Rattanakosin Kingdom (1782–1932)

Rattanakosin is the proper term used by Thai historiography to cover the historical period of the first seven Chakri rulers, between the founding of Bangkok as the capital city of Thailand in 1782 and the end of the absolute monarchy in 1932, and was therefore never the official name of the country historically. The name Rattanakosin was first coined as part of the full name of Bangkok during the reign of Rama IV (r. 1851-68). Diplomatically, from the Ayutthaya Era until 1938, and later temporarily reinstated in 1946, Thailand was internationally recognized by the name "Siam". In some 19th century foreign documents, Siam was alternatively referred to as "Ayutthaya" or "Siam-Ayutthaya". ==History==

Early Rattanakosin period (1782–1855) Foundation of Bangkok Chakri ruled under the name Ramathibodi, but was generally known as King Rama I, he moved the royal seat from Thonburi on the west bank of Chao Phraya River to the east bank, to the village of Bang Makok, meaning "place of olive plums". This was done due to its better strategic position in defenses against Burmese invasions from the West, the area was protected from attack by the river to the west and by a series of canals to the north, east and south. The east bank was surrounded by low marshlands inhabited by the Chinese, whom King Rama I ordered to move to Sampheng. The official foundation date of Bangkok is 21 April 1782 when the city pillar was consecrated in a ceremony. King Rama I underwent an abbreviated form of coronation in 1782. He founded the Chakri dynasty and made his younger brother Chao Phraya Surasi the Wangna or Prince Sura Singhanat of the Front Palace. In 1783, the Bangkok city walls were constructed with part of the bricks taken from the Ayutthaya ruins. which was the former territory of Ayutthaya. King Rama I marched Siamese armies to lay siege on Tavoy in 1788 Siamese victories over the Burmese in Lanna allowed Siam to expand domination north towards the northernmost Tai princedoms: Keng Tung and Chianghung. Kawila of Chiang Mai sent forces to raid Keng Tung in 1802 and subjugated Mong Yawng, Mueang Luang Phukha, and Chiang Hung in 1805. Prince Sura Singhanat died in 1803. King Rama I appointed his own son Prince Itsarasunthon However, the Siamese were still able to repel the Burmese from Thalang. The Burmese invasion of Phuket in 1809–1810 was the last Burmese incursion into Siamese territories in Thai history. Siam remained vigilant of prospective Burmese invasions through the 1810s. Only when Burma ceded Tenasserim to the British in the Treaty of Yandabo in 1826 in the aftermath of the First Anglo-Burmese War that Burmese threats effectively ended. In 1782, King Rama I installed Nanthasen as King of Vientiane. However, Nanthasen was dethroned in 1795 Yumreach Baen, a pro-Siamese Cambodian noble, staged a coup in Cambodia to overthrow and kill the pro-Vietnamese Cambodian Prime Minister Tolaha Mu in 1783. Chaos and upheavals that ensued caused Yumreach Baen to take young King Ang Eng to Bangkok. King Rama I appointed Yumreach Baen as Chaophraya Aphaiphubet. Also in 1783, Nguyễn Phúc Ánh arrived in Bangkok to take refuge from the Tây Sơn rebels. In 1784, Siamese forces invaded Saigon to reinstate Nguyễn Phúc Ánh but were defeated in the Battle of Rạch Gầm-Xoài Mút by the Tây Sơn. In 1789, Aphaiphubet took control of Cambodia and became the Regent. Later that same year Nguyễn Phúc Ánh took Saigon and established himself in Southern Vietnam. In 1794, King Rama I allowed Ang Eng to return to Cambodia to rule as king under the protection of Vietnam. Siamese forces sacked Oudong and returned. King Anouvong of Vientiane rebelled against Siam in 1827. He led the Lao armies to capture Nakhon Ratchasima and Saraburi, led the Siamese captives to rise against their Lao overseers in the Battle of Samrit Fields. King Rama III sent Prince Sakdiphonlasep of the Front Palace to defeat Anouvong at Nong Bua Lamphu and Phraya Ratchasuphawadi Ming Mạng sent Anouvong back to Vientiane to negotiate with Siam. However, Anouvong retook control of Vientiane only to be pushed back by Phraya Ratchasuphawadi in 1828. Anouvong was eventually captured and sent to Bangkok where he was imprisoned and died in 1829. while Chaophraya Phrakhlang led the fleet. However, the Siamese forces were defeated in the naval Battle of Vàm Nao and retreated. The Siamese defeat confirmed Vietnamese domination over Cambodia. Ming Mạng annexed Cambodia into Trấn Tây Province with Trương Minh Giảng as the governor. After the death of Ang Chan II, Minh Mạng also installed Ang Mey as puppet queen regnant of Cambodia. In 1840, the Cambodians arose in general rebellion against Vietnamese domination. Bodindecha marched Siamese armies to attack Pursat and Kampong Svay in 1841. The new Vietnamese Emperor Thiệu Trị ordered the Vietnamese to retreat and the Siamese took over Cambodia. The war resumed in 1845 when Emperor Thiệu Trị sent Nguyễn Tri Phương to successfully take Phnom Penh and lay siege on Siamese-held Oudong. After months of siege, Siam and Vietnam negotiated for peace with Prince Ang Duong, who would recognize both Siamese and Vietnamese suzerainty, installed as the new King of Cambodia in 1848. In 1786, after expelling Burmese invaders from Southern Siam, Prince Sura Singhanat declared that the Northern Malay sultanates should resume tributary obligations as it had during the Ayutthaya period. The Malay states of Pattani, Kedah and Terengganu (including Kelantan, which was then part of Terengganu) came under Siamese suzerainty as tributary states. Pattani rebelled in 1789–1791 and 1808. Siam ended up dividing Pattani into seven distinct townships to rule. Kelantan was separated from Terengganu in 1814. In 1821, Sultan Ahmad Tajuddin Halim Shah II (known in Thai sources as Tuanku Pangeran) of Kedah was found forging an alliance with Burma – Siam's longtime rival. Siamese forces under Phraya Nakhon Noi the "Raja of Ligor" invaded and captured Kedah. Sultan Ahmad Tajuddin took refuge in British-held Penang. A son of Nakhon Noi was installed as the governor of Kedah. The Kedah sultanate ceased to exist for a time being. Since the 15th century, the Siamese royal court had retained a monopoly on foreign trades through the Phra Khlang Sinkha () or Royal Warehouse. Foreign merchants had to present their ships and goods at Phra Khlang Sinkha for tariffs to be levied and goods to be purchased by the Royal Warehouse. Foreigners could not directly and privately trade important profitable government-restricted goods with the native Siamese. In 1821, the Governor-General of British India, in the mission to establish trade contacts with Siam, sent John Crawfurd to Bangkok. and rose up against Siam. Pattani, Kelantan and Terengganu joined on the Kedahan side against Siam. King Rama III sent forces under Nakhon Noi and a navy fleet under Chaophraya Phrakhlang to put down the Malay insurgency. The Raja of Ligor recaptured Kedah in 1832. In 1838, Tunku Muhammad Sa'ad, another nephew of the Kedah sultan, in concert with Wan Muhammad Ali (called Wan Mali in Thai sources) an Andaman Sea adventurer, again retook Alor Setar from the Siamese. Kedahan forces invaded Southern Siam, attacking Trang, Pattani and Songkhla. King Rama III sent a fleet, led by Phraya Siphiphat (younger brother of Phrakhlang), to quell the rebellion. Siamese forces recaptured Alor Setar in 1839. Chaophraya Nakhon Noi the Raja of Ligor died in 1838, leaving Malay affairs to Phraya Siphiphat. The latter then divided Kedah into four states: Setul, Kubang Pasu, Perlis and Kedah proper. The former Kedah sultan reconciled with the Siamese and he was finally restored as Sultan of Kedah in 1842. The journey of Phraya Siphiphat to the south in 1839 coincided with the Kelantanese Civil War. Sultan Muhammad II of Kelantan had conflicts with his rival contender Tuan Besar and requested for military aid from Phraya Siphiphat. Siphiphat, however, posted himself as the negotiator and forced a peace agreement upon the warring Kelantanese factions. Both the British and the Americans sent their delegates (Brooke and Balestier) to Bangkok in 1850 to propose treaty amendments but were strongly rejected. and ushering a new period of Thai history. King Rama III reportedly said on his deathbed in 1851: "...there will be no more wars with Vietnam and Burma. We will have them only with the West". The Bowring Treaty was signed in April 1855, in which tariffs were reduced and standardized to three percent France (Charles de Montigny, August 1856), Denmark (1858), Portugal (1858), the Netherlands (1860) and Prussia (Eulenberg, 1861), all of which Prince Wongsa Dhiraj Snid, Mongkut's younger half-brother, and Chaophraya Sri Suriwongse (called Kalahom in Western sources) were the main negotiators. King Mongkut also declared freedom of religion to his subjects in 1858. (Rama IV). The Bowring Treaty had a great socioeconomic impact on Siam, the Siamese economy was liberalized; it began to transform from a self-subsistence to export-oriented economy which led to Norodom to seek French assistance. French admiral Pierre-Paul de La Grandière had Norodom sign a treaty that placed Cambodia under French protection in 1863 and had it published in The Straits Times in 1864, Siam sent another mission to Paris to settle disputes. The treaty was finally ratified in Paris in July 1867, Regency of Sri Suriwongse emerged to prominent