Safe haven: Mon refugees at the capitals of Siam from the 1500s to the 1800s

Abstract

From the 16^th to the early 19^th centuries Siam received a series of migrations of Mon refugees fleeing Burmese oppression, as well as sporadic inflows of Mon war captives. Large numbers of those arrivals were settled along the Chaophraya River and at the successive capitals of Ayutthaya, Thonburi, and Bangkok. This article examines the patterns of Mon settlement at the successive capitals and the patronage system whereby the Mon were granted privileged status and residence in return for military services. It considers the Old-Mon–New-Mon tensions that were generated by the series of migrations, including those that marked the transition to the Bangkok era. In closing, it refers to the waning of Mon ethnic identity and influence within Bangkok over the course of the 19th century. That analysis of the Mon role provides fresh insight into the evolving social organization and spatial structure of the three consecutive Siamese capitals.