26 Facts About Rama I

Phra Phutthayotfa Chulalok Maharaj, personal name Thongduang, known as Rama I, was the founder of the Rattanakosin Kingdom and the first monarch of the reigning Chakri dynasty of Siam.

Rama I ascended the throne in 1782, following the deposition of King Taksin of Thonburi.

Rama I was celebrated as the founder of Rattanakosin as the new capital of the reunited kingdom.

Rama I, whose given name was Thongduang, was born from a Mon male line descent family, great-grandson of Kosa Pan.

Rama I's father served in the royal court of the Ayutthaya Kingdom.

Rama I's reign marked a revival of Siamese culture and state organization following the collapse of the Siamese kingdom in 1767, whose capital was then situated at Ayutthaya.

Rama I established a new purified Buddhist sect which allied and tied together Buddhism and the monarchy.

Rama I consolidated and expanded on Taksin's military campaigns throughout Mainland Southeast Asia, whose mandala in 1809 stretched as far North and South as the Shan States and the Northern Malay Peninsula and as far East as the Annamite Range, respectively.

Rama I's reign marked the beginning of a new "Golden Age of Culture", which continued in the footsteps of the blossoming of the arts during the Late Ayutthaya Period.

Rama I demanded to refer to his two predecessors using the names of these Buddha statues.

Rama I therefore disposed to use for all kings of the Chakri dynasty the name Rama together with the respective ordinal number.

Rama I's father was Thongdi, a Mon noble serving the royal court who was Phra Akson Sunthonsat.

Rama I was later appointed the Luang Yokkrabat of Ratchaburi Province by King Ekkathat in 1758.

Rama I was assigned the task of conquering Lao kingdoms in 1778 and all the three kingdoms fell to the Siamese in the same year.

Rama I was eventually raised to Somdet Chao Phraya Maha Kasatsuek, the first official to ever hold this rank.

Rama I then seized power and made himself King, establishing the Chakri dynasty, which continues to rule Thailand to this day.

Rama I decided to name his new capital "Rattanakosin".

Rama I raised various members of his family to royalty.

Rama I appointed his brother Surasi or Maha Sura Singhanat as the "Front Palace" and his nephew Thong-In or Anurak Devesh as the "Rear Palace".

Rama I imposed Chao Phraya Abhaya Bhubet as the Regent of Cambodia.

In 1794, upon Ang Eng's majority, Rama I reinstalled him as the Neareay Reachea III.

However, Rama I allowed these territories to be ruled in accordance with Cambodian traditions.

When Phitsanulok was captured, Anurak Devesh the Rear Palace, and Rama I himself led Siamese forces to the north.

Siam during the reign of Rama I reached a new height of power not seen since the sixteenth century.

Culturally Rama I encouraged cultural works to rehabilitate people after the successive series of wars and built many temples and monuments during his reign.

Rama I's policies laid the foundation for Siam to expand within the next decades.