roles after Bowring Treaty of 1855, became regent of young King Chulalongkorn in 1868, given highest rank of Somdet Chaophraya in 1873, and retained powers until his death in 1883. When King Mongkut ascended the throne in 1851, he appointed his younger brother Pinklao as Vice-King or Second King without Chulalongkorn's consent. His regency was the time when the power of the Bunnags reached an apex. The young king Chulalongkorn, who had been educated by Anna Leonowens Chulalongkorn formed the Young Siam Society, , now at Bangkok National Museum Both Chulalongkorn and Sri Suriwongse agreed to abolish corvée labor. and appointed his own son Vajirunhis as a Western-style Crown Prince and heir apparent instead. Threats from western powers of 1875 After the defeat of the Taiping Rebellion in China in 1864, the remaining Chinese dissident forces entered Northern Vietnam in 1868, pillaging and occupying Tai princedoms of Sipsong Chuthai and Houaphanh that would normally send tributes to the Lao Kings of Luang Phrabang. Siamese people called the Chinese who came from the northern highlands as Haw () – hence the name Haw Wars. Haw insurgents coalesced into Banner Armies, most notably the Black Flag Army and the Yellow Flag. In 1875, the Yellow Flag Army attacked Muang Phuan, occupied the Plain of Jars and attacked Nongkhai. This development escalated imperialist designs on Siam and led to increased Western presence in the northern Siamese hinterlands. Siam responded to imperialist threats with centralization and internal restructuring that integrated tributary states into Siam proper, ending their autonomies. Lanna lords had benefitted from their traditional ownership of the vast northern teak forests and their sometimes-conflicting forestry patents granted to British loggers might provoke British intervention. Lanna was the first target of reforms as it stood at the frontline on the Chinese insurgents. Freshly modernized Siamese regiments were sent to suppress the Haws and to take control of the frontier in 1885. Chaomuen Waiworanat (later Chaophraya Surasak Montri) took a commanding position at Muang Xon to pacify Houaphanh and then proceed to Muang Thaeng in Sipsong Chuthai. However, Siamese forces faced resistance from Đèo Văn Trị, son of Đèo Văn Sinh the White Tai ruler of Muang Lay, who was closely allied with the Black Flags. These events coincided with the arrival of Auguste Pavie, a French colonialist advocate, in February 1887 to assume the position of the French consul in Luang Phrabang. ordered strong military retaliation on Siam. Two more French gunboats, Inconstant and Comète, entered the Chao Phraya River, forcing its way up to Bangkok to threaten the Siamese royal palace as gunfire was exchanged between French gunboats and the Siamese Chulachomklao Fort during the Paknam Incident. Prince Devawongse the Minister of Foreign Affairs went to 'congratulate' the French invaders After decades of domination by powerful nobility, Chulalongkorn brought many royal princes – his brothers and sons – to government roles. As the British expressed their concerns over French advances on Siam, the Anglo-French agreement of 1896 guaranteed Siam's independence as a "buffer state" only in Siam's core territories, allowing British intervention in Southern Siam and French intervention in Eastern Siam. Compilation of modern Siamese law would take nearly four decades, only to be finished in 1935. The influence of the Colonial Party in Paris pressed for more Siamese concessions during the negotiations, Through his long reign, Chulalongkorn implemented government, fiscal and social reforms and shed Siamese tributary periphery, transforming Siam from traditional mandala network polity into more-compact modern nation-state with centralized bureaucracy and clearly defined boundaries, bordering British Burma in the west, French Indochina in the east and British Malaya to the south. Late modern Siam (1910–1932) Liberalism and early movements towards constitution A group of Siamese princes, ambassadors and officials working as diplomats in Europe, led by Prince Prisdang, in the event known as Incident of Year 103 (). Chulalongkorn responded to this petition, saying that the kingdom needed reforms first. (, "Great Beloved King") in 1907. (Rama VI) ( 1910–1925), supported nationalism and modernization Crown Prince Vajirunhis the designated heir died prematurely in 1895. Chulalongkorn then made his other son Vajiravudh, who had been staying at Ascot, Berkshire, the new Crown Prince. Chulalongkorn embarked on another European tour in 1907 to seek cure for his illness, with Crown Prince Vajiravudh as the regent during his absence. The junior branch of Suea Pa or the Tiger Corps survived in modern Thailand as National Scout Organization. '' divisions. Unlike his father Chulalongkorn, who filled the cabinet with senior royal princes, Vajiravudh preferred his personal favorites, proliferated to discuss political ideologies of the time. Vajiravudh's reign was the age of popular press and saw the advent of Thai political journalism. Vajiravudh decided to curb press freedom and restore order through his Publication Act of January 1923, making editors liable to lèse-majesté criminal offense. Nationalism and World War I In his speech to the Wild Tiger Corps, King Vajiravudh instituted the sacred inseparable trinity of Chat (Nation), Satsana (Buddhist Religion), and Phra Maha Kasat (Monarchy), in primary level for all genders through his Primary Education Act of 1921. Integration of former tributary polities continued. In Northern Siam, Khruba Siwichai, a popular Lanna monk, led a passive resistance in the 1910s against integration of Lanna monastic order into Central Siamese State Buddhism. Combined with dissatisfaction over the capitation tax, the rural Pattani Malays planned the Namsai uprising of 1922 King Vajiravudh spent a great amount of money on his many projects and personal expenditures, but these developments bred political resentments from the educated bureaucratic middle class, who found themselves suddenly unemployed, towards the royal government. Bangkok's ever-flourishing political newspapers, the mouthpieces of the middle class, expressed fiery opinions towards absolutist Siamese royal regime. This compelled Prajadhipok's government to enact another law to restrict press freedom in 1927, decreeing that those who committed lèse-majesté would be condemned as enemies of the nation. It was perceived to have retained enough continuity from its "traditions", such as the institution of the monarchy, to have escaped from the chaos and troubles caused by decolonisation and to resist the encroachment of revolutionary communism. The 1932 revolution was generally characterised as the inevitable outcome of "natural consequences of forces set in motion by Rama IV and Rama V". ==Kingship==

Traditional kingship Kingship concept and ideology Siam had been under absolute monarchy who wielded legislative, executive and judicial powers. Early Bangkok kings, first three kings of the Chakri dynasty, inherited kingship concept from Ayutthayan kingship, which had been dominated by Angkorian-Khmer-derived Devaraja or God-King cult, in which the king was consecrated as deity on earth through the Hindu Rajabhisekha enthronement ceremony. A Siamese king held absolute authority over his subjects in the kingdom, being Chao Chiwit who upheld and protected the Thammasat moral law. never to physically and directly look at the king as common eyes should never cast on the king's divine body, In 1852, King Mongkut assigned posthumous names to his predecessors. King Rama I was known as "Phuttha Yotfa Chulalok". King Rama II was known as "Phuttha Loetla Naphalai". King Rama III was posthumously named as Nangklao. to his Rajabhisekha enthronement ceremony, which had previously been mostly a Hindu ritual, as he emphasized the Buddhist dimension of Siamese kingship in 1857 and encouraged commoners to come out of their houses to prostrate outside to see the king during royal processions. Mongkut appeared to be the first Siamese king to go on non-military, non-religious journeys to visit his subjects the provinces. During late 1857 to early 1858, King Mongkut went on his journey along the Eastern Siamese shoreline, visiting Chonburi, Rayong, Chanthaburi, Trat and Koh Chang. In 1859, King Mongkut embarked on a royal visit to Southern Siam from Pranburi to Nakhon Si Thammarat and Songkhla. Mongkut went on another trip to Southern Siam in 1863, embarking on a modern steamboat, going as far as Pattani. King Mongkut was also the first Siamese king to adopt the exonym "Siam" for his kingdom, styling himself as Rex Siamensis or "King of Siam" in Latin. Reforms of King Chulalongkorn King Chulalongkorn ascended the throne in 1868 at the age of fifteen under regency of the powerful Bunnag minister Chaophraya Si Suriyawong. The young king Chulalongkorn embarked on educational trip in March 1871, Chulalongkorn assumed power at the end of regency in 1873 and abolished the practice of prostration in royal official audiences, which Chulalongkorn described as the symbol of oppression, in 1874. Siamese subjects then stood before the king in royal audiences and bowed to the king in Western-style gesture rather than prostrating. and emblem of the Kingdom of Siam from 1878 to 1910 In theory, Siamese king's legislative innovation had been limited by Thammasat or traditional moral law