Ayutthaya Kingdom

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The Ayutthaya Kingdom or the Empire of Ayutthaya was a Thai kingdom that existed in Southeast Asia from 1351 to 1767, centered around the city of Ayutthaya, in Siam, or present-day Thailand. European travellers in the early 16th century called Ayutthaya one of the three great powers of Asia alongside Vijayanagara and Ming China. Ayutthaya is considered the precursor of modern Thailand. The name derives from the Sanskrit Ayodhya, by way of the Ramakien, Thailand's national epic. The kingdom emerged in the late 13th and 14th centuries from a mandala of four maritime city-states in the lower Chao Phraya valley, including Ayodhya, Lavo, Phrip Phri, and Suphannaphum. The early kingdom was a maritime confederation oriented to post-Srivijaya maritime Southeast Asia, raiding it and drawing tribute from it. Two centuries of organization from the Northern Cities and a shift to a hinterland state followed, after which Ayutthaya centralized. From 1569 to 1584 it was a vassal of Toungoo Burma, then...

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