The Ayutthaya Kingdom the Empire of Ayutthaya, was a Siamese kingdom that existed in Southeast Asia from 1351 to 1767, centered around the city of Ayutthaya, in Siam, or present-day Thailand. European travellers in the early 16th century called Ayutthaya one of the three great powers of Asia. The Ayutthaya Kingdom is considered to be the precursor of modern Thailand, and its developments are an important part of the history of Thailand.
Krabi-Krabong is a weapon-based martial art from Thailand. It is closely related to other Southeast Asian fighting styles such as Pencak Silat Indonesia, Burmese banshay and Cambodian kbach kun boran. The royal bodyguard corps of the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej were said to be highly trained in krabi-krabong.
A war elephant was an elephant that was trained and guided by humans for combat. The war elephant's main use was to charge the enemy, break their ranks, and instill terror and fear. Elephantry is a term for specific military units using elephant-mounted troops.
Thai literature is the literature of the Thai people, almost exclusively written in the Thai language. Most of imaginative literary works in Thai, before the 19th century, were composed in poetry. Prose was reserved for historical records, chronicles, and legal documents. Consequently, the poetical forms in the Thai language are both numerous and highly developed. The corpus of Thailand's pre-modern poetic works is large. Thus, although many literary works were lost with the sack of Ayutthaya in 1767, Thailand still possesses a large number of epic poems or long poetic tales —some with original stories and some with stories drawn from foreign sources. There is thus a sharp contrast between the Thai literary tradition and that of other East Asian literary traditions, such as Chinese and Japanese, where long poetic tales are rare and epic poems are almost non-existent. The Thai classical literature exerted a considerable influence on the literature of neighboring countries in mainland Southeast Asia, especially Cambodia and Burma.
King Naresuan the Great was the 18th monarch of Ayutthaya Kingdom and 2nd monarch of the Sukhothai dynasty. He was the king of the Ayutthaya Kingdom from 1590 and overlord of Lan Na from 1602 until his death in 1605. Naresuan is one of Thailand's most revered monarchs as he is known for his campaigns to free Ayutthaya from the vassalage of the Taungoo Empire. During his reign, numerous wars were fought against Taungoo Burma. Naresuan also welcomed the Dutch.
Suphan Buri is a town in central Thailand. It covers tambon Tha Philiang and parts of tambons Rua Yai and Tha Rahat, all within the Mueang Suphan Buri District. As of 2006 it had a population of 26,656. The town is 101 km north-northwest of Bangkok.
Suriyothai was a royal queen consort during the 16th century Ayutthaya period of Siam. She is famous for having given up her life in the defense of her husband, King Maha Chakkraphat, in a battle during the Burmese–Siamese War (1547–1549).
Single combat is a duel between two single combatants which takes place in the context of a battle between two armies.
Prince Phet or King of Banyongrattanat Palace or known as the King Thaisa was the King of Ayutthaya from 1709 to 1733 and the third ruler from the Ban Phlu Luang dynasty.
The Burmese–Siamese War (1547–1549), also known as the Shwehti war was the first war fought between the Toungoo dynasty of Burma and the Ayutthaya Kingdom of Siam, and the first of the Burmese–Siamese wars that would continue until the middle of the 19th century. The war is notable for the introduction of early modern warfare to the region. It is also notable in Thai history for the death in battle of Siamese Queen Suriyothai on her war elephant; the conflict is often referred to in Thailand as the War that Led to the Loss of Queen Suriyothai (สงครามคราวเสียสมเด็จพระสุริโยไท).
The Burmese–Siamese War (1759–1760) was the first military conflict between the Konbaung dynasty of Burma (Myanmar) and the Ban Phlu Luang Dynasty of the Ayutthaya Kingdom of Siam. It reignited the centuries-long conflict between the two Southeast Asian states that would last for another century. The Burmese were "on the brink of victory" when they suddenly withdrew from their siege of Ayutthaya because their king Alaungpaya had fallen ill. He died three weeks later, ending the war.
