According to Thai chronology, Thais have already long got into the new Millennia. By the Thai calendar, a year 2000 is equal to 2543. The name "Land of Smiles" adhered to this ancient Oriental kingdom probably because such a long and full of controversy and mysteries history of the Southeast Asia has taught Siamese, nowadays called Thai people to overcome, or to pass on difficulties with smiles.

Origins of the Thai kingdom could be traced from 1096, when a fledgling kingdom at Payao was settled in what is now the northern Thailand. "A Million Rice Fields" the Lanna kingdom with Chiang Mai as its capital founded by the tribal leader Mengrai, and the Sukhothai under the king Ramkhamhaeng, known as the inventor of Thai writing, were the ancestors of the Thai nation, and till now are a citadel of traditional Thai ways (refer to the Thai Marriage for some trails).

In the 14th century under the king Ramathibodi the kingdom's capital was founded in Ayutthaya. During some four hundred years of the Ayutthaya kingdom that first, fell to the Burmese in 1569, and then, finally burned to the ground in 1767, was a period of establishing solid traditions in the fine atrs and literature. Under the leadership of General Phya Taksin, Thais once again defeated Burmese invaders and reinstated the capital city at Thonburi on the west bank of Chao Phraya river near its outlet into the Gulf of Siam. In 1782, Taksin's successor the King Rama I, had set up his new capital on the opposite river bank at a small trading village called Krung Thep, thus founding the nowadays' famous city, known on the West as Bangkok the City of Angels.

Unlike most of its neighbors, the kingdom of Siam has never felt the harness of direct European colonialism. As early as the 17th century, due to a wise diplomacy, the kings of Siam were set on maintaining independence while the Portuguese, French, British, Dutch and others carved up the entire region over the next hundred years. The kings wisely played competing Europeans against each other, ensuring that no one power would gain a dominant presence. This strategy paid off rather handsomely, as the quaint kingdom of Siam remained autonomous while harvesting most of whatever benefits the colonial system had to offer.

After a peaceful coup d'etat in 1932, Siam's powerful monarchy became constitutional and in 1939, the kingdom officially adopted the name Thailand, which stands for "The Land of The Free".

HM The King Bhumibol Adulyadej - Rama IX
60 Years on The Throne Anniversary Celebrations!
Ascended to the throne in 1946, H.M. the King is the longest reigning monarch. The present Thai monarchy belongs to the Chakri dynasty founded by King Rama I.

After the liberation from Japanese occupation during the World War II, Thailand has weathered a dark period of unstable governments with the rapidly changing prime ministers. A number of border clashes with neighboring communist and military regimes, numerous attempts of putsches, bloody antigovernment demonstrations and violent coups went on along the way to become a stable democracy and an economically prosperous nation.

In the 80s Thailand has emerged as one of Asia's leading 'Tiger Economies', even so, traditionally, the kingdom economy for ages has been solely based on agriculture. A collapse of those economies along with the devaluation of their currencies got started in Thailand in the summer of 1997, primarily due to a renowned Orient Syndrome – corruption that comes from deep within and sweeps all levels of the political system, government, army and society as well. Thai Parliament just recently has adopted a new Constitution, but politically, economically and socially alike Thailand is still in transition. Democratic values are still remain a new and somewhat deluded concept for Thais who are more used to a patriarchal system of patronage, where connections, money and influence will always reign supreme. By hook or by crook, be it the military power at the moments of crisis, or the infamous Asian bureaucracy in a day-to-day routine, is so far evidently overcoming its weak roots in democracy. And regardless of just a constitutional monarchy, as far as Thai public is concerned, the authority of the much beloved King is still remains absolute, contributing a great deal to the nation unity and stability.