back and today the city is expanding at an incredible rate and establishing itself as the financial center of mainland Southeast Asia attracting both Western and Asian investment.