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THE HISTORY OF THAILAND
The history of Thailand begins with the migration of the Thais into what is now Thailand during the first millennium. Prior to this, bronze and iron age civilisations had existed for several thousand years, plus later Mon, Malay and Khmer kingdoms. The Thais established their own kingdoms, most prominently a brief flowering at Sukhothai and more lastingly the Ayutthaya kingdom. These kingdoms were under constant threat from Burma and Vietnam, as well as from Thai and Lao rivals. The European colonial powers threatened in the 19th and early 20th centuries, but Thailand survived as the only Southeast Asian state to avoid colonial rule. Later, Malay, Mon, and Khmer civilisations flourished in the region prior to the domination of the Thais, most notably the kingdom of Srivijaya in the south, the Dvaravati kingdom in central Thailand and the Khmer empire based at Angkor. The Thais are related linguistically to groups originating in southern China. Migrations from southern China to Southeast Asia took place primarily during the first millennium AD, most likely via northern Laos.Thais date the founding of their nation to the 13th century. According to tradition, Thai chieftains overthrew their Khmer overlords at Sukhothai in 1238 and established a Thai kingdom. The city briefly dominated the area of modern Thailand under King Ramkhamhaeng, but after his death it fell into decline and became subject to the Ayutthaya kingdom in 1365, which dominated southern and central Thailand until the 1700s.
Many other Thai statelets coexisted with Sukhothai, most notably the northern kingdom of Lannathai or Lanna. The first ruler of the Kingdom of Ayutthaya, King Ramathibodi I, made two important contributions to Thai history: the establishment and promotion of Theravada Buddhism as the official religion - to differentiate his kingdom from the neighbouring Hindu kingdom of Angkor - and the compilation of the Dharmashastra, a legal code based on Hindu sources and traditional Thai custom. The Dharmashastra remained a tool of Thai law until late in the 19th century. Ayutthaya dominated a considerable area, ranging from the Islamic states on the Malay Peninsula to states in northern Thailand. Finally, in 1767, the Burmese attacked the city and conquered it. The Ayutthaya royal line had been extinguished.
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