as the king's law could not deviate from the Thammasat. In the face of Western colonial threats and modernization, the kingdom needed new laws for the reforms. Chulalongkorn relied on new Western-influenced or Buddhism-inspired humanist principles as the basis of his kingship. Instead of being a deified esoteric figure, the king was portrayed as caring and providing for the basic needs and well-being of the populace, while also upholding the traditions. Monarchy existed as a social necessity, stemming from natural practice of mankind rather than sacred divine authority. King Chulalongkorn adopted the Western concept of absolute monarchy but also reaffirmed traditional Siamese kingship concept of unlimited royal power and authority unrestraint by any non-religious laws. Siamese kingship under King Chulalongkorn was thus de-Hinduized and Europeanized. King Chulalongkorn was a keen traveler as he traveled both for leisure and businesses. He visited Southern Siam and the Malay tributary sultanates in 1889 and 1890. King Chulalongkorn visited Dutch Java for the second time in 1896. After the Paknam Incident of 1893 that threatened Siam's independence, King Chulalongkorn embarked on a grand European tour to promote the image of his kingdom as a civilized modern nation in April 1897, going through the Suez Canal, the king arrived first in Italy. Chulalongkorn visited major European cities including Paris, London, Geneva, Copenhagen, Berlin, Frankfurt, going as far as Russia, visiting St. Petersburg and Moscow, where he met Tsar Nicolas II. During his absence, Chulalongkorn appointed his queen Saovabha to be the regent in Siam. In 1902, Chulalongkorn personally visited Singapore to discuss the matter of Malay sultanates with Frank Swettenham the Governor of Straits Settlements. King Chulalongkorn visited Europe for second time in 1907, appointing his son the Crown Prince Vajiravudh as the regent in his absence, this time focusing on seeking cure for his health conditions, spending time in medicinal baths in Baden-Baden. As the king's relation with his subjects was redefined, law concerning offenses against the monarchy or lèse-majesté was modernized. In pre-modern Siamese law, acting or speaking against the king was subjected to punishments; either one of decapitation, fission of mouth to the ears, amputation of limbs, lashes of rattan strokes, imprisonment, forced corvée labor or simple monetary fines. In 1900, King Chulalongkorn enacted the first modern Siamese lèse-majesté law, in which any persons who spoke or published contents defaming the king or any royal figures would be subjected to imprisonment or fine. This modern lèse-majesté law was incorporated into the Siamese Penal Code of 1908, the first modernized Thai legal code, in which the lèse-majesté offence was subjected to seven-year imprisonment or fine. This new Siamese royal defamation law was similar to those of other contemporary monarchies including German Empire and Japan. ==Government==

Traditional government Central government . In the early period, Rattanakosin inherited most of the bureaucratic apparatus from the late Ayutthaya. The Siamese royal court bureaucracy centred on the six ministries. (), the Prime Minister of Northern Siam The Sakdina of each every single government position was described in the Three Seals Law. For example, the Sakdina of Samuha Nayok, Samuha Kalahom and the Four Ministers of Chatusadom were 10,000 rai each. Regional government , the political and cultural centre of Southern Siam, was one of the Mueang Eks or first level cities that held authorities over surrounding satellite towns. Cities and towns in 'Siam proper', which correspond roughly to modern Central and Southern Thailand, were organized into the 'Hierarchy of Cities', in which small towns were under the jurisdiction of larger cities. There were four levels of cities, in descending order; the Mueang Ek (, first-class city), Mueang Tho (, second-class city), Mueang Tri (, third-class city) and Mueang Chattawa (, fourth level city). Mueang Ek was the highest level of city representing regional centre. The Mueang Eks in the Rattanakosin period were Nakhon Si Thammarat, which was the centre of Southern Siam, and Nakhon Ratchasima, which was the centre of the northeast. Phitsanulok, which had been the centre of Northern Siam, used to be Mueang Ek in the Ayutthaya period. However, Phitsanulok was largely depopulated in the early Rattanakosin due to the wars in the Thonburi period and its role as an outpost against northern Burmese invasions diminished in favor of Chiang Mai. The cities and towns in Northern Siam were under jurisdiction of Samuha Nayok and Southern Siam under Samuha Kalahom. The governors of cities were ranked according to the level and importance of their cities. The governors of Mueang Eks were usually ranked Chaophraya. Native culture and traditions were largely retained. The Siamese court required the periodic presentation of ceremonial golden and silver trees with blurred and overlapping administrative functions among the departments, Siamese authorities then relied on scattered legal manuscripts to operate. In 1804, a woman who was in relationship with another man successfully sued for divorce from her husband. The husband complained that the court ruling was unjustified and appealed the case to King Rama I. King Rama I then opinioned that the existing laws of Siam were corrupted and ordered the recompilation of Ayutthaya laws to rectify and cleanse or chamra the laws of any distortions. The physical copies were imprinted with the three seals of Mahatthai (north), Kalahom (south) and Phrakhlang (treasury), signifying that the laws affected kingdom-wide and became known as the Three Seals Law that served the Siamese kingdom for the next century. The Siamese laws had taken the Indic Mānu-Dharmaśāstra as its model. , which was a part of the Three Seals Law, imprinted with the three seals of Mahatthai, Kalahom and Phrakhlang, displayed at the House of Representatives of Thailand The king was the sole legislator of the kingdom. His words were recorded and inscribed to become laws. There was no single unified judiciary department as cases were distributed among the judging courts of each ministries according to the concerning matter. For example, foreign trade disputes belonged to the Kromma Tha or Trade Ministry and land disputes belonged to Krom Na or Ministry of Agriculture. The Mahatthai maintained the appeal court that settled cases from the primary courts. Unsettled cases from outlying cities were also appealed to Bangkok. When the appeal court failed to settle the case, it would be forwarded to the king himself. Presiding over the Supreme Royal Court was a part of royal daily routines. Siamese law court involved two sets of legal personnel: the Lukkhun () or council of twelve Bramanistic jurors who possessed legal knowledge and acted only as the advisory body of consultants but held no power to judge the cases and Tralakarn () or layman judges who carried out actual judgements under suggestions from the Lukkhun. The Nakhonban or Police Bureau dealt specifically with criminal cases including murder, robbery and adultery. The Nakhonban employed the trial by ordeal or judiciary tortures including compression of skull, hammering of nails and entering a large rattan ball to be kicked by an elephant. These torture methods were known as the Nakhonban creed () and were used only in certain circumstances in criminal cases. Sometimes when the issues were not settled, defendants were made to dive into water or walk into fire to prove their guilty or innocence. Westerners were particularly horrified by these methods of judiciary tortures and sought to dissociate themselves from traditional Siamese inquisition, resulting in the granting of extraterritoriality to Western nations in the Bowring Treaty of 1855 and other subsequent treaties. Extraterritoriality and modern law Westerners who came to Siam during the early nineteenth century were horrified of traditional Indo–Siamese judiciary system that involved trial by ordeal and trial by supernatural forces, especially in criminal cases and they were unwilling to be under jurisdiction of Siamese authorities. In the Bowring Treaty of 1855, Siamese court agreed to grant extraterritorial rights to British subjects in Siam, meaning that any legal cases concerning any British subjects, in both civil and criminal cases, would be tried and under jurisdiction of the newly established British consular court at Bangkok under British law rather than indigenous Siamese judiciary system, with the British consul himself acting as the judge. The United States acquired similar agreement with Siam in the Harris Treaty of 1856, France also in 1856 and other Western nations followed. These agreements of extraterritoriality were parts of the 'unequal treaties' and compromised Siamese sovereignty. Chinese immigrants, whose legal status in Siam was ambiguous, usually registered themselves as British or French subjects in order to avoid Siamese laws. of Ratchaburi (1874–1920), son of Chulalongkorn, who studied law at the Faculty of Law, Oxford, was eulogized as the "Father of Modern Thai Law." In 1892, King Chulalongkorn established modern Ministry of Justice in order to unify scattering Siamese judiciary courts of various departments into a single unified system. After French military threats to Bangkok during the