Welcome to Thailand

For our first journey into Thailand, I thought I would start by discussing its rich history. This country has a long, storied history but for this Newsletter I will cover what I consider to be the Highlights.

Buddhism

Buddhism first arrived in the region before Thailand was a country in  268 to 232 BCE, after monks were sent from modern Sri Lanka to spread Buddhism. Today Buddhism is the most commonly practiced religion with over 90% of the people practicing it. It was first introduced by King Asoka in the city of Pataliputra, who then sent the Monks to spread the word of Buddha.

Today the effects of Buddhism can be seen throughout the country, the most obvious sign is the Buddhist temples that populate the country.

This is just one of many beautiful temples that can be found in this country. Another obvious sign of Buddhism’s effect on the country can be found in the fact that Thailand is ranked as one of the most tolerant countries. That is to say, Thailand is one of the most accepting places of Immigrants, minorities, the LGBTQ community, and virtually every other group. This is because Buddhism is naturally one of the most accepting and tolerant religious practices in the world. In the Thai language, the country name is Prathet Thai which means ‘Land of the Free.’

Slavery in Thailand

Despite the accepting nature of Buddhism, and the name meaning ‘Land of the Free.’ Slavery wasn’t abolished in Thailand until 1905 but the process of abolishing the practice began in 1874 thanks to King Chulalongkorn. Before this, slavery was introduced into the region around 1350, around the time that A unified Thai kingdom was established under the rule of King Ramathibodi.

In Thailand, the slaves formed to lowest members of the social order and were known as ‘Sakdina.’ And according to the laws of the time, their masters had complete power over their lives. The only thing the masters weren’t allowed to do was kill them. Much like other countries the slaves often worked on farms. People could become slaves through various means, including being taken as war captives, through debt, and being born to slave parents.

Despite being officially abolished in 1905 forms of slavery still exist in Thailand. These forms that still exist include debt bondage and sex slavery and the victims can be virtually anyone but are most commonly women and children.

The Monarchy

As mentioned above The Thai monarchy began with King Ramathibodi. And to this day the Monarchy is alive and well. But it now resembles a system similar to the British Government. Despite being more of a symbolic power, the royal family is still held in high esteem around Thailand. This could be because kids from a young age are taught to love their king, and criticism of the royal family is strictly forbidden.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/12/world/asia/thailand-election-monarchy.html#:~:text=Thais%20are%20taught%20from%20a,spaces%20such%20as%20movie%20theaters.

With only brief interruptions Thailand has seen 55 different rulers. In that time Thailand changed through four different kingdoms, and many dynasties came and went.

Colonialism

Despite many of its neighbors being colonized by European powers, Thailand never became one of those colonies. It did however spend time being ruled by both China and Japan. Most recently it was conquered by Japan in World War 2. The invasion from Japan was coordinated to coincide with the bombing of Pearl Harbour.

Despite being spared of Colonialism while the rest of its neighbors were conquered by European powers, Thailand still decided to adopt many things from the European powers. At the time, Thailand was hardly a united country. There were many local rulers who simply made tributes to the king in order to keep their power. Due to colonialism surrounding them, they decided to adopt a style similar to Europe’s and formed a more centralized country. Colonialism also was a leading factor in the abolishment of slavery and prostitution. (Both of those things are still very prevalent in Thailand today) These changes also is what prevented Thailand from being Colonized, and led to them being seen as equals. https://theculturetrip.com/asia/thailand/articles/thailands-story-of-independence

Thailand does have a history of being conquered, however. Most notably, and most recently being Japan. During World War 2, the Japanese army was notorious for countless horrible things, such as dropping plague-infected fleas on cities, human experimentation, countless massacres, and so much more. Just google Japanese war crimes of WW2, they killed an estimated 3,000,000 to 10,000,000 civilians during their war. Now Thailand did get off easier than China, they mainly faced mass torture and mass executions. It’s still horrible, just not as horrible as what the Japanese did to the Chinese.

In Conclusion

I hope you enjoyed this brief adventure into the history of Thailand. It is truly a beautiful country with a rich past. I barely even scratched the surface. But thank you for joining me on our first adventure into Thailand.