Late Middle Ages · Southeast Asia · Politics

1350

Ayutthaya Kingdom founded by Ramathibodi I

1350

On an island at the confluence of three rivers in the Chao Phraya basin, U Thong crowned himself king and established the Thai kingdom that would dominate mainland Southeast Asia for four centuries. Ayutthaya's cosmopolitan markets would draw Chinese, Japanese, Persian, and eventually Portuguese traders to its gilded spires, making it one of the great entrepots of Asia.