Franco–Siamese War of 1893, Gustave Rolin-Jaequemyns, Chulalongkorn's Belgian advisor, told the king that violation of Siam's sovereignty by Western colonial powers was due to the fact that Siamese antiquated legal system, dated to Ayutthaya times, had not yet been modernized to conform with Western standards. Siamese government then began to consider abolition of Western extraterritorial jurisdiction in Siam to preserve Siam's sovereignty. Chulalongkorn established Legislative Council in 1897, composing of appointed Western legal specialists, to compose modern Siamese law based on the common law system, led by Prince Raphi, the king's son who had just graduated from Faculty of Law, Oxford, and Rolin-Jaequemyns himself. In 1898, Japan asked for extraterritorial rights from Siam. Siam agreed to grant extraterritoriality to Japan in Japan–Siam Treaty of 1898 on conditions that Japanese extraterritorial jurisdiction in Siam would terminate as soon as Siam completed its legislation of modernized civil and criminal codes. Rolin-Jaequemyns left Siam in 1902 to return to his hometown in Belgium where he soon died. Georges Padoux, the king's new French legal advisor, was appointed as the head of legislative body in 1905. After the event of 1893, the French had been demanding that all 'French Asian subjects' in Siam, including the Laotians, the Cambodians and the Vietnamese, including those who had immigrated during pre-modern wars a century prior, come under French jurisdiction – a demand that Siamese government would not accept, leading to decade-long protracted Franco–Siamese negotiations. In the Franco–Siamese Treaty of 1907, the French assumed authority over existing French Asian subjects in Siam but left new registered French Asian subjects to Siamese jurisdiction in exchange for many lands in Laos and Cambodia going to French Indochina. The Penal Code, the first modern Siamese law, was promulgated in 1908. In the Penal Code of 1908, modern lèse-majesté or royal defamation law was introduced, with imprisonment up to seven years for insult of royalty. With a modern law in Siamese hands, the British surrendered most of their extraterritorial jurisdiction in Siam in the Anglo–Siamese Treaty of 1909, in which all British subjects in Siam, including both the British and the Burmese, became subjected to Siamese law, in exchange for Northern Malay sultanates joining British Malaya. King Vajiravudh defined Thai nationality through his Thai Nationality (Sanchat Thai) Law of 1913, putting emphasis on paternal nationality. Any persons with a Thai father, regardless of birthplace, domestic or abroad, were to be classified as Thai citizens under Thai law. Siam joined World War I in 1917 on the Allies side, earning Siam an opportunity to re-negotiate and abolish Western extraterritoriality in Siam. According to Article 135 of the Treaty of Versailles (1919), extraterritorial jurisdiction of Germany and Austria-Hungary in Siam were retrospectively terminated from 1917 because they were war losers. For other Western nations, Siam sought to conclude a treaty with the United States first to procure a prototype for new treaties as America was then a rising dominating world power. In American–Siamese Treaty of 1920, American citizens in Siam came under Siamese law and legal system but, as the compilation of modern Siamese civil code had not yet completed, the American legation had rights, up to five years after completion of Siamese civil code, to evoke any cases it deemed appropriate from Siamese court. Siam in early twentieth century was in the time of press freedom and liberal political discussions. In 1922, Thai workers of Siam Electric tramline went on strike with support from socialist newspaper Kammakon ('Laborer'). King Vajiravudh then decided to contain freedom of press and restore order through his decree on books, documents and journals in 1923, in which document editors were made liable to punishments of lèse-majesté offense. Propagation of political and economic theories against the monarchy was also considered similar offense. , with Siamese title Phraya Kanlayana Maitri, was commissioned by King Vajiravudh as Siamese delegate to renew treaties with European nations on equal terms during 1924–1925. Japan–Siam Treaty of 1924 also put Japanese people in Siam under Siamese law under similar conditions to the Americans. King Vajiravudh assigned Phraya Kanlayana Maitri Francis Bowes Sayre, an American Harvard Law professor, to be the Siamese delegate to embark on a European tour in 1924–1926 to conclude new treaties with European nations of behalf of Siam. France agreed to new treaty with Siam in 1925, in which French subjects in nearly all parts of Siam, except for those in Monthon Ubon and Monthon Isan (modern Northeastern Thailand), came under Siamese law. King Prajadhipok decreed, in 1927, that those who committed lèse-majesté were to be classified as enemies of the nation. Compilation of modern Siamese civil code took decades to complete. It was only in 1926 that the first portion of Siamese Civil and Commercial code was issued. Siamese civil code was eventually completed in 1935 in post-revolution rule of Khana Ratsadon. ==Economy==

Pre-Burney: 1782–1826 , personal name Dat Bunnag, was the head of Phra Khlang Sinkha or the Royal Warehouse from the 1820s to 1857. He later became Somdet Chao Phraya Borom Maha Phichaiyat. Due to the raging wars and population dearth, the overall productivity of Siam in the early decades of Rattanakosin remained relatively low. The Siamese economy in the early Bangkok period was based on subsistence agrarian economy. Commoners lived on the production of their lands and the central authority levied taxes as income. Land was abundant, while manpower was in shortage. Taxation and Royal Junk expenditures were the main revenues of the royal court. Traditionally, as in Ayutthaya, the royal court levied four kinds of taxes; • Tariffs, Changkob (); The royal court collected tariffs from both internal and external checkpoints called Khanon (), both land and riverine, where officials inspected the commodity goods. One out of ten goods was collected by the Khanon. The Khanon also measured the width of the incoming ships to determine the size of the ship. Tariff was collected in accordance with the size of the ship, in joint venture with Chinese merchants who provided the crew. In 1822, Siam exported more than 8 million pounds of sugar. Chinese tax farming system re-imposed restrictions and tariffs on most trades. Bowring Treaty and consequences: 1855–1873 of 1855 on traditional Thai black book Facing geopolitical pressures, Siamese government under liberal-minded King Mongkut and Japan's five percent, on all items except for opium and bullion. and became one of the world's leading rice exporters in the 1860s as rice was mostly shipped to Hong Kong and Singapore. in his efforts to centralize state treasury and to consolidate royal powers. Chulalongkorn's reforms apparently conflicted with the opposing faction, whose benefits relied upon the old system. After the Front Palace Crisis in late 1874, Chulalongkorn chose to stall further reforms The capital of Bangkok had about 600,000 people. Photduang originated in the Sukhothai period and had been in use through the Ayutthaya period. A silver bar was cut into discrete units of weight, which were melted and cast into strips that were bent to curve in the form of curled worms – hence the name photduang meaning 'curled worm'. Photduang bullet coins were imprinted with the Chakra seal, which was the kingdom seal, on one side and the regal seal of each reign on other side. King Rama I had the Unalom lotus seal imprinted on the photduang of his reign. King Rama II used the garuda seal. The seal of King Rama III was in the shape of a palace. The weight units of photduang were tamleung (, 60 g of silver), baht (, 15 g), salueng (, quarter of baht), fueang (, half of saleung) and phai (, quarter of fueang). Different currencies were used in Lanna and Lao Kingdoms. In Laos, the lat silver bars were used. Photduang were also accepted in those regions. Though photduang currency existed, the barter exchange remained prevalent. In the reign of King Rama II, the royal court distributed biawat stipends to government officials in the form of white clothes. Some taxes were collected in form of commodity products. Before Bowring Treaty of 1855, most Siamese economic transactions were done through barter exchange. After Bowring, the Siamese economy expanded in scale and led to monetization of the economy. Cash in the forms of Mexican real, Dutch guilder, Indian rupee, Japanese and Vietnamese coins flooded into Siam. Siamese people were reluctant to switch to coin usage and stuck with their photduang. Foreign coins were melted and re-cast into photduang silver bullets. However, casting of photduang required craftsmanship and did not meet the demands of Siam's growing economy. Government had to declare foreign coins legal for usage inside Siam in 1857. During the Siamese mission to London in 1857, Queen Victoria gifted a coin-minting machine to Siamese court, leading to establishment of minting house in royal treasury department. ฺThree British engineers arrived in Siam with the machine in 1857 but all three of them died soon from fever, drowning and cholera, leaving the machine unoperated. King Mongkut then had to assign a native Siamese nobleman named Moed () to learn the operation of the minting machine. First Siamese machine-minted coinage was issued in 1860. It took time for Siamese society to accept modern coin usage, and traditional photduang was used concurrently. File:1862 1 Solot R.png|Solot(1/128 B.) 40 baht equiv. File:1862 1 Att R.png|Att (1/64 B.) 80 baht equiv. File:1862 1 Siao R.png|Siao (1/32 B.) 160 baht equiv. File:1862 1 Sik R Copper.png|Sik (1/16 B.) 320 baht equiv. File:1862 0.5 Feuang R.png|½Fuang (1/16 B.) 320 baht equiv. File:1862 1 Fuang R.png|Fuang (1/8 B.) 640 baht equiv. File:1862 1 Salung R.png|Salung (1/4 B.) 1,280 baht equiv. File:1862 2 Salung R.png|2 Salung (1/2 B.) 2,500 baht equiv. File:1862 1 Baht R.png|Baht 5,000 baht equiv. File:1862 2 Baht R.png|½Tamlung (2 B.) 10,000 baht equiv. File:1864 1 Tamlung R.png|Tamlung (4 B.) 20,000 baht equiv. File:1862 2.5 Baht R.png|Paddung (2.5 B.) 12,500 baht equiv. File:1862 4 Baht R.png|Pit (4 B.) 20,000 baht equiv. File:1862 8 Baht R.png|Tot (8 B.) ''40',000 baht equiv.'' ==Diplomacy==

