The most ancient Mon-Khmer settlement of which anything definite is
known was Sukhothai (located on the river Me Yom some 200 miles north
of the site of modern Bangkok), which by 300 B.C. was already a
sizable village. At first putting forth no pretensions to the status
of kingdom, the community evidently increased rapidly in importance,
for some two centuries later the chief, Phraya Thammarat, declared
himself King of the district, founded the new capital of Sawankhalok,
and appointed one of his sons viceroy of Sukhothai, which itself soon
grew into a fortified city. Thereafter, the two towns served
alternately as the capital of a country which, as the Kingdom of
Sukhothai-Sawankhalok, gradually grew to great wealth and strength.
Its monarchs occupied themselves with the waging of war against the
petty chieftains of neighboring states (founded in the same manner and
upon the same principles as their own but at somewhat later dates)
and, in course of time reducing all of them to vassalage, came to be
recognized as rulers of the whole country. The vague overlordship of
Cambodia continued for many centuries but with little or no influence
upon the destinies of its nominal dependency, which was left to manage
itself and its own subordinates as seemed to it best.
At the same time as the various Mon-Khmer states of Siam were
struggling to subdue each other, the Lao tribesmen inhabiting the
mountainous districts to the north, emboldened by their increasing
numbers and constantly raiding the rich villages of the plains, were
demanding an ever greater amount of attention and as early as the
fifth century A.D., the reduction of the Lao had become almost the
main preoccupation of the kings of Sukhothai-Sawankhalok. Expeditions
against them were constant, but while they were frequently defeated
and large numbers of them carried captive to Sukhothai or Sawankhalok,
the intercourse thus brought about served only to strengthen them,
since it enabled them to adopt the customs and civilization of the
conquerors and then turn the acquired knowledge against their
instructors with an ever-growing degree of success.
About A.D. 575, a Lao city, built in imitation of the Khmer capitals,
was founded at a spot about 250 miles north of Sawankhalok and given
the name of Haribunchai (later corrupted to Lamphunchai and the modern
Lamphun). The chief of this town married a princess of the Khmer state
of Lopburi and established a dynasty which closely followed the
Brahman rites and ceremonies in vogue at Sukhothai. During this time
other Lao states arose and the time soon came when the Khmer could no
longer hold the Lao in check. During succeeding centuries Lao armies
advanced far south into the Mon-Khmer kingdoms, marital and political
alliances between Lao and Khmer royalty became common, and Lao
settlements were established in various parts of southern Siam.
Despite wars with rival states to the south and the Lao to the north,
the Kingdom of Sukhothai-Sawankhalok prospered greatly and in time
attained to a high civilization. The arts were encouraged, the people
were well governed, trade was extensive, and friendly relations were
maintained with China and other distant countries by frequent exchange
of embassies. Envoys from the Emperor of China, who visited Sukhothai
in the seventh century A.D., have left records which indicate that the
populace were chiefly engaged in the cultivation of rice and the
manufacture of sugar and that in manners and customs they closely
resembled the modern inhabitants of Siam. The style of architecture,
remains of which still survive, followed, in somewhat degenerated
form, that seen in the ruins of Angkor and other Cambodian cities.
During the reign of the hero-King Rama Khamheng (Phra Ruang) the
country reached the zenith of its greatness and when he died, about
A.D. 1090, he left to his heir an empire which embraced much of the
Lao states to the north and all of the more southern Khmer kingdoms of
Siam. This heritage, however, was fated to endure but a short time.
During the eleventh century the Khmer King of Lopburi and the Lao King
of Lamphun, both vassals of Phra Ruang, had been intermittently at war
with each other without interference from the suzerain; toward the end
of the century Lopburi was finally overcome and, declaring itself
subordinate to Lamphun, was forced to admit large numbers of Lao to
settle within its borders. Soon after Phra Ruang's death, a great Lao
army composed of the warriors of several allied states and led by a
chief known as Suthammarat, invaded Sukhothai-Sawankhalok itself,
defeated its armies, overran its lands to the south, reduced the
cities, and founded the capital of Pitsanulok, southwest of Sukhothai
and in the heart of the Khmer Kingdom. Thereafter, although the rulers
of Sukhothai-Sawankhalok continued for some time to maintain regal
state, they were never again to hold a paramount position and were, in
fact, to become mere vassals of the ancient enemy until eventually,
some four centuries subsequent to the foundation of Pitsanulok, they
were to be no more than provincial governors representative of the
kings of Ayuthia.
Suthammarat, an admirer of the Khmer, in setting up his throne in the
conquered kingdom, imitated as closely as possible the ways of
Sukhothai and, by marrying a lady of the country, set an example for
his following which gave great impetus to that fusion of Lao and Khmer
which, already begun in Lopburi, was soon to result in the evolution
of the Thai (Siamese) race.
The early thirteenth century saw the beginning of the last and
greatest influx of Lao into the south of Siam. The suppression of the
Lao-Tai undertaken in southwestern China, culminating in the decisive
victories of the Emperor Kublai Khan, drove many thousands of these
people down into the mountainous regions of northern Siam, where the
newcomers upset the balance of power among their predecessors and
caused the disruption of several of their states. As a result, many
impoverished petty chieftains of ancient lineage gathered their people
together and set off down the rivers to seek new fortunes in the
kingdoms to the south. During the following century, mingling with the
Khmer and the Lao-Khmer and acquiring great strength of numbers, the
Lao wrested control from the original inhabitants and established
capitals of their own, one of which, Supanburi, was in time to become
dominant over all the rest. When, at the middle of the fourteenth
century, Phra Chao Uthong, King of Supanburi, fleeing from a
pestilence, marched westward to found a new capital, Nong Sano, now
the seat of the weak successors of the great Suthammarat, fell into
his hands almost without a struggle, its King fled to Cambodia, and
Uthong erected near the fallen city the new city of Maha Nakhon Si
Ayuthaya (Ayuthia), which was destined to become famous throughout the
world as the capital of one of the greatest kingdoms in the history of
Farther India.