Under duress: Lao war captives in Bangkok in the nineteenth century

Abstract

Over the course of the Thonburi period and the first five reigns of the Bangkok era, large numbers of Lao war captives were transported to Siam. While most of those prisoners were settled as slaves in the outlying provinces, the core of the captive Lao aristocracy along with their retinues of nobles and craftsmen were settled in Bangkok. This article examines the history of seven of the Lao settlements in Bangkok: first, the Vientiane royal compound at Bang Yi-khan and the Lao Phuan and Champasak communities at Bang Khun Phrom and Thewet, both upstream of the walled city of Bangkok; second, the Lao commoner communities at Bang Sai Kai and Ban Kruai downstream from the city; and third, Ban Lao Phuan, Ban Kraba, and Ban Ti Thong within the city. Clarification of the history of those communities provides a number of insights into the changing spatial structure and social organization of nineteenth-century Bangkok.