Qing China Siam had entered the Chinese tributary relationship system, in which the Chinese imperial court recognized the rulers of Siam to maintain relations, since Sukhothai and Ayutthaya periods. Siamese missions to the Chinese imperial court were called Chim Kong (進貢 POJ: chìn-kòng "to offer gifts"). The Chinese Emperors conferred the Hong investitures (封 Peng'im: hong1 ) on Siamese monarchs as Siamlo Kok Ong Siam sent tributes to China once every three years. The Chakri kings used the family name "Zheng" (鄭), Also in 1821, Phraya Nakhon Noi the "Raja of Ligor" invaded and occupied the sultanate of Kedah resulting in Sultan Ahmad Tajuddin Halim Shah taking refuge in the British-held Penang. The British at Penang were concerning about Siamese presence in Kedah when Crawfurd arrived on the island in 1822. Crawfurd arrived in Bangkok in 1822. Despite the events during his mission in 1822, Crawfurd remained in contact with the Siamese court as the Resident of Singapore. In the First Anglo-Burmese War in 1824, Crawfurd informed Siam that the British Empire was at war with Burma and requested Siamese aid. King Rama III then assigned Siamese troops led by the Mon commander Chaophraya Mahayotha Henry Burney arrived at Ligor where he was escorted by Nakhon Noi to Bangkok in 1826. Agreements were reached and the Burney Treaty was signed in June 1826. Burney Treaty ended traditional Siamese royal court monopoly The Burney Treaty also offered the British some disadvantages. The British in Siam, who were horrified by the Nakhonban methods of judiciary tortures, were still subjected to Siamese laws and court. The infamous Phasi Pak Reua or the measurement duties were still intact. After the First Opium War in 1842, the British came to dominate maritime trade in Asia and the British pushed for more free trades. Siamese court introduced the Chinese tax collector system, in which Chinese merchants would 'auction' for new commodity taxes and levy the taxes on behalf of government. This new taxation system effectively re-imposed trade barriers in the 1840s. James Brooke the governor of Labuan arrived in 1850 but he died soon four months later. King Mongkut granted a land on Chao Phraya River bank next to Portuguese Consulate to be British Consulate. King Kawilorot Suriyawong the ruler of Chiang Mai asserted that the Bowring Treaty did not affect Lanna as there was no mention about tributary states in the treaty and suggested that the British should conclude a separate treaty with Chiang Mai. Sultan Mahmud Muzaffar Shah of Riau-Lingga was deposed by the Dutch in 1857. Also in 1857, Pahang Civil War, which pitted Raja Bendahara Tun Mutahir of Pahang, who was supported by British Straits Settlements, against his brother Wan Ahmad, erupted. Wan Ahmad allied with Mahmud Muzaffar, who also allied with Sultan Baginda Omar of Terengganu due to familial relations. Mahmud Muzaffar came to reside in Bangkok in 1861. In 1862, Mahmud Muzaffar, telling Siamese court that he was to visit his mother in Terengganu, procured a Siamese ship to Terengganu. William Cavenagh the governor of Straits Settlements was greatly alarmed by Siamese intervention as it would broaden the war. Cavenagh demanded that Siam retrieve Mahmud Muzaffar back to Bangkok and sent gunboats to Kuala Terengganu, pressing the Terengganu sultan to surrender. When Terengganu did not yield, British warships bombarded Terengganu, leaving fires and damages. Mahmud Muzaffar eventually returned to Siam. As Terengganu was Siam's tributary state, Chaophraya Thiphakorawong (Kham Bunnag) the Phrakhlang protested the incident to London, urging for investigation. Thomas Knox then switched to diplomatic career, becoming vice-consul in 1857, consul in 1865 Kawng Tai replaced himself with his uncle Salino as the new ruler of Kengcheng but Salino sought to move away from Burmese domination by moving his seat to Muang Sing on the eastern side of Mekong in 1887. Ney Elias then proceeded to unilaterally demarcate the borders, which became northern portions of modern Myanmar–Thailand borders, and told the Siamese occupying forces to leave the trans-Salween disputed area. of Central Siam, guaranteeing Siam's sovereignty only in Central Siam, allowing British intervention in Southern Siam. Lord Salisbury, however, skeptically viewed this 1896 declaration as being insufficient to safeguard Siam towards Siamese rule over the Malay peninsula and Siam usually dealt directly with London to bypass the colonial government at Singapore. In 1882, Frank Swettenham argued that Malay bunga mas tribute to Siam was a 'token of friendship' rather than token of submission but the Foreign Office ruled in favor of Siam in 1885, saying that the British should maintain Siam's sovereignty in the region as a buffer state. Lord Salisbury the British Foreign Secretary was sympathetic towards Siam, compromising British Malaya's expansion. Things took a downturn for Siam during 1900–1902. Lord Lansdowne the new British Foreign Secretary supported British colonial expansion in Malay peninsula at the expense of Siam. Auguste Pavie delivered ultimata to the Siamese government, including ceding of all lands east of Mekong to French Indochina, paying indemnities to French damages, punishment of offending Siamese officials and deposition of three million francs to guarantee the terms. After visiting Canton and Danang, Roberts arrived in Bangkok in 1833 on the US Sloop-of-war Peacock. Roberts met and negotiated with Chao Phraya Phrakhlang. The draft of Treaty of Amity and Commerce, which became known as the 'Roberts Treaty', was presented to King Rama III in 1833. The Roberts Treaty was the first treaty between United States and an Asian nation and Siam became the first Asian nation to come into official relations with United States. The content of the treaty was largely in the same manner as the British Burney Treaty. Difference between the American Roberts Treaty and British Burney Treaty was that the United States required to be granted the same prospective benefits as other Western nations. If Siam reduced the tariffs of any other Western nations, the United States would be eligible for the same rights. If Siam allowed any other Western nations but the Portuguese to establish a consulate, the Americans would also be allowed. The treaty also stipulated that if an American failed to pay Siamese debts or bankrupted, the Siamese would not punish or hold the American debtor as slave. However, the Chinese tax collector system imposed many tariffs in the 1840s that rendered trade much less profitable. No American merchants ship sailed to Bangkok from 1838 to 1850. Like the British, the Americans later requested for amendments of the initial treaty. Joseph Balestier, a French man who became American diplomat, arrived in Bangkok in 1850 to propose the amendments. Phrakhlang (Dit Bunnag), the usual receiver of Western envoys, had been away conducting the Sak Lek in Southern Siam. Phrakhlang's younger brother Phraya Siphiphat (That Bunnag) took over the task of receiving Joseph Balestier. However, the meetings were not friendly ones. According to Thai chronicles, Balestier behaved unceremoniously. Phraya Siphiphat rejected any proposals to modify the existing treaty. Balestier even did not manage to deliver the presidential letter. When Phrakhlang returned, Balestier complained to him that his younger brother Siphiphat had offended him as the envoy of the President of the United States but Phrakhlang did not respond. Eventually, Balestier left Bangkok empty-handed. Townsend Harris, on his way to Japan, arrived in Siam in April 1856 on San Jacinto to conclude a new treaty. Arrival of Harris was at the same time when the British Harry Parkes had been negotiating supplementary terms of Bowring Treaty. Reception of the American envoy was delayed to due Siamese court preventing the British and the American to meet and join efforts to demand further concessions. Harris presented gifts from President Franklin Pierce to Siamese court and asserted to Vice-King Pinklao that the United States "had no territory in the East and desired none". Siamese Harris Treaty, based on Bowring Treaty and signed in May 1856, granted similar rights to the Americans including low tariff and extraterritoriality. Stephen Matoon was hired as the first American consul in Bangkok. Compared to the British and the French, the United States had little interest in Siam. J.H. Chandler succeeded as American consul in Bangkok in 1859. King Mongkut sent a letter to President Abraham Lincoln in 1861, suggesting that Siam would gift elephants to be beasts of burden, in which President Lincoln politely declined, stating that "steam has been our best and most efficient agent of transportation in internal commerce". In 1879, former US President Ulysses S. Grant travelled to Bangkok and met with King Rama V, the first time a US President visited Thailand. ==Demography==

