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To help you learn more about Thailand, we provide the comprehensive and educational history resource from the early establishment to the recent development of Thailand. We continue making research and gathering the information to make for a hub of Thailand history guide. You will get all and more by clicking the sections below.
THAILAND HISTORY
• Early History • Phibun Regime
• Mon and Khmer • Thailand In World War Ii
• Tai People • Pridi And Civilian Regime
• Sukhothai Period • Return Of Phibun
• Aytthaya Era • Coup D'etat In 1947
• Thai Kingship • Coup D ' Etat In 1951
• Ayutthaya Final Phase • Sarit And Thanom
• Bangkok Period • Sarit's Return
• Chakkri Dynasty • Politics 1963 - 1971
• Mongkut Policy • Coup D' Etat In 1971
• Chulalongkern Reforms • End Of Thanom Regime
• Crisis of 1893 • Military Rule Period
• Constitutional Era • Prem In Power
• Coup D'etat In 1932 • Coup D' Etat In 2006
Sukhothai , Thailand History Travel Information Thailand Guided Tours
Sukhothai Period
 
THE SUKHOTHAI PERIOD
Situated on the banks of the Mae Nam Yom some 375 kilometers north of present-day Bangkok, Sukhothai was the cradle of Thai civilization, the place where its institutions and culture first developed. Indeed, it was there in the late thirteenth century that the people of the central plain, lately freed from Khmer rule, took the name Thai, meaning "free," to set themselves apart from other Tai speakers still under foreign rule.
The first ruler of Sukhothai for whom historical records survive was Ramkhamhaeng (Rama the Great, 1277-1317). He was a famous warrior who claimed to be "sovereign lord of all the Tai" and financed his court with war booty and tribute from vassal states in Burma, Laos, and the Malay Peninsula. During his reign, the Thai established diplomatic relations with China and acknowledged the Chinese emperor as nominal overlord of the Thai kingdom. Ramkhamhaeng brought Chinese artisans to Sukhothai to develop the ceramics industry that was a mainstay of the Thai economy for 500 years. He also devised the Thai alphabet by adapting a Khmer script derived from the Indian Devanagari script.
Sukhothai declined rapidly after Ramkhamhaeng's death, as vassal states broke away from the suzerainty of his weak successors. Despite the reputation of its later kings for wisdom and piety, the politically weakened Sukhothai was forced to submit in 1378 to the Thai kingdom of Ayutthaya.