Ayutthaya: Four Centuries of a Cosmopolitan Capital (1350–1767)
For more than four centuries, from its foundation in the mid-fourteenth century to its destruction by Burmese armies in 1767, Ayutthaya was far more…
Understand 12 min read
Articles
Thailand's mangroves: a forest between land and sea, from collapse to recovery
Neither wholly terrestrial nor wholly marine, the mangrove fringes the estuaries and muddy shores of Thailand, from the upper reaches of the Gulf to…
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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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Temples, roads and Angkorian power: the Khmer imprint on the lands of the future Siam
From the Khorat Plateau to the Chao Phraya valley, stone sanctuaries are a reminder that between the 11th and 13th centuries much of present-day…
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Thailand's Festivals and Celebrations: The Year's Calendar, Month by Month
In Thailand, the year is not divided into months alone. It also follows the moon, the rice harvest, the rainy season and the rhythm of the…
Discover 26 min read
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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Dvaravati, the ‘First Mon Kingdom’ of the Central Plain: Rulers, Figures and Neighbours (6th–11th Century)
It left no certain capital, no king list and no chronicle of its own. Yet Dvaravati is the name engraved, in the 7th century, on silver medallions…
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Patpong, between spy legends, the Vietnam War and nightlife: what do we really know?
In 1946, a family of Hainanese origin bought an outlying plot of land between Silom and Surawong. Within a few decades, Patpong had become Bangkok's…
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