The Thai- Chapter 14:iiie -

[Image source: http://www.amegawood.com/images/culture2.jpg]

The ancestors of the Thai

people began migrating to the area of present-day

Thailand from China circa

700 A.D.[Image source:

http://www.gothailand.com/phuket/images/rice.jpg]

Sukhothai, the first Thai

kingdom, was established in

the north-central part of the

country circa 1238 A.D.

[Image source: http://www.thailandtourismus.de/images/maps/provinces-maps/sukhothai.gif]

Sukhothai lasted forapproximately 100 years.

[Image source: http://www.ggrz-hagen.nrw.de/js-thai/040326-18-Sukhothai.jpg]

King Ramkhamhaeng

(ruled 1275 to 1217 A.D.) made Sukhothai into a

center of learning.

[Image source: http://www.molon.de/galleries/Thailand/Sukhotai/images01/29%20Statu

e%20of%20King%20Ramkhamhaeng.jpg]

The Thai developed a system of writing based on the Khmer script.

[Image source: http://www.ethaimusic.com/images/thai_alphabet.gif]

A pillar erectedin 1292 A.D.

acknowledged Ramkhamhaeng’s reign as a golden

age.

[Image source: http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Co

ngress/7905/sirajar.jpg]

“This Sukhothai is good. In the water there are fish. In the fields there is

rice. The king does not levy a [tax] on his people . . . . Who wants to trade in elephants, trades. Who wants to trade in horses, trades. Who wants to trade

in gold and silver, trades . . . .”

[Image sourcehttp://www.terragalleria.com/images/vietnam/viet7773.jpeg]

Prince Ramathibodi overthrew the Sukhothai and established the Ayutthaya kingdom.

[Image source: http://www.sophiaportal.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=194&g2_serialNumber=4]

He set-up a new capital up the Chao Phraya River from where present-day Bangkok.

[Image source: http://www.chiangmai-chiangrai.com/ayutthaya8.html]

The Ayutthaya kingdom had 33 kings over a period of almost four centuries.

[Image source: http://www.natale.to/thai2004/ayutthaya-16.jpg]

At its height, Ayutthaya

controlled parts of Myanmar and the Malay Peninsula.

[Image source: http://www.orientalarchitecture.com/chiangmai/thailandhistory.jpg]

[Image source: http://www.mtwthailand.org/Thailand%20Info/Photos/General/religion.gif]