Throughout their history, the Thai people have been known for their ability to absorb foreign influences and translate them into something uniquely Thai. The culture, customs and cuisine of modern Thailand represent a happy synthesis of the many influences that have been brought to bear on Southeast Asia's rice bowl over the last thousand years. The Thai tribe originally inhabited the border areas of South China in the mountain valleys of Yunnan Province. They began migrating South as early as the first century A.D. A Thai-Chinese force captured Hanoi in 863 A.D. and a substantial southward migration followed. Another major migration took place in the 13th century when the Mongols under the legendary Kublai Khan were terrorizing China. In 1238 the independent Kingdom of Sukho Thai Siam (Dawn of Happiness) was formed. In 1350, the Mon Prince Ramatibodi founded the Kingdom of Ayuthaya to the South. In time this new Kingdom captured Angkor Wat, carrying the Brahman flavour of the Khmer empire back to Ayuthaya. By the mid-15th century when Henry VIII ruled England, Ayuthaya was the greatest rice producing area in the world. The capital city had over one million inhabitants and was a centre of trade between India and China until it was destroyed by a Burmese seige in 1767. After a short period of reorganization, a new dynasty was established in Bangkok by General Chakri, who ascended the throne as King Rama I in 1782. Today Thailand, with a population of some 60 million, is still the rice bowl of Asia. The capital city of Bangkok has, under the astute guidance of the Chakri kings, grown to an international metropolis with population of 4.5 millions.
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