Thai

The Thai, or Siamese, are the central Tai people of the Chao Phraya plain. Southwestern Tai tribes drifted southwest from Guangxi between the eighth and tenth centuries and settled the valley from the tenth century onward, absorbing the older Mon and Khmer populations and taking from them Theravada Buddhism.

In 1238 Si Inthrathit threw off Khmer suzerainty to found the Sukhothai Kingdom, regarded in Thai tradition as the first Thai state; Ram Khamhaeng, who reigned from 1279 to 1298, is credited with the Thai script and with anchoring Theravada Buddhism. In 1337 Sukhothai shared the basin with Thai chiefdoms. Ramathibodi I founded Ayutthaya, which reduced Sukhothai to vassalage in 1349 and annexed it in 1438.

Ayutthaya became a trading power, was captured by the Burmese Toungoo in 1569 and restored, and finally fell to a Burmese siege in 1767. Taksin reunited the realm from Thonburi, and in 1782 Rama I founded the Chakri dynasty at Bangkok.