The Burmese–Siamese War, also known as the fall of Ayoudhia or the Second fall of Ayutthaya, was the second military conflict between the Konbaung dynasty of Burma (Myanmar) and the Ban Phlu Luang dynasty of the Ayutthaya Kingdom of Siam that lasted from 1765 until 1767, and the war that ended the 417-year-old Ayutthaya Kingdom. Nonetheless, the Burmese were soon forced to give up their hard-won gains when the Chinese invasions of their homeland forced a complete withdrawal by the end of 1767. A new Siamese dynasty, to which the current Thai monarchy traces its origins, emerged to reunify Siam by 1771.
The Royal Armed Forces were the armed forces of the Burmese monarchy from the 9th to 19th centuries. It refers to the military forces of the Pagan Kingdom, the Kingdom of Ava, the Hanthawaddy Kingdom, the Toungoo dynasty and the Konbaung dynasty in chronological order. The army was one of the major armed forces of Southeast Asia until it was defeated by the British over a six-decade span in the 19th century.
The Burmese–Siamese War (1584–1593), also known as the Nandric War(Burmese: နန္ဒဘုရင်စစ်ပွဲ), was a war fought between the Toungoo dynasty of Burma and the Ayutthaya Kingdom of Siam. This war led Ayutthaya out of Burmese vassalship. This war was notable for the duel between King Naresuan and the Burmese Crown-Prince, Mingyi Swa. This war freed Siam from further Burmese domination for 174 years until 1767 when King Hsinbyushin invaded Siam, which resulted in the end of Ayutthaya rule.
Traditional Thai clothing is called chut thai, which literally means 'Thai outfit'. It can be worn by men, women, and children. Chut thai for women usually consists of a pha nung or a pha chung hang, a blouse, and a pha biang. Northern and northeastern women may wear a pha sin instead of a pha nung and a pha chung hang with either a blouse or a suea pat. Chut thai for men includes a pha chung hang or pants, a Raj pattern shirt, with optional knee-length white socks and a pha biang. Chut Thai for northern Thai men is composed of a kangkeng sado, a white Manchu-styled jacket, and sometimes a khian hua. In formal occasions, people may choose to wear a so-called formal Thai national costume.
Mingyi Swa was heir apparent of Burma from 1581 to 1593. The eldest son of King Nanda of the Toungoo Dynasty led three out of the five Burmese invasions of Siam between 1584 and 1593, all of which ended in complete failure. He died in action during the fifth invasion in 1593. In prevailing Thai history, he was killed in single combat by King Naresuan. However no other accounts, including the earliest Siamese records and European accounts, mention a formal elephant duel between the two. The Burmese chronicles say Swa was felled by a Siamese mortar round.
The Royal Siamese Armed Forces were the armed forces of the Thai monarchy from the 12th to 19th centuries. The term refers to the military forces of the Sukhothai Kingdom, the Ayutthaya Kingdom, the Thonburi Kingdom and the Early Rattanakosin Kingdom in chronological order. The army was one of the major military forces of Southeast Asia. With a reform into a new Western-style army in 1852, the Royal Siamese Army became a new European-trained military force.
Barend Jan (Baas) Terwiel is a Dutch-Australian anthropologist, historian and Thai studies scholar. He has written books on ethnology of Tai peoples and Ahom, the history and culture of Thailand as well as historical travel of Europeans to mainland Southeast Asia. He retired in 2007, although he still writes about Thailand, releasing a new edition of his book Thailand's Political History in 2010. He authored 11 articles over 47 years from 1972 to 2019 for Journal of the Siam Society.
The Don Chedi Monument is a royal memorial Don Chedi district, Suphan Buri province, Thailand, built to commemorate King Naresuan of Ayutthaya's legendary 1593 victorious elephant duel over the Burmese uparaja Mingyi Swa in the battle of Nong Sarai. It was built on the site of a ruined chedi (stupa), believed to have originally been erected by Naresuan, and comprises a new chedi covering the ruins, and a statue of Naresuan mounted on his war elephant.
