The Thai education system: principles, organisation and school calendar
Twelve years of free basic education, nine years of compulsory schooling, fifteen years of free education if pre-school is included: the figures that…
Understand 11 min read
Period
Modernisation of Siam
- Dates
- 1851 – 1932
Articles
Europe in Bangkok: Neoclassical, Neo-Renaissance and Art Nouveau, from Rama IV to Rama VII
In little more than half a century, Bangkok acquired paved roads, tree-lined avenues, domed throne halls and palaces adorned with rococo or Art…
Understand 11 min read
Dusit, Rama V's ‘European-style’ royal quarter: how a palace garden shifted the centre of Bangkok
At the end of the 19th century, King Chulalongkorn (Rama V) had rice fields and orchards purchased north of Bangkok, between two canals. Within some…
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Rattanakosin: Bangkok and the Chakri Kings Face Their Neighbours, 1782–1932
In 1782, a general moved the Siamese capital from one bank of the Chao Phraya to the other and founded a dynasty that still reigns today. The name…
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The Thai Sangha: the history and organisation of a monastic community
More than forty-four thousand registered temples, and several hundred thousand monks and novices depending on the period: the Thai Sangha is an…
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Pahurat, Bangkok's ‘Little India’: a royal road, Punjabi merchants and a quarter still finding itself
A few steps from Yaowarat, Bangkok's Chinatown, a handful of streets in the old city sell saris, gold braid and lengths of fabric. Above them rises…
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'Thainess': the history of a national identity constructed, imposed and contested
In official speeches, at school and in public debate, *khwam pen thai*, 'Thainess', literally 'the fact of being Thai', is taken as self-evident. Yet…
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Lanna, Kingdom of the North: from Mangrai to Dara Rasmi, Chiang Mai between Ayutthaya, Burma and Bangkok
For nearly six centuries, the north of present-day Thailand answered to a capital other than Sukhothai, Ayutthaya or Bangkok. Founded in 1296 by…
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From Rain-Fed Rice to the World Market: How Rice Cultivation Shaped Thai Society
The flooded paddies that now make up the image of the Thai countryside are not a timeless backdrop. Archaeology shows that the first rice cultivated…
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The Mekong between Thailand and Laos: a border drawn on a shared river
For hundreds of kilometres, the Mekong separates Thailand from Laos. Yet this line of water is no immemorial natural barrier. It was born of a…
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Yaowarat, from Sampheng market to the ‘dragon road’: how Bangkok’s Chinatown took shape
Some one and a half kilometres long, Yaowarat Road has become the emblem of Bangkok’s Chinatown, with its shop signs, its gold shops and its…
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Tha Rae, on the shore of Lake Nong Han: how Catholicism took root in Isan
On the edge of Lake Nong Han, some twenty kilometres from Sakon Nakhon, a boat-shaped cathedral towers over streets laid out with ruler-straight…
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