The Siamese effective manpower had been in decline since the late Ayutthaya period. The Fall of Ayutthaya in 1767 was the final blow as most Siamese were either deported to Burma or perished in war. The manpower shortage of Siam was exemplified during the Nine Armies' War in 1785, in which Burma sent the total number of 144,000 men to invade Siam who managed to only gather 70,000 men for defenses. D.E. Malloch, who accompanied Henry Burney to Bangkok in 1826, noted that Siam was thinly populated and the Siamese lands could support about twice the size of its population. Manpower management Manpower had been a scarce resource during the early Bangkok period. The Department of Conscription or Registers, the Krom Suratsawadi (), was responsible for the record-keeping of able-bodied men eligible for corvée and wars. Krom Suratsawadi recorded the Hangwow registers () – a list of available Phrai commoners and That slaves to be drafted into services. However, pre-modern Siam did not maintain an accurate census of its population. The survey by the court focused on the recruitment of capable manpower not for statistical intelligence. Only able-bodied men were counted on that purpose, excluding women and children and those who had escaped from authority to live in the wilderness of jungles. The authority of Siamese government extended only to the towns and riverine agricultural lands. Most of the pre-modern Siamese lands were dense tropical jungles roamed by wild animals. Leaving the town for jungles was the most effective way to avoid the corvée obligations for Siamese men. The Siamese court devised the method of Sak Lek () to strictly control the available manpower. The man would be branded with the heated iron cast to create an imprinting tattoo on the back of his hand in the symbol of his responsible department. The Sak Lek enabled prompt identification and prevented the Phrai from escaping government duties. The Sak Lek was traditionally conducted once in a generation, usually once per reign and within Central Siam. King Rama III ordered the Sak Lek of Laos in 1824, which became one of the preceding events of the Anouvong's Lao Rebellion in 1827. Sak Lek of Southern Siamese people were conducted in 1785, 1813 and 1849. Effective manpower control was one of major policies of the Siamese court in order to maintain stability and security. Population Surviving sources on the accurate population of pre-modern Siam does not exist. Only through the estimated projections that the demographic information of pre-modern Siam was revealed. In the first century of the Rattanakosin period, the population of what would become modern Thailand remained relatively static at around 4 million people. Fertility rate was high but life expectancy was averaged to be less than 40 years with infant mortality rate as high as 200 per 1,000 babies. and the Cholera epidemics of 1820 and 1849 had claimed 30,000 and 40,000 deaths, respectively. Bangkok was founded in 1782 as the royal seat and became the primate city of Siam. Bangkok inherited the founding population from Thonburi, which had already been enhanced by the influx of Lao and Cambodian war captives and Chinese and Mon immigrants. Through the early Rattanakosin period, the population of Bangkok was estimated to be around 50,000 people. Chinese immigration was the greatest contributor to the population of Bangkok and Central Siam. By the 1820s, Bangkok had surpassed all other cities in Siam in population size. of Lao people from Vientiane were deported to settle in Central Siam in Saraburi and Ratchaburi, where they were known as the Lao Vieng (). The Lao elite class, including the princes who were the sons of the Lao king, were settled in Bangkok. were deported to settle in Bangkok at Bang Lamphu. In the 1830s, Pattani and Kedah rebellions prompted deportations of 4,000 to 5,000 Malays from the south to settle on the eastern suburbs of Bangkok known as Saensaep and at Nakhon Si Thammarat in the aftermath. was patronised by Nangklao, who ordered the temple enlarged and constructed many new structures within. The temple is shaped like a Chinese junk, to signify the importance of Chinese commerce within Siam during Nangklao's reign. After the Fall of Hanthawaddy Kingdom in 1757, the Mon people of Lower Burma suffered from genocide by the Burmese and had taken refuge in Siam since the late Ayutthaya period. Another failed Mon rebellion caused an influx of Mon people in 1774 in Thonburi period. In 1814, Mon people of Martaban rose up against an oppressive Burmese governor and the 40,000 of Mon people migrated through the Three Pagodas Pass to Siam. King Rama II sent his young son Prince Mongkut to welcome the Mons at Kanchanaburi on that occasion. Chinese immigration was the greatest contributor to the population growth of Central Siam. They were increasingly integrated into Siamese society over time. Crawfurd mentioned 31,500 male registered Chinese taxpayers in Bangkok in his visit in 1822. Malloch stated that, during his stay in 1826, 12,000 Chinese people arrived in Siam annually from Guangdong and Fujian Provinces. The Chinese settlers were adorned with special treatment by the royal court. Unlike other ethnicities, the Chinese were spared from corvée obligations and wartime drafts on the condition that they paid a certain amount of tax known as Phuk Pee (). Once the tax was paid, they were given an amulet to be tied around their wrists as the symbol. The first Phuk Pee was conducted in the reign of King Rama II. The Chinese settlers played a very important role in the development of Siamese economy in the early Bangkok period. The unrestricted Chinese were free to move around the kingdom, serving as commercial middlemen and became the first 'bourgeoisie' class of Siam. ==Society==

Despite important political changes, the traditional Siamese society in the early Rattanakosin period remained largely unchanged from the Ayutthaya period. Theravada Buddhism served as the main ideology on which the societal principles were based. The king and the royal dynasty stood atop of the social pyramid. Below him was the common populace who were either the Nai (), who were the leader of their subordinates and held official posts, or Phrai commoners and That slaves, though there were substantial degree of social mobility. Ethnic immigrants became Phrai and That also, with the exception of the Chinese who had paid the Phuk Pee tax. , a Buddhist temple on the Thonburi side of Bangkok, commissioned by Chao Phraya Phichaiyat (That Bunnag). Large temple projects patronized and built by the nobility was also typical of the early Rattanakosin period. Sakdina was the theoretical and numerical rank accorded to every men of all classes in the kingdom, except the king himself, as described in the Three Seals Law. Sakdina determined each man's exact level in the social hierarchy. For example, the Sakdina of the nobility ranged from 400 rai to 10,000 rai each. The Sakdina of a basic Buddhist monk was 400 rai. The Sakdina of a slave was 5 rai. • The royalty, Chao; including the king and the royal family • The nobility, Khunnang (); The nobility referred to any men who held a government position with the Sakdina of 400 rai or more and his family. Siamese bureaucratic positions were not hereditary, though some positions were conserved among prominent lineages due to familial and personal connections. The nobility were the Nai who controlled Phrai subordinates. A noble and his family were exempted from the corvée. The distinction between the Lower Nobility and the commoners were indecisive. Commoners, at times, were appointed to the nobility by volunteering himself as a leader of a group. The Siamese court recruited officials through personal connections. Any noblemen who wished to start his bureaucratic career should give himself into the service of one of the existing superiors to win the favor and support. Through the recommendations and connections of that superior, the novice official would find his place the bureaucracy. The system of connections maintained the noble status among the connected individuals, though the nobility class itself was not inclusive. Nobles received Biawat () stipends as income. When a noble died, his belongings and estates were organized and reported to the royal court who would take a part of the wealth as inheritance tax. The royalty and the nobility, who had authority over and commanded the commoners, were collectively called Munnai (). • Commoners, Phrai (); Phrai commoners constituted the majority of the population and were under the control of Munnai. They were mostly agricultural producers. All able-bodied male Phrai, excluding the people of tributary kingdoms, were required to periodically serve the royal court in corvée labors and wars – a form of universal conscription. Due to manpower shortage, King Rama I ordered all available male Phrai to be registered. The Sak Lek or the