Ayatthaya

Ayutthaya – (Eye-Thai-Ya, as best we can translate) is the ancient capital of traditional Siam / Thailand and was our primary destination for today and was our next stop. It’s about 45 miles north of Bangkok. The area is primarily agricultural, known for rice production.

Siam first developed a written history in the 13th Century, although it existed for about 10,000 years before that according to the archeological record. In 1350, Ayutthaya was established as the first modern capital of Thailand after a war with Burma.

It was chosen as capital because it was in a very defendable position, since it was almost entirely surrounded by the river.

It quickly moved from being a military base to being a center for the science, arts and technology. Trade routes opened up with the Portugeuse in 1516, and soon they were also trading with the Dutch, English, Japanese and most influentially the French.

In 1767, Ayutthaya had a population of about 1 million people. Compare that, for example, to London which had a population of 675,000 in 1750. New York City was a mere village of 27,000.

Scattered ruins are testimony to the brutal destruction of the Burmese in 1767, when they overtook the town and destroyed many of the temples.

After King Rama I took over, he tried to preserve some of the historic aspects of ancient Ayutthaya. One of the things that was put up was a shrine in honor of the kings during the Ayutthaya period, which were done in the Khmer style from Cambodia.