Kingdom of Thonburi | ||||||||||
กรุงธนบุรี | ||||||||||
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Capital | Thonburi | |||||||||
Languages | Ayutthayan dialect | |||||||||
Religion | Theravada Buddhism | |||||||||
Government | Feudal monarchy | |||||||||
King | ||||||||||
• | 1768–1782 | Taksin the Great | ||||||||
History | ||||||||||
• | Established | 1768 | ||||||||
• | Disestablished | 1782 | ||||||||
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Today part of |
Thailand Laos Cambodia Malaysia Myanmar Vietnam |
Thon Buri (Thai: ธนบุรี) was the capital of Siam (now Thailand) for a short time during the reign of King Taksin the Great, after the ruin of capital Ayutthaya by the Konbaung (Burmese). King Rama I relocated the capital to Bangkok on the other side of the Chao Phraya River in 1782. Thon Buri stayed an independent town and province, and was merged into Bangkok in 1971.
In 1767, after dominating southeast Asia for almost 400 years, the Ayutthaya kingdom was destroyed. The royal palace and the city were burnt to the ground. The territory was occupied by the Burmese army and local leaders declared themselves overlords including the lords of Sakwangburi, Pimai, Chanthaburi, and Nakhon Si Thammarat. Chao Tak, a nobleman of Chinese descent and a capable military leader, proceeded to make himself a lord by right of conquest, beginning with the legendary sack of Chanthaburi. Based at Chanthaburi, Chao Tak raised troops and resources, and sent a fleet up the Chao Phraya to take the fort of Thonburi. In the same year, Chao Tak was able to retake Ayutthaya from the Burmese only seven months after the fall of the city.