A BRIEF HISTORY OF THAILAND

The ancient kingdom of Siam—from the Sanskrit word Syama,
meaning ‘dark’ or ‘brown’—was renamed Thailand in 1948.
This was, in fact, the second time the
country’s name had changed. Siam was
fi rst renamed Thailand in 1939, at the
onset of World War II, by then Prime
Minister Field Marshal Luang ‘Plaek’
Phibunsongkhram who believed the
name change would whip up muchneeded
ultra-nationalist spirit to unify
or at least inform the approximately
50 ethnic groups resident in the country
that it was a land for ‘Tais’, the dominant
ethnic group at the time.
Although Thailand’s hosting of Japanese
forces and perceived alignment
with the Japanese in World War II was
retrospectively deemed to have been
‘under duress’ as opposed to being
‘allied’ (Thailand was ‘occupied’ by
150,000 Japanese troops), it was
decided to revert to the pre-war name
Siam at the end of the war, in 1945.
Field Marshal Plaek was subsequently
forced out of offi ce and put on trial for
war crimes, but was acquitted owing to
strong Thai public support. In 1947, he
led a coup and once again became prime
minister. The following year Siam, for the
second and fi nal time, became Thailand.
THAILAND’S FOUR KINGDOMS
Thailand has gone through a myriad of
changes and been exposed to numerous
infl uences throughout its history.
The existence of a number of separate,
distinct and often co-existing Thai
kingdoms has been largely responsible
for the formation of the multifaceted
Thailand we know today.
Sukhothai The Sukhothai kingdom
of Thailand (1238–1448) is considered
to be the ‘Golden Age of Thailand’. As
the fi rst independent Thai state follow
palaces. If any subject
had a grievance, he would ring the bell
and the king would come to the gate
and dispense justice accordingly. This
leadership style was later to become
known as ‘father governs children’ and
is still relevant today, not only in the
palace but also in the hierarchy of Thai
companies and organizations.
Although its authenticity has subsequently
been questioned, the Thai
alphabet was created by King Ramkhamhaeng
during this period, evidenced
by the discovery of an inscribed
tablet, the Ramkhamhaeng Stele. In the
script, the king speaks of his benevolent
leadership style. King Ramkhamhaeng’s
‘paternal rule’ and the culture and traditions
of Sukhothai were later to take on
further signifi cance during the 1932 prodemocracy
revolution, when scholars
The word Thai in the Thai language means ‘independence’, leading many to
believe the choice of name refers to Thailand’s ability to resist attempts at
Western colonization, the only Southeast Asian country to successfully do so.
Others believe the name refers to those who were to become the country’s most
populous and dominant group of people—the Tais. The Tais were initially an
ethnic group hailing from southern China, who migrated into the Chao Phraya
River valley in central Thailand around AD 1000, an area already inhabited by
two main Austro-Asiatic groups speaking Mon and Khmer. Present-day Thais
are the product of the assimilation and fusion of these three groups.
In recent years, some Thai scholars, including historian Charnvit Kasetsiri,
have called on the country to revert to its original name, Siam. Although
the widespread practice of Theravada Buddhism has promoted racial harmony,
Charnvit points out that it was only when the country became known as
Thailand—’a land for Tais’—that its 50 other ethnic groups currently residing
alongside the Tais, including Yuan, Lao, Malayu, Karen, Hmong, Chinese and,
most recently, farang (people of European descent), were discriminated against
and dissuaded from expressing their customs, dress and language in favor of a
unifi ed Thai existence or Thai-ness. Charnvit believes that a return to the name
Siam would be the fi rst step in signaling that not only the country’s past but also
its present is made up of many different ethnicities and ideologies, and is the
only way to bring about reconciliation of its mosaic of peoples and cultures.