History

With long periods of Thailand’s History, according to evidences and studies, Sukhothai was the first kingdom of Thailand.  At that time, an early Thai script was invented by King Ramkhamhaeng, the great king of Sukhothai, and there also were records of events in the king’s reign.  After Sukhothai period, the new kingdoms arose that are Ayuthaya, Thonburi and Rattanakosin which is the present kingdom of Thailand.  Each period owns its important events and interesting cultural changes.In the Sukhothai period, King Sri Indraditya founded Sukhothai in 1238 governed by the monarchy system.  The glorious era was in the reign of King Ramkhamhaeng the Great and after his death, it came to the fall of Sukhothai Kingdom.                                                                        

In Ayuthaya Period, King U Thong founded the kingdom in 1350, and the kingdom then became powerful in politics and economy of southeast Asia.  Ayuthaya became stronger by firmly gathering Groups of Thai and connecting to foreign countries such as Portugal, France, Netherlands, China, and Japan In 1569, Ayuthaya’s glories fell to Burmese, then King Naresuan regained the City’s independence and expanded more territories.  In the era of King Narai was the rise of international relations, but later because of the big war, Ayuthaya Kingdom was destroyed by Burmese troops in 1767.  That was the end of Ayuthaya period. 

King Rama I was the first king of Rattanakosin.  In the early period, there was an invasion from Western countries.  The kings at that time solved the problems by trading and making agreements with the Western countries for preserving the independence even the country lost some territories. 

In 1932, Thailand had a big change of the country’s government system, from the absolute monarchy system to the present democratic system with the King as the Head of State.

EARLIEST HISTORY

Fossilized remains of plants and animals have been discovered in many areas of  Thailand particularly in the Korat Plateau in northeastern Thailand. Most of the animal fossils found are of dinosaurs, which date primarily to the Jurassic era though some are from the late-Triassic, the oldest such evidence of dinosaurs in southeast Asia.  

The dinosaur bones encased in sandstone in the Phu Wiang hills of Khon Kaen province included Phuwiangosaurus sirindhornae, a gigantic plant-eating dinosaur that had a long neck and tail and a small head.  

Four other species of dinosaur unearthed in Phu Wiang include siam otyrannus isanensis, a smaller version of Tyrannosaurus rex, Siamosauraus suteethorni, a crocodile-like creature, Compsognathus, the world’s smallest dinosaur, and Ornithomimosaur, an ostrich-like dinosaur.  

In nearby Chaiyaphum province two other new dinosaur species were discovered: Psittacosaurus sattayaraki, a parrot-billed dinosaur, and Isanosaurus attavipachi, which is similar to Phuwiangosaurus. 

Homo erectus fossils have also been discovered in ThailandLampang man for its discovery in Lampang province, the remains have been dated to roughly 1,000,000 - 500,000 years ago in the Pleistocene Era.The first evidence of humans living in modern-day Thailand was discovered at Ban Chiang, near Udon Thani in northeastern Thailand; grave sites and artifacts including bronze tools and pottery provide evidence of a society that is thought to have had knowledge of rice cultivation and occupied the area continuously from 2100 to 200 BCE, spanning the Neolithic to the Iron Age.