Kingdom of Ayutthaya อาณาจักร อยุธยา Timeline: Ninety-Five Theses (Map Game)
OTL equivalent: Ayutthaya | |||||
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1351 - Present | |||||
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Ayutthaya (Purple) in 1540
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Capital (and largest city) | Ayutthaya | ||||
Other cities | Angkor, Pegu, Singapura | ||||
Official languages | Thai | ||||
Ethnic groups | Tai, Malay | ||||
Demonym | Ayutthayan | ||||
Religion | Majority: Theravada Buddhism Minority: Hinduism, Shia Islam, Sunni Islam |
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Government | Feudal kingdom | ||||
- | King | Chairacha | |||
History | |||||
- | Ascension of Uthong | 1351 | |||
- | Union with Sukhothai | 1438 | |||
Population | |||||
- | 1540 census | 6,000,000 | |||
Currency | Baht |
The Kingdom of Ayutthaya (Thai: อาณาจักรอยุธยา), known colloquially as the Tai country (Thai: กรุงไท), is a Siamese kingdom in Southeast Asia that has been in existence since 1351. Ayutthaya, the eponymous capital city, lays on the Chao Phraya River. The Kingdom of Ayutthaya was established by King Uthong Ramathibodi in 1351.
History[]
The land that now comprises Ayutthaya has been in continuous settlement since the Bronze and Iron Ages, and therefore has a rich history. The Thai people who comprise a majority of the Ayutthayan population weren't always found in the land of Ayutthaya; they originated from Guangxi Province in China and migrated to Southeast Asia over the course of the 8th to 10th centuries.
Much early history is contained in legends, such as that of Simhanavati, a ruler who expelled the native Wa people from the Northern Highlands and created the first Thai city at Chiang Saen at around 800 AD. Eventual overpopulation led them to expand further south into the Chao Phraya delta. The early Thai people were heavily influenced by India, who had spread first Hinduism and later Buddhism to the region since early in the first millenium.
The first modern Thai kingdom, the Lavo kingdom, was established from the roots of the Wa people. Another early influence was the Indianized Khmer Empire, which embraced Hinduism and spread that faith throughout Lavo. Khmer influence peaked around 1200, when Thai city-states began to emerge as independent rivals. The next dominant Thai kingdom was based in Sukhothai and was established in 1238. The Lavo Kingdom decreased in power to the Sukhothai, especially under famed Sukhothai King Ram Khamhaeng.
Ayutthaya arose as a result of the waning Lavo Kingdom's demise. King Uthong, in 1351, established the capital city of Ayutthaya on an island encircled by three rivers. Uthong promoted Theraveda Buddhism as the official state religion - differentiating the Thai people from the Khmer Empire - and established the Dharmaśāstra, a legal code based on Hindu texts and Thai tradition.
Ayutthaya grew to be the predominant Thai state by conquering smaller city-states, including eventually Sukhothai (which entered into a personal union with Ayutthayan king Trailok in 1438). Ayutthaya then engaged in a war to expel the Khmer Empire from the region, elevating Ayutthaya to the status of a regional power. Subsequent wars with the Lan Na Kingdom in the Highlands (from 1441 to 1474) resulted in a stalemate.
Ayutthaya's next target was the Malacca Sultanate, to its south. These advances were heavily resisted by the Chinese, who even sent Zheng He to defend Malacca from Ayutthayan capture. Ayutthaya ceased its designs on the Malay Peninsula until Portugal captured Malacca in 1511. With the arrival of Europeans, Ayutthaya began an extensive trade, particularly with Portugal. It increased in power and technology relative to its neighbors and was ready to put its prowess to the test in its latest conquests.
In 1535, a royal coup took place with the weak infant ruler Ratsadathirat overthrown by his uncle, Chairacha. Chairacha immediately declared a surprise war upon its southern neighbor, the the Johor Sultanate, which possessed the remainder of the Malay Peninsula. Upon the Ayutthayan victory, dominance over East-West trade increased substantially leading to greater trade with Oman and the Ottoman Empire.
Chairacha's expansionist policies continued throughout his reign. In 1537, Ayutthaya conquered its old overlord, the declining Khmer Empire. A few years later, in 1540, Ayutthaya conquered the Pegu Kingdom in southern Burma. With the new importance of trade, Chairacha colonized the Andaman, Nicobar, and Riau islands. He also established the Buddhist Sumatran kingdom of Pagaruyung as a protectorate and conquered parts of the western coast of Borneo, near Pontianak.
1542 - Conquest of Siak
1545-6 - Angkor Rebellion and Subjugation
1546 - Vassalization of Cheingmai complete; Death of Chairacha and acension of Nattasit
Government[]
Chatu Sdomph - Executive Body
Uparat - Vice King (oldest younger brother of the King), ruled from Front Palace
Mandala system
City[]
Ayutthaya is laid out according to a systematic and rigid city planning grid, consisting of roads, canals, and moats around all the principal structures. The plan takes maximum advantage of the city’s position in the midst of three rivers and had a hydraulic system for water management which is extremely technologically advanced and unique among the world's greatest cities.
Economy[]
The economy of Ayutthaya is brightly diverse and dynamic.
Agriculture[]
The origins of the economy arise from rice cultivation, which forms the basis for all other economic activity in the kingdom. Peasants, who are allocated land by the central government based on social class (ADD MORE ABOUT SOCIAL CLASSES), plants rice for their own consumption, to pay taxes, and to support the religious institutions.
In the northern parts of the kingdom, a hardy glutinous rice is grown with the support of advanced irrigation techniques that augment natural rainfall. In the southern parts of the kingdom, however, in the floodplains of the Chao Phraya, a slender variety of floating rice originally from Bengal is grown, to keep up with the rising and falling floodwaters.
This diversification in rice growing regularly produces a constant surplus that is often sold abroad as a staple of Tai trade. Other agricultural products grown include sugarcane and soybeans, two goods which are also widely traded abroad and consumed regularly at home.
Trade[]
Influx of African slaves in 1535 from Oman
The location of the city of Ayutthaya near the ....
Construction using slave labor and annual conscription
Traded goods (foreigners taxed heavily): rice, salt, sugar, fish, arrack, vegetables
Culture[]
Religion[]
Religion is central to ...
Role of sangha in education
Art[]
The Ayutthayan style of art showcases the ingenuity and the creativity of the Ayutthaya civilization as well as its ability to assimilate a multitude of foreign influences. The large palaces and the Buddhist monasteries constructed in the capital, for example at Wat Mahathat and Wat Phra Si Sanphet, are testimony to both the economic vitality and technological prowess of their builders, as well as to the appeal of the intellectual tradition they embodied.
All buildings were elegantly decorated with the highest quality of crafts and mural paintings, which consisted of an eclectic mixture of traditional styles surviving from Sukhothai, inherited from Angkor, and borrowed from the art styles of Japan, China, India, the Middle East, and Europe, creating a rich and unique expression of a cosmopolitan culture and laying the foundation for the fusion of styles of art and architecture popular in Ayutthaya.
Military[]
Foreign Relations[]
Trade deals with (destinations): Oman, Ottomans, Portugal
Trade deals with (sources): Maguindanao, Japan
To-Do[]
- Trade with the Europeans.
- Get big navy.
- Andamans (end in 1543)
- Invade South-East Asia.
- Control the World.
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