Ayutthaya

  General Description   The city of Ayutthaya was founded in 1351 CE in the Chao Phraya Basin, in modern-day Thailand, and soon emerged as a dominant force in the region, turning neighbouring mueang, or city-states, into its tributaries. ^[1] This was largely thanks to its advantageous geographical position, which allowed it to become an entrepôt where goods could be exchanged between China to the east, India and Arabia to the west, and the Malay archipelago to the south. ^[2] In 1569, Ayutthaya fell to the Burmese army. ^[3] Here, we only consider the second phase of the polity’s history, starting in 1593, when Ayutthaya regained its independence after defeating Burma at the Battle of Nong Sarai. ^[4] The kingdom flourished throughout the 17th century, regaining its status as the dominant political and economic power of mainland Southeast Asia and ruling over Khmer, Lao, Lanna, and Shan. ^[5] The polity may have reached its peak under King Borommakot (reigned 1733‒1758): during this time, Ayutthaya faced no serious external threats (indeed, it made peace with Burma and consolidated its hold over Cambodia), and supplanted Sri Lanka as the preeminent centre of Buddhist culture. ^[6] Shortly afterwards, however, hostilities with Burma resumed due to the ambitions of a new Burmese dynasty. In 1767, Ayutthaya was once again captured ‒ and this time, it was destroyed. ^[7]
A number of different spellings of Ayutthaya are in use, including Ayuthaya, Ayudhya, and Ayuthia. ^[8]
Population and political organization
In the Ayutthaya Kingdom, kings ruled over a society composed of a ’service nobility of maybe 2000 people and their families, and a mass of people bound to surrender some or all of their labour to the elite’. ^[9] There was a four-part administrative structure: one ministry was dedicated to the palace and the capital; one to military affairs and relations with tributary states and cities; one to trade, the treasury, and foreign communities; and one, made up of Brahmans, to ritual, astrology, and records. ^[9]
It is difficult to give a firm figure for the population of the kingdom as a whole. However, Ayutthaya may have been the largest city in Southeast Asia in the 17th and 18th centuries, ^[10] with perhaps 150,000 inhabitants in 1700 and 160,000 in 1750. ^[11]

[1]: (Baker and Phongpaichit 2009, xv, 7-13) Chris Baker and Pasuk Phongpaichit. 2009. A History of Thailand. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

[2]: (Baker and Phongpaichit 2009, 10) Chris Baker and Pasuk Phongpaichit. 2009. A History of Thailand. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

[3]: (Wyatt 1984, 100) David K. Wyatt. 1984. Thailand: A Short History. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

[4]: (Wyatt 1984, 103) David K. Wyatt. 1984. Thailand: A Short History. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

[5]: (Baker and Phongpaichit 2009, 13-18) Chris Baker and Pasuk Phongpaichit. 2009. A History of Thailand. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

[6]: (Wyatt 1984, 130-31) David K. Wyatt. 1984. Thailand: A Short History. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

[7]: (Baker and Phongpaichit 2009, 21-22) Chris Baker and Pasuk Phongpaichit. 2009. A History of Thailand. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

[8]: (Ooi 2004, xxiii) Keat Gin Ooi. 2004. Southeast Asia: A Historical Encyclopedia from Angkor Wat to East Timor. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO.

[9]: (Baker and Phongpaichit 2009, 15) Chris Baker and Pasuk Phongpaichit. 2009. A History of Thailand. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

[10]: (Baker and Phongpaichit 2009, 13) Chris Baker and Pasuk Phongpaichit. 2009. A History of Thailand. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

[11]: Christopher K. Chase-Dunn 2001, personal communication 2012