Ayutthaya The Portugese Settlement

[dirtydog]

In the year 1498, Vasco da Gama reached India via the Cape of Good Hope, marking the Europeans, first contact by sea with the Far East.

The Portuguese arrived in Malacca in 1509 and captured that city in 1511. As Malacca had been a part of the Thai Kingdom since the reign of King Ramkhamhaeng, Portugal decided to dispatch Duarte Fernandez to Ayutthaya.

That same year, the Portuguese also sent Antonio de Miranda as their envoy to the Thai Kingdom.

The Thais reciprocated by dispatching an embassy to Goa, a Portuguese settlement in India.

In 1516, Portugal followed up by sending Duarte de Coelho as their third envoy to Ayutthaya and promised to supply the Thais with guns and ammunition.

For their part, the Thais agreed to guarantee religious freedom as well as to facilitate the efforts of the Portuguese in establishing settlements and engaging in trade.

Portugal also expressed her desire that Thais national be sent to settle down in Malacca in place of the Arab traders who had left the city following the Portuguese conquest.

Moreover, the Portuguese praised the Thai Kingdom as being the most powerful and prosperous state in the region.

As many as 300 Portuguese nationals subsequently settled down in Ayutthaya some were traders and some were military experts.

Portugal appointed a trade representative in Nakhon Si Thammarat and Pattani to conduct trade in rice, tin, ivory, gum benjamin, indigo, sticklac and sappan wood.

In 1538, King Prajairaja (1534 - 1546) employed some 120 Portuguese as his body-guards. However, Ayutthaya was not the only place where Portuguese soldiers volunteered to serve.

In 1549, when the Thais and the Burmese were at war, both sides used Portuguese volunteers and cannons.

In 1606, Diege Lopes de Sequeira led a group of Portuguese Jesuit missionaries to Ayutthaya for the first time.

The Portuguese who came to Ayutthaya did not only seek to engage in trade on a temporary basis but also took up permanent residence there.

This made it more convenient for them to trade with the Thais.

However, in 1624, it so happened that Portugal seized a Dutch vessel in Thai waters and in 1628, a Thai junk was sunk by a Portuguese ship.

Such incidents were prompted by political factors, that is, the Dutch during that time had expanded into the Far East and were competing with the Portuguese for trade and ports in areas which were originally Portuguese trading centres.

The armed clashed which ensued between the Thais and the Portuguese were therefore mainly a product of the above-mentioned competition between Portugal and the Netherlands.

The Portuguese were no match for the Dutch and the latter subsequently established themselves as a sea power in the Far East.

The Portuguese in Ayutthaya, whether traders or missionaries, were allowed to live peacefully, although there were several incidents of foreigners being expelled from the Kingdom for interfering in Thai political affairs.

This demonstrates that the Thais were always ready to reciprocate with an open-mind and to provide facilities whenever foreign countries desired merely to trade and to propagate their religion, but not to become involved in domestic politics.

There was no discrimination against other religions and the door was always open to trade with other countries.

Load of bolluxs, most of the Portugese were just mercenaries who liked fighting and killing people.





Piccies of the dead bodies to follow

So lets have a look at the dead Portugese in the settlement in Ayutthaya.







You will find some display cabinets, the drawers are not locked, here is what we found in one of the drawers, yep already for nicking



This is the communal bathroom and this is one of the baths.

[Dougal]

Some of these skulls look like they have suffered damage and one of the skeletons show that the legs had been cut off before burial. Was there any explanation as to who the people were or how they met their end?

[Marmite the Dog]

Was there any explanation as to who the people were or how they met their end?

Nope. None at all.

[poorfalang]

Only just came across this, a bit touching innit?