31 Facts About King Chulalongkorn

King Chulalongkorn's reign was characterised by the modernisation of Siam, governmental and social reforms, and territorial concessions to the British and French.

King Chulalongkorn was born on 20 September 1853 to King Mongkut and Queen Debsirindra and given the name Chulalongkorn.

King Chulalongkorn's father gave him a broad education, including instruction from Western tutors such as Anna Leonowens.

In 1867, King Chulalongkorn Mongkut led an expedition to the Malay Peninsula south of the city of Hua Hin, to verify his calculations of the solar eclipse of 18 August 1868.

King Chulalongkorn's health improved, and he was tutored in public affairs.

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King Chulalongkorn visited Singapore and Java in 1870 and British India in 1872 to study the administration of British colonies.

King Chulalongkorn toured the administrative centres of Calcutta, Delhi, Bombay, and back to Calcutta in early 1872.

King Chulalongkorn was crowned king in his own right as Rama V on 16 November 1873.

King Chulalongkorn supervised the digging of several important khlongs, such as Padung Krungkasem and Damneun Saduak, and the paving of roads such as Charoen Krung and Silom.

King Chulalongkorn was a patron of Thai literature and performing arts.

King Chulalongkorn's family, the House of Bunnag, was a powerful aristocratic dynasty of Persian descent.

King Chulalongkorn appointed Chaturonrasmi to be an executive of the organization, which he closely oversaw.

In 1874, King Chulalongkorn established the Council of State as a legislative body and a privy council as his personal advisory board based on the British privy council.

When Prince Yingyot died in 1885, King Chulalongkorn took the opportunity to abolish the titular Front Palace and created the title of "Crown Prince of Siam" in line with Western custom.

In 1875, King Chulalongkorn sent troops from Bangkok to crush the Haw who had ravaged as far as Vientiane.

King Chulalongkorn established the Royal Military Academy in 1887 to train officers in Western fashion.

King Chulalongkorn's upgraded forces provided the king much more power to centralize the country.

King Chulalongkorn dissolved the council altogether and transferred advisory duties to the cabinet in 1894.

King Chulalongkorn abolished the traditional Nakorn Bala methods of torture in the judiciary process, which were seen as inhumane and barbaric to Western eyes, and introduced a Western judicial code.

King Chulalongkorn realised the importance of maintaining the navy and established the Royal Thai Naval Academy in 1898.

King Chulalongkorn was the first Siamese monarch to do so, and he desired European recognition of Siam as a fully independent power.

King Chulalongkorn appointed his queen, Saovabha Phongsri, as regent in Siam during his travel to Europe.

King Chulalongkorn, to prevent such a bloodbath in Siam, provided several steps towards the abolition of slavery, not an extreme turning point from servitude to total freedom.

In 1874, King Chulalongkorn enacted a law that lowered the redemption price of household slaves born in 1867 and freed all of them when they had reached 21.

King Chulalongkorn needed more effective control of manpower to undo the power of nobility.

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King Chulalongkorn had 92 consorts during his lifetime who produced 77 surviving children.

King Chulalongkorn spent much time in Britain and was inspired, among other things, to improve the health of his people by creating public health, or sanitary districts.

King Chulalongkorn died on 23 October 1910 of kidney disease at the Amphorn Sathan Residential Hall in the Dusit Palace, and was succeeded by his son Vajiravudh .

Royal Equestrian statue of King Chulalongkorn was finished in 1908 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the king's reign.

King Chulalongkorn University, founded in 1917 as the first university in Thailand, was named in his honour.

King Chulalongkorn was one of twenty "Most Influential Asians of the Century" for the 20th Century by Time Asia Magazine in 1999.