conscription tattooing was imposed on the registered Phrai to assign their duties. Boys whose height reached two sok and one khuep were eligible for the Sak Lek. Unregistered men were denied legal existence and would not be protected by any laws. While men were subjected to periodic government services, women were not recruited. There were three types of Phrai; • Direct royal servants, Phrai luang (); Phrai luang were under the services of various functional departments of the royal court. In Ayutthaya, Phrai luang served alternating months, the Khao Duean (), for the royal court, six months per year in total, and were allowed freetime to return to their farmlands. In the reign of King Rama I, Phrai luang served alternating two months and became alternating three months in subsequent reigns. Royal services included garrison maintenance and drills, palace and temple constructions, participation in royal ceremonies and warfare. • Distributed servants, Phrai som (); Phrai som were granted by the king to the princes according to the ranks and honors of the princes. The Phrai som served under services of their princes. However, due to the manpower shortage, King Rama I ordered the Phrai som to serve additional one-month per year in direct royal service. • Taxpayer servants, Phrai suai (); Those Phrai who resided in distant regions and whose journey to periodically serve was impractical can pay the tax called Suai () instead of physical service. The Suai were usually local commodities and valuables, which the royal court would collect and sell to the foreigners as a source of revenue. • Slaves, That (); The That slaves were, by law, considered properties of their masters that can be traded, inherited and given to other people without That consent. In contrast to Phrai who were allowed freetime, That slaves were always in the service of the masters and usually lived in the same quarters. Both men and women can be slaves. The majority of the That rooted in the economic cause. Those commoners who faced financial problems could "sell" themselves to become slaves to earn money. Those who defaulted the debts would become slaves of their lenders. Parents and husbands could also sell their children or wives to become slaves. When a slave managed to repay the debts, the slave would be freed (Thai , to be free). Only two types of slaves that were lifelong and irredeemable. They were That Nai Ruean Bia () who were born from slave parents in their services, and That Chaleoi () or the war captive slaves. If a slave woman became a wife of the master or his son, she would be freed. If a slave was captured by the enemy troops and managed to break free and return, the slave would be freed. Outside the social pyramid were the Buddhist monks, who were revered and respected by the Siamese of all classes including the king. The Buddhist monks were exempted from corvée and any forms of taxation as, according to the vinaya, monks could not produce or earn wealth on his own. ==Religion==

Theravada Buddhism . Maintenance of orthodox Theravadin Sangha monkhood was one of the main policies of Siamese royal court in the early Rattanakosin period. Usually, a young man at the age of twenty temporarily became a monk as a part of coming-of-age customs. Women could not become monks, though she can shave her hair and wear white robes but would not officially be regarded as a monk. There were two monastic paths: the doctrinal 'city-dwelling' Khamavasi Monastic governance was organized into a hierarchical ecclesiastic bureaucracy. Sangharaja or Buddhist hierophant or Supreme Patriarch, appointed by the king, was the head of Siamese monkhood. and pursued religious and intellectual life. Prince Mongkut soon found that the mainstream Siamese monkhood was then generally laxed in Vinaya. He then met Phra Sumethmuni a Mon monk in 1830 Thammayut emphasized the importance of Pāli learning as the sole doctrinal source and considered meditations, magical practices and folklore syncretism as mythical. Siamese, Mon and Lao-Lanna people were also forbidden to convert, Olivier-Simon Le Bon the vicar apostolic of Siam, Joseph-Louis Coudé and Arnaud-Antoine Garnault from Siam for their refusals to drink the sacred water to swear fealty to the king. Le Bon retired to Goa where he died in 1780. Coudé returned to Bangkok in 1783. Coudé was pardoned by King Rama I and was allowed to skip the lustral water drinking ceremony. Coudé took the vicarate seat at Santa Cruz church in Kudi Chin district. However, as French bishops continued to monopolize vicarate position in Siam, Coudé faced oppositions from the Portuguese who formed the majority of Catholics in Bangkok. Coudé left Bangkok for Kedah where he died in 1785 Jean-Paul Courvezy, the vicar apostolic of Siam, chose Jean-Baptiste Pallegoix as his coadjutor in 1838. In 1849, during the Cholera epidemic, King Rama III ordered the Christian churches to release domesticated animals and feed them Tomlin stayed only for nine months and Gützlaff stayed until 1833. Protestant missions in Siam was then very nascent. American Presbyterian missionaries from ABCFM and Baptist missionaries arrived in this period. American missionaries were called 'physicians' by the Siamese because they usually practiced Western medicine. Though their missionary works were largely unclimactic, they contributed to Thai history by the introduction of Western sciences and technologies. These included Presbyterian Dan Beach Bradley (arrived in 1839 together with Asa Hemenway), who closely associated with Prince Mongkut, Baptist John Taylor Jones (arrived in 1833) and Baptist J.H. Chandley Phraya Chula Ratchamontri was also the Lord of the Right Pier who headed the Kromma Tha Khwa () or the Department of the Right Pier that dealt with trade and affairs with Muslim Indians and Middle Easterners. Shiite Persians were elite Muslims who served as officials in Kromma Tha Khwa. Shiites in Siam were characterized by their ritual of the Mourning of Muharram or Chao Sen ceremony (Imam Hussein was called Chao Sen in Siamese). King Rama II ordered the Muharram rituals to be performed before him in the royal palace in 1815 and 1816. Kudi Mosques were established and concentrated on the West bank of Chao Phraya River in Thonburi. Important Kudis in Thonburi included Tonson Mosque (Kudi Yai or the Great Kudi, oldest mosque in Bangkok), Kudi Charoenphat (Kudi Lang, the Lower Kudi) and Bangluang Mosque (Kudi Khao or the White Kudi). The Siamese used the term Khaek () for the Islamic peoples in general. In traditional Siam, religion was closely tied with ethnicity. Muslims in Siam included the Sunni Khaek Cham and Khaek Malayu (Malays) and Shiite Khaek Ma-ngon or Khaek Chao Sen, referring to Persians. ==Military==

The Burmese Wars and the Fall of Ayutthaya in 1767 prompted the Siamese to adopt new tactics. Less defensive strategies and effective manpower control contributed to Siamese military successes against her traditional enemies. Acquisition of Western flintlock firearms through diplomatic and private purchases was crucial. In wartime, all court officials and ministers, civilian or military, were expected to lead armies in battle. The bureaucratic apparatus would turn into war command hierarchy with the king as supreme commander and ministers becoming war generals. There was a specific martial law regulating the war conducts. A general defeated by the enemy in battlefield would be, in theory, subjected to death penalty. In the offensives, auspicious date and time were set to begin marching. Brahmanistic ceremony of cutting trees with similar names to the enemy was performed, while the army marched through a gate with Brahmins blessing with sacred water. Siamese armies in the early Bangkok period consisted mostly of conscripted militias, who might or might not go through military training. There was also professional standing army – the Krom Asa () – but its role in warfare was largely diminished in comparison to the Ayutthaya period due to the manpower shortage. The Phrai militia infantry, who were armed with melee weapons such as swords, spears or javelin or matchlock firearms formed the backbone of Siamese armies. Regiments also indicated social hierarchy, with nobility on horseback and the king on an elephant, while commoners were on foot. Krom Phra Asawarat () was responsible for horse-keeping for royal elite troops, while Krom Khotchaban () was responsible for taking care of royal elephants. There were ethnic regiments that were assigned with special tasks. For example, the Krom Asa Cham (), the Muslim Cham-Malay regiment that took responsibilities in naval warfare and the Mon regiment that served as Burmese-Siamese border patrol. The Mon regiment played crucial role in surveillance of the borders with Burma due to their familiarity with the area and would provide timely alerts of imminent Burmese incursion to the Bangkok court. The members of the Mon regiment were usually Mon immigrants who had been escaping the Burmese rule into Siam since the Thonburi period. Weapons and artillery The Portuguese introduced matchlock arquebus to Siam in the sixteenth century. The Portuguese and other Europeans filled in positions in the arquebusier regiment known as Krom Farang Maen Peun (). Though the Siamese were unable to produce firearms, European traders provided unrelenting sources of firearms. Captured enemy ammunition was another source of supply. Firearms