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foreigners is still discernible in the remnants of foreign settlements (Japanese, Dutch and French on the river banks around the island), and in old maps (Chinese, Moorish and English). Accounts by foreign visitors mention Ayuthaya’s cosmopolitan markets and court. Foreign residents governed themselves, but leaders of these alien communities were absorbed into the Siamese bureaucracy, making them ever more dependent on the king’s favour. Contemporary Westerners were terrified of Siamese law and its harsh physical punishments. In 1664 the Dutch were the first to seek and receive extraterritorial rights, escaping Siamese jurisdiction.

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KING NARAI’S WORLD

King Narai’s interest in the international scene expressed itself in the exchange of embassies in the 1680s with the great rulers of Persia, France, Portugal and the Vatican. Siamese embassies to France created great interest. The king was keen to acquire and consume foreign material, culture and ideas. His court placed orders for items including spyglasses, hourglasses, paper, walnut trees, cheese, wine and marble fountains. Before he joined the French Jesuits to observe the eclipse at his palace in Lopburi, the Siamese monarch had received gifts including a globe from King Louis XIV.

In the 1680s, Narai recruited the services of the Greek adventurer Constantine Phaulkon. While serving the king as an intermediary between the Siamese and the West, Phaulkon abused his power as a high minister and royal favourite.

When the heirless King Narai died, Phaulkon was on the losing side and fell victim to Siamese court scheming during the ‘1688 Palace Revolution’, in which he played an important part. Several contemporary authors have found inspiration to write about the rise and fall of Constantine Phaulkon.

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Ayuthaya’s impressive wealth and prosperity deriving from revenues and trade profits was a major theme in contemporary European travel literature. The display of wealth was part of the royal propaganda which is still evident today in the historical areas of Ayuthaya.

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Recommended European accounts of 17th-century Ayuthaya were written by Jeremias van Vliet, Simon de la Loubère, Nicolas Gervaise and Engelbert Kaempfer.

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The glories of Ayuthaya were interrupted and cut short by the expansionist Burmese. In 1569 the city had fallen to the great Burmese king, Bayinnaung, but regained independence under the leadership of King Naresuan.

Then again, in the 1760s, Burma’s ambitious and newly established Kongbaung dynasty pushed eastward to eliminate Ayuthaya as a political and commercial rival. Burmese troops laid siege to the capital for a year before destroying it in 1767. The city was devastated, its buildings and people wiped out. The surrounding areas were deserted and left uninhabited. So chilling was this historic sacking and razing of Ayuthaya that the perception of the Burmese as ruthless foes and aggressors still persists in the minds of many Thais to this day.

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King Naresuan is portrayed as a national hero and became a cult figure, especially worshipped by the Thai army. His story inspired a high-budget film trilogy, King Naresuan by filmmaker Chatrichalerm Yukol.

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THE BANGKOK ERA

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The Revival

The line of succession of the kings was thus broken. A former general, Taksin, claimed his right to rule. After defeating other contenders, including a brother of the last king of Ayuthaya, the new monarch chose Thonburi as his capital, a settlement downriver with a fort constructed by the French, more defensible and with better access to trade than Ayuthaya. Consolidating his power, King Taksin, the son of a Chinese immigrant father and Thai mother, strongly promoted trade with China. Towards the end of his 15 years on the throne, the king allegedly became mentally unstable and acted inappropriately toward Buddhist monks. In 1782, two of his leading generals mounted a coup and had him executed. One of the generals, Chao Phraya Chakri, was crowned as King Yot Fa (Rama