... continued from Click here!
With Siamese help, Chao Kawila of Lampang repopulated Chiang Mai with local people and with Tai Yai (Shan), Tai Khoen from Kengtung, and Tai Yong from Muang Yong east of Kengtung; he formally re-established the city in 1796. To this day many of the people of Chiang Mai and Lamphun find their ethnic origins in the Tai groups who came here under Kawila.
Allied to the Siamese Thai, Chiang Mai gained strength.
During the 19th century increasing Western interests in the teak forests of the north, however, forced King Chulalongkorn (Rama V) of Siam to take over the administration in 1892. In the second half of the century, the first Westerners as well as large numbers of overseas Chinese established themselves in the valley.
Economic integration with Siam, (which came to be named Thailand in 1949) became firmer with the opening of the railway in 1921. However, the historical trade routes to the north - to Jinghong in Xishuangbanna prefecture of Yunnan and Kengtung in Myanmar - have been blocked by political barriers for much of the century.
Thus Chiang Mai remained a quiet city until tourism brought the development boom of the seventies and eighties.
The last twenty years has seen the development of the modern city and consumer work culture. The growth of the Bangkok metropolis to saturation has partly encouraged this. The present population of Chiang Mai province totals almost 1.5 million people, with well over 200,000 making their home in the city area. Plans to reopen trade routes that link Chiang Mai to its original sphere of influence as the capital of Lanna provide a bright prospect for the city 700 years after its foundation.
(or in the early ninth century) Haripunchai was founded by hermits who invited Princess Chamadevi of Lop Buri to rule.
Mangrai (r. 1259-1317) became King of Ngoen Yang. He moved his capital to Chiang Rai (1262) and then to Fang (1268).
King Mangrai captured Haripunchai. He moved his capital to Wiang Kum Kam around 1288.
King Mangrai founded Chiang Mai.
King Pha Yu (r.1337-1355) founded Wat Phra Singh and laid the foundation for the golden age of Lanna, which began with the reign of his son King Ku Na.
King Ku Na (r.1355-1385) founded Wat Suan Dok for Phra Sumana Thera, establishing a Sinhalese Buddhist sect that became the major cultural influence in Lanna.
King Saen Muang Ma (r. 1385-1401) fought off an attack from Ayutthaya, but was defeated when he attacked Sukhothai in 1387.