Page 291 - A History of Siam

SUPPLEMENT

KING RAMA I of the or P'ra P'utt'a
present dynasty,
Yot Fa Chulalok, shortly after ascending the throne,
founded the of down
present city Bangkok, bringing part
of the walls and fortifications of to be used in the
Ayut'ia
construction of his new
capital.
This King collected and revised the Laws of Siam,
and had them put into the form which many ofthem retain
until the present day.
There was constant trouble with Burma during his
who seized the throne of
reign. King Bodawpaya,
Burma in 1781, was very anxious to subjugate Siam, and
in 1785 Burmese troops crossed the frontier at no less
than nine The Burmese met with some
separate points.
initial successes, and overran of the
part Peninsula, but
were all driven out of the The
ultimately country.
Siamese took the after the Burmese
opportunity, expelling
from the Peninsula, to regain their control over the Malay
States of Kedah and Patani, and even to extend it over
Kelantan and which had not
Trengganu, previously
been to Siam.
subject
During these operations the Sultan of Kedah, fearing
a Siamese attack, leased the island of Penang to the East
India Company. The exact degree of control exercised
by Siam over Kedah before the fall of Ayut'ia is a matter
concerning which authorities differ, but since the
establishment of the at Kedah had been
capital Bangkok,
more or less There is no record of
independent. any