Rattanakosin

  General Description   After the destruction of the city of Ayutthaya by the Burmese in 1767, the Chao Phraya Basin was briefly ruled by Phaya Taksin, a charismatic warrior-king of obscure origins who chose Thonburi as his capital, near Bangkok, an old Chinese trading settlement. In 1782, what remained of the old Ayutthaya aristocracy staged a coup and put their leader on the throne. This leader took the name of Rama I Chakri and moved the capital to Bangkok, known at the time as Rattanakosin or Krungthep. ^[1] Under Rama I, the kingdom rapidly expanded to the south (where it extended its control to the Malay peninsula), the north (where Chiang Mai became a new tributary), and the east (taking control of Vientiane and much of Cambodia). ^[2] It could be said to have reached its peak between 1793 and 1810, when it found new stability, regained control over important Asian trade networks, and witnessed a literary florescence, with the translation of several classics from different Asian languages. ^[3] Our ’ThRattn’ polity spans the 89 years between 1782 and 1873, when Rama V began a comprehensive series of modernizing reforms. ^[4]
Population and political organization
The Rattanakosin kingdom was ruled by the Thai aristocracy. The king was simply a primus inter pares ‒ indeed, some kings, such as Rama II and Rama IV, actually retreated into a ritual role and left the administration of the kingdom entirely to the nobility. Even during the reign of more active kings, such as Rama I and Rama III, the aristocracy still monopolized the key posts in the central administration. However, the king always led the country in spiritual matters: he was seen as a bodhisattva, a spiritually superior superhuman being tasked with preserving Buddhism and aiding his subjects in their ascent toward nirvana, for example through moral laws banning sinful pursuits. ^[5]
Evidence for the size of this polity’s population before 1911, the year of the first census, is sparse and unreliable. However, a reasonable estimate would be that, following slow growth beginning in the 1780s, the population reached just below 5 million by the middle of the 19th century. ^[6] It is not clear whether this estimate includes tributary states and cities.

[1]: (Baker and Phongpaichit 2009, 27, 31) Chris Baker and Pasuk Phongpaichit. 2009. A History of Thailand. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

[2]: (Baker and Phongpaichit 2009, 27-28) Chris Baker and Pasuk Phongpaichit. 2009. A History of Thailand. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

[3]: (Wyatt 1984, 154-55) David K. Wyatt. 1984. Thailand: A Short History. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

[4]: (Wyatt 1984, 194) David K. Wyatt. 1984. Thailand: A Short History. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

[5]: (Baker and Phongpaichit 2009, 31-32) Chris Baker and Pasuk Phongpaichit. 2009. A History of Thailand. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

[6]: (Dixon 2002, xxxii) Chris Dixon. 1999. The Thai Economy: Uneven Development and Internationalisation. London: Routledge.