usage later spread to native Siamese soldiers who received training from European arquebusiers. The Siamese were exposed to flintlock muskets from French soldiers visiting Siam in the seventeenth century during the reign of King Narai. Flintlock muskets produced twice firing frequency in comparison to matchlock arquebus. However, like other kingdoms in the Far East, flintlock firearms remained rare commodity and were acquired through purchases from Westerners. Francis Light the British merchant, who had been residing in Thalang or Phuket Island from 1765 to 1786 when he moved to Penang, had been a major supplier of firearms to the Siamese court. During the Nine Armies' War in 1785, Light provided the defenders of Thalang with muskets. Light also gave 1,400 muskets to the Siamese court, earning him the title Phraya Ratcha Kapitan. In 1792, the Samuha Kalahom asked to buy muskets and gunpowder from Francis Light. Flintlock muskets were usually reserved for the elite troops and those who could afford. Krom Phra Saengpuen (), was responsible for the keeping and training of firearms. Royal court strictly controlled the firearm trade in Siam. Firearms could only be purchased by the royal court and unpurchased firearms should be taken back. The Siamese had been able to cast their own cannons since the Ayutthaya period. Native Siamese large muzzleloader cannons were called Charong (), which were made of bronze and usually 4–5 inches in calibre. Charong cannons were put on city walls or on warships. Bariam cannons ( from Malay meriam) were European-produced cast-iron cannons with relatively larger calibre and shorter barrel. Barium cannons inflicted high damages on the battlefields and were sought after to purchase from Westerners by the court. Small breechloader cannons were also used. In the reign of King Rama III, the Siamese learned to produce small cast-iron cannons from the Chinese. In 1834, Christian Vietnamese from Cochinchina immigrated to settle in Bangkok and formed the Vietnamese firearm regiment that specialized in cannons and muskets. In the early Rattanakosin period, Siam accumulated cannons and firearms. In 1807, there were total 2,500 functioning cannons in Siam, with 1,200 of them stationed in Bangkok, 1,100 distributed to provinces and the last 200 installed on 16 royal warships. The total number of firearms in Siam in 1827 were over 57,000. Navy Before 1852, Siam did not have a standing navy. Most of the Continental Southeast Asian warfare was land-based or riverine. When a naval warfare was initiated, the authority would gather native Siamese riverine barges and, if possible, Western galleons or Chinese junks. The Siamese relied on either Chinese or Malay junks for seafaring activities. Commercial and war vessels were used interchangeably. The navy was manned by the Krom Asa Cham or the Cham-Malay regiment who possessed naval knowledge. The naval commander would be either Phraya Ratchawangsan, the leader of Krom Asa Cham, or Phrakhlang, the Minister of Trade. Growing powers of the British and the Vietnamese in the 1820s urged Siam to engage in naval preparations against possible incursions from sea. Siamese temporary fleets composed of sampans, which were for riverine and coastal campaigns and either constructed or levied. Siamese warships were essentially Chinese junks armed with Charong cannons. In the 1820s, Chao Phraya Nakhon Noi maintained his dock at Trang and became an important Siamese shipbuilder. In 1828, Nakhon Noi constructed augmented Chinese junks rigged with Western masts. These Chinese-Western fusion war junks were used during the Battle of Vàm Nao in 1833 where they faced large Vietnamese 'mobile fort' Định Quốc war junks armed with heavy cannons. King Rama III then ordered the construction of Vietnamese-style mobile-fort junks in 1834. Prince Isaret (later known as Pinklao) and Chuang Bunnag pioneered the construction of western-style seafaring ships. In 1835, Chuang Bunnag successfully constructed Ariel (Thai name Klaew Klang Samutr) as the first native brig, while Prince Isaret constructed Fairy (Thai name Phuttha Amnat) as a barque in 1836. However, the barques and brigantines were already outdated by the mid-nineteenth century in favor of steamships. Robert Hunter, a British merchant in Bangkok, brought a steamboat to Bangkok for the royal court to see in 1844 but King Rama III refused to buy the ship due to overpricing. ==Culture==

Art and architecture Continuation from Ayutthaya As early Chakri kings sought to emulate old Ayutthaya, art tradition of Early Rattanakosin Period followed the style of Late Ayutthaya. Siamese arts and architecture reached new peak in Early Bangkok in early nineteenth century. Prevailing mood was that of reconstruction with little explicit innovations. Traditional Siamese arts mainly served royal palaces and temples. King Rama I the founder of Rattanakosin kingdom began construction of the Grand Palace including Wat Phra Kaew, which was the 'royal chapel' used by the king for ceremonies without any monks residing, in 1783. Royal palace pavilions took inspiration from Ayutthayan palace buildings. When finished, Wat Phra Kaew housed the Emerald Buddha, moved from Wat Arun in 1784. Ubosoth or main ordination hall of Wat Phra Kaew is the best-preserved structure that can be an example of how Ayutthayan style was implemented in Early Bangkok Period. In Early Bangkok Period, local existing temples in Bangkok were renovated into fine temples. Central structures of Thai temples included ordination hall Ubosoth (), which was wide rectangular in shape, French bishop Pallegoix introduced daguerreotypes to Siam in 1845. Pallegoix had another French priest Louis Larnaudie bring camera apparatus from Paris to Bangkok. However, Siamese superstitious belief was against photography in aspect that photos would entrap person's soul. Later King Mongkut embraced photography. Larnaudie taught wet-plate photography to a Siamese nobleman Mot Amatyakul, who was the first native Siamese photographer, and a Siamese Catholic Francis Chit. Another set of special vocabulary was used onto the monks. Thai script was used to write worldly matters including historical chronicles, government decrees and personal poems, while a variant of Khmer script called Khom Thai script was used to write Buddhist Pāli texts including the Tripitaka. Native Siamese people spoke Siamese language. Other languages were spoken by ethnic immigrants or people of tributary states including Northern Thai language of Lanna, Lao language of Laos and Khorat Plateau, Malay language of southern sultanates and other minority languages. Languages of Chinese immigrants were Teochew and Hokkien. Ethnic immigration also affected Siamese language. Plethora of Southern Min Chinese lexicon entered Thai language. Chinese loanwords prompted invention of two new tone markers; Mai-Tri and Mai-Chattawa that were used exclusively for Chinese words to transmit Chinese tones. Mai-Tri and Mai-Chattawa first appeared around mid-to-late eighteenth century. but it did not come into popular use and eventually fell out of usage. Only in 1893 that first whole set of the Pāli canon in Thai script was printed. Kings' own works were called Phra Ratchaniphon ( "Royal writing"). Refined royal theater plays, known as Lakhon Nai ( "Inner plays"), was reserved only for royal court and was performed by all-female actors that were part of royal regalia, in contrast to vernacular, boisterous Lakhon Nok His court hosted a large number of authors and it was said that any nobles who could compose fine literary works would gain royal favor. King Rama II the 'poet king' telling stories of a rogue womanizer prince who left his kingdom to pursue gallant adventures in the seas. Sunthorn Phu produced many Nirats, poems describing journeys and longing for home and loved ones, including Nirat Mueang Klaeng (journey to Klaeng, his father's hometown, 1806–07), (). In the 1810s, the three Parian levels were re-organized into nine Parian levels. Pariyattham'' exams were organized by the royal court, who encouraged Pāli learning in order to uphold Buddhism, and were usually held in the Emerald Buddha temple. Examinations involved translation and oral recitation of Pāli doctrines modeled after Oxbridge. File:Vajiravudh College, Thailand, main school building.jpg|Vajiramonkut Building, Vajiravudh College File:วชิราวุธวิทยาลัย เขตดุสิต กรุงเทพมหานคร (4).JPG|Vajiravudh College File:Maha Chulalongkorn B.jpg|Maha Chulalongkorn Building, Chulalongkorn University Clothing As same as Ayutthaya period, both Thai males and females dressed themselves with a loincloth wrap called chong kraben. Men wore their chong kraben to cover the waist to halfway down the thigh, while women covered the waist to well below the knee. Bare chests and bare feet were accepted as part of the Thai formal dress code, and is observed in murals, illustrated manuscripts, and early photographs up to the middle of the 1800s. Prior to the 20th century, the primary markers that distinguished class in Thai clothing were the use of cotton and silk cloths with printed or woven motifs, but both commoners and royals alike wore wrapped, not stitched clothing. From the 1860s onward, Thai royals "selectively adopted Victorian corporeal and sartorial etiquette to fashion modern personas that were publicized domestically and internationally by means of mechanically reproduced images." ==See also==