North
Thailand / Chiang Mai / History
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Chiang Mai
has an history of more than 700 years. Oddly enough, it doesn't
begin in what is today Northern Thailand but the Southern Chinese
province of Yunnan, a few hundred kilometers to the north.
There, the well developed Thai kingdom of Nanchao existed
from the middle of the 7th until the middle of the 13th century
(for 604 years to be exact). In 1254, however, the Nanchao Kingdom
was conquered by Kublai Khan, resulting in the southward
migration of a large number of Thais. Most of these Thais settled
in what is today northern Thailand.
A result
of this influx of Thais from southern China was the founding of
several towns and principalities in what is today
northern Thailand. Among the towns founded and the principalities
established in the second half of the 13th century was Chiang
Mai.
However,
a predecessor of Chiang Mai was Chiang Rai, some 180km
(113mi) to the north. There, a prince of the Nanchao Kingdom who
had migrated south with his people, Mengrai, established
in 1262 the Lannatai principality (commonly translated
as Kingdom of one Million Rice Fields). If one prefers to speak
of a Lannatai Kingdom instead of a Lannatai Principality at that
early stage, one of course has to upgrade Mr. Mengrai's rank to
that of King. However, one must be aware that Mengrai was of course
designated in Thai and with a Thai title, and ranks of
nobility in Western and Thai history are not equivalent to each
other. Certainly, Mengrai was an independent and absolute
ruler, but his realm just had the size of what would be considered
as a principality in European history.
In the 30
years after the founding of Chiang Rai, Mengrai's realm indeed
grew to a size of what one may consider a kingdom. The development
was aided by Mengrai's close alliance to the ruler of Sukhothai,
King Ramkhamhaeng who conquered a territory larger then
present day Thailand but did not touch the considerably smaller
neighbor in the north. Therefore, two fairly strong Thai kingdoms
existed at the end of the 13th century, Sukhothai and Lannatai.
Chiang Mai was founded by King Mengrai as his new capital in 1291.
The new city was completed with a surrounding moat and
wall in 1296. The name it was given reads in full as "Nophaburi
Si Nakhonping Chiang Mai".
The good
relations between the Lannatai Kingdom and the southern Thais
didn't last for long. After the Sukhothai period which ended in
the 14th century, the southern Thai's approach to the Lannatai
Kingdom was characterized by repeated attempts to degrade it to
a vassal principality rather than accepting it as an equal
Thai kingdom. And for the roughly 600 years from 1291 to 1774,
the Lannatai Kingdom was a willing ally of the Burmese
at least for as long a time as it sided with Ayutthaya. Actually
for more than 200 years, from 1556 to 1774, it was a Burmese
vassal state, just as the Shan principalities to the west
of Lannatai. Due to its location in between Burmese and Siamese
spheres of influence, Chiang Mai was not only repeatedly subdued
by one of the two but also several times destroyed.
Chiang Mai
became an integral part of Siam only in 1774 when
the city, in preceding decades under strong Burmese rule, was
conquered (or liberated) by King Taksin.
Photo: Part of Chiang Mai's old wall and moat
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Asians have a different business mentality than Europeans or Americans, especially when it comes to medical services.
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http://www.asiatour.com/thailand/e-05nort/et-no150.htm
Jan Garanoz
869/116 Thanon Pemavipat,
Chiang Rai, 57000 Thailand
Created: September 1, 1995
Last updated: January 28, 2010