High Middle Ages · Southeast Asia · Politics
1238
Kingdom of Sukhothai founded in Siam
1238
Two Thai chieftains, Pho Khun Bang Klang Hao and Pho Khun Pha Mueang, overthrew the Khmer governor at Sukhothai and declared an independent Tai kingdom. A century of Khmer dominance on the central Chao Phraya plain was ending; a distinctly Thai civilization was beginning. Under King Ramkhamhaeng a generation later, Sukhothai would develop the Thai alphabet and establish Theravada Buddhism as the state religion.