National Parks of Thailand offer the visitors tremendous variety of attractions, in addition, they consists of ecologically, economically and scientifically valuable plants and animals. Most of Thailand National Parks are blessed with natural beauty and historical importance. The geology, landscape and natural beauty of the parks was recognized by visitor, both locally and internationally. Their […]
The animal world of Thailand is highly diversified, though only the most attentive observer will be able to appreciate its range and variety; for most of the animals – particularly the mammals of the jungles, can be seen only with the aid of either luck or cunning. The most famous of Thailand’s animals, still sometimes […]
The pattern of vegetation is of course strongly influenced by climatic variations. The alternation of seasons and moderate range of temperatures have favoured the growth of immense expanses of forest. There are two main types of forest, the dense evergreen forest and the open deciduous forest. The latter type is most frequently found in the […]
After the destruction of Ayutthaya, King Taksin founded his new capital of Dhonburi on the right bank of the Menam. In 1782 Rama I transferred the seat of government to the other bank of the river; the modern Bangkok. The new city was meant to reproduce as far as possible the briliance of Ayutthuya. Splendid […]
In 1350 a prince of U-Thong founded the city of Ayutthaya. The new Kingdom rapidly developed into the most powerful and the wealthiest state in South-East Asia. About 1430 its army, after repeated raids into the Khmer Kingdom, destroyed the city of Angkor. A few years later Sukhothai, which had long been subject to it, […]
In addition to Sukhothai and Ayutthaya, there existed in North Thailand from the end of the 13th to the middle of the 16th century the independent Kingdom of Lan Na. We know nothing of the early history of the country, but it is certain that the Thais had already reigned for some generations in Chiang […]
In the first half of the 13th century two Thai princes in Sawankhalok and Sukhothai, outposts of the Khmer empire, succeeded in shaking off the Khmer yoke. The son of one of them, King Rama Khamheng, soon extended his rule over almost the whole of Thailand except for the northern provinces. The Theravada form of […]
Between about 1000 and 1250 the whole of central Siam was under the rule of the Khmers. It was the period of the greatest glory of the Cambodian Kingdom, the age of Angkor. Khmer art had a different basis from that of the Mons in Dvaravati. In Angkor Hinduism prevailed at first, and later Mahayana […]
The heir of Dvaravati culture in southern Thailand, as far as the present day town of Hua Hin, was the empire of Srivijaya, which ruled large parts of Malaya from the 8th to the 13th century. Here Mahayana Buddhism played a predominant role. The art of Srivijaya is eclectic, reflecting its relations with the Mon […]
The earliest works of art produced on the soil of present day Thailand date from the period of the Kingdom of Dvaravati (6th – 11th century), whose main centres lay within a 100 mile radius of Bangkok, the capital being probably Nakhon Pathom. The Thais had not yet settled in the country, then occupied by […]