Thailand–United Kingdom relations

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Thailand-United Kingdom relations
Map indicating locations of Thailand and United Kingdom

Thailand
United Kingdom
Diplomatic mission
Embassy of Thailand, LondonEmbassy of the United Kingdom, Bangkok
Envoy
Ambassador Thani ThongphakdiAmbassador Mark Gooding

Bilateral relations between Thailand and the United Kingdom date to the 17th century. Thailand has an embassy in London and the UK has an embassy in Bangkok.

In 1608, an English captain

Siam, when it colonised Burma and Malaya to Siam's west and south. During this period, Britain gained significant concessions from Siam through various treaties, including the Burney Treaty in 1826 and the Bowring Treaty in 1855, which remained in effect until after the first World War. Britain directly and indirectly had a massive amount of influence on Siam's modernisation during the late 19th early to early 20th centuries, and the two countries remain important trade partners to the present day.[1]

Country comparison

 Thailand  United Kingdom
Population 66,404,688 (2010 estimates) 62,041,708 (2010 estimates)
Area 513,120 km (198,11 sq mi) 244,820 km (94,526 sq mi)
Population density 132.1/km (342/sq mi) 254.7/km (659.6/sq mi)
Capital Bangkok London
Largest city Bangkok – 9,100,000 (11,971,000 Metro) London – 7,556,900 (13,063,441 Metro)
Government Parliamentary system and Constitutional monarchy Parliamentary system and Constitutional monarchy
Official languages Thai English (other languages recognised)
Head of state King Vajiralongkorn (Rama X) (since 2016) King Charles III (since 2022)
Head of government Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin (since 2023) Prime Minister Rishi Sunak (since 2022)
GDP (nominal) $516.662 billion ($7,607 Per capita) $2.772 trillion ($45,845 Per capita)

History

Ayutthaya and England

The kingdom of

Pegu" He continued: "Hither to Lamahey come many marchants out of China, and bring great store of muske, golde, silver, and many other things", "They have such plenty that they will not milke the buffaloes, as they doe in all other places."[4][5]

The first official contact between the

James I, addressed to King Songtham.[6] Antheunis was accompanied by Thomas Samuel, Thomas Drivers, Thomas Essington, Adam Denton and Peter Floris (who recorded the Globe's voyages). They arrived in Ayutthaya on the 15 August, becoming the first Englishmen to have ever set foot in a Thai capital.[7] To great pomp, Antheunis and his colleagues were given an audience with the King on the 17 September.[8] King Songtham was very pleased, and provided them with several precious objects and a three-storried brick house in Ayutthaya as quarters.[8][9][10] In 1615 Antheuniss was replaced by Benjamin Farie, the King then entrusted him with a letter he wrote to King James I.[8]

In 1617 the first English

Mergui and Pattani. There were great rivalry and conflicts between the English and the Dutch to control these areas.[9] Because of the constant conflicts, the low profits yielded and mismanagement, the factory was forced to close in 1623, despite the pleas of the Siamese King for the Company to continue its activities.[12]

Return

In 1661 the factory was reopened, however very much like the previous period the Company's trade in Ayutthaya was unsatisfactory. A Mr. Potts who was in charge of the factory was described as a: "drunken and dishonest rascal and heavily in debt", Potts eventually set fire to one of the Company's godown in order to cover his embezzlement, when people came to help him put out the fire he promptly chased them away. In 1683 the Company sent two men; Strangh and Thomas Yale to inspect and evaluate the conditions of the factory.

President of the Company at Surat, decided to reopen the factory. New Company men arrived in 1685, during the same time as the embassy of the Chevalier de Chaumont from King Louis XIV of France. By this time French power and influence in Ayutthaya was at its zenith.[16]

Conflict

Main article: Anglo-Siamese War

In 1677 an Englishman named Samuel White entered King Narai's service. White was the younger brother of

Golkonda (in modern-day Andhra Pradesh, India). In his capacity as Shahbandar, White declared war on Golkonda in 1685, and began seizing merchant ships in the Bay of Bengal
for private gain. White and his subordinates (most of whom were English) began to commit indiscriminate acts of piracy, sometimes attacking ships under the Company's jurisdiction. As a result of his actions, Golkonda held the English Company to blame for these losses, due to the fact that the ships were led by Englishmen. When these complaints reached Ayutthaya, the King ordered a full investigation of White's activities, however because of his connection to Phaulkon all the charges were soon cleared.

In 1686 a ship named 'Tiaga Raja', belonging to several Indian merchants residing in

Madras, was seized by White and brought back to Mergui. White briefly imprisoned the crew, before allegedly stealing £2,000 worth of belongings from the ship, he then set the ship free. When the crew returned to Madras they made complaints to Elihu Yale the President of Fort St. George. Subsequently, when White seized another ship belonging to an Armenian merchant residing in Madras, Yale declared war on Siam. The Company in London persuaded King James II
to issue a royal proclamation, prohibiting any Englishmen to serve on foreign ships. To enforce this ordinance, two warships the Curtana and James was despatched to the Tenasserim coast. The aim of the company was to exact revenge and compensation for the Company's losses. Furthermore, the English also wanted to seize Mergui for itself and assert its military might over Siam before the arrival of the French.

Later

Later, in the 19th century, Britain became, along with France, one of the two major colonial powers exerting pressure on

Siam, when it colonised Burma and Malaya to Siam's west and south. During this period, Britain gained significant concessions from Siam through various treaties, including the Burney Treaty in 1826 and the Bowring Treaty
in 1855, which remained in effect until after the first World War.

During the second World War in the 1940s, Japanese army men invaded Thailand and Malaya. Thailand resisted landings on its territory for about 5 to 8 hours; it then signed a ceasefire and a Treaty of Friendship with Japan, later declaring war on the UK and the USA. The Japanese then proceeded overland across the Thai–Malayan border to attack Malaya. At this time, the Japanese began

bombing Singapore.[17]

Britain directly and indirectly had a massive amount of influence on Siam's modernisation during the late 19th early to early 20th centuries, and the two countries remain important trade partners to the present day.[18]

References

  1. ISBN 9780300084757
    .
  2. ^ Jumsai p. 2
  3. ^ CPAmedia.com: The Asia Experts, Ralph Fitch: An Elizabethan Merchant in 16th Century Chiang Mai
  4. ^ a b Jumsai p. 8
  5. ^ Fitch, Ralph, Ralph Fitch : England's pioneer to India and Burma : his companions and contemporaries, with his remarkable narrative told in his own words, Third Part, p.141, at archive.org
  6. ^ a b Jumsai p. 3
  7. ^ Floris p. 46
  8. ^ a b c Jumsai p. 12
  9. ^ a b c Jumsai p. 9
  10. ^ Floris p. 46
  11. ^ Lach, Van Kley p. 1172
  12. ^ Jumsai p. 10
  13. ^ Jumsai p. 17
  14. ^ Jumsai p. 18
  15. ^ Jumsai p. 20
  16. ^ Jumsai p. 21
  17. OCLC 6213748
    .
  18. ISBN 9780300084757
    .

Bibliography

External links
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