Chulalongkorn

• 1. The Eclipse And The Boy King

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  On the 18th of August 1868, a young prince named Chulalongkorn stood in Prachuap Khiri Khan Province to watch the sun disappear. He traveled with his father, King Mongkut, and Western astronomers invited by the monarch. Both men contracted malaria during the expedition. King Mongkut died on the 1st of October 1868 in Bangkok without naming a successor. A council headed by Sri Suriwongse chose the fifteen-year-old prince as the new ruler. The boy king ascended the throne while still a teenager. His regent, Chuang Bunnag, held power until Chulalongkorn turned twenty years old.

• 2. Regency And The Front Palace Crisis

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  Sri Suriwongse managed the kingdom for five years after the death of King Mongkut. He supervised the digging of khlongs like Padung Krungkasem and Damneun Saduak. The regent also paved roads such as Charoen Krung and Silom. On the night of the 28th of December 1874, a fire broke out near the gunpowder storehouse in the main palace. Front Palace troops arrived fully armed to assist but were denied entry. This incident demonstrated the considerable power wielded by aristocrats and royal relatives. Prince Yodyingyot of the Front Palace was known to be on friendly terms with many Britons. When Prince Yodyingyot died in 1885, Chulalongkorn abolished the titular Front Palace. He created the title of Crown Prince of Siam instead.

• 3. Centralizing Power Through Reform

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  Chulalongkorn established the Auditory Office on the 4th of June 1873 to collect taxes independently. This reform caused great consternation among the nobility who had controlled wealth collection since early Rattanakosin. He appointed Chaturonrasmi to run the organization while he closely oversaw its operations. In 1888, the king moved to institute a government of ministries. Ministers were initially members of the royal family. Ministries gained equal status in 1892. The Council of State proved unable to veto legal drafts or give advice because members regarded Chulalongkorn as an absolute monarch. He dissolved the council altogether and transferred advisory duties to the cabinet in 1894. A Belgian advisor named Gustave Rolin-Jaequemyns played a great role in developing modern Siamese law.

• 4. The Franco-Siamese Crisis Of 1893

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  French troops invaded northern Laos in 1888 to subjugate insurgents but never left. Auguste Pavie requested the cession of all Laotian lands east of the Mekong River in 1893. The French gunboat Le Lutin entered the Chao Phraya and anchored near the French consulate ready to attack. Fighting was observed in Laos where ships like Inconstant and Comete were attacked. The French sent an ultimatum demanding an indemnity of three million francs and the cession of Laos. Siam did not accept the ultimatum. French troops blockaded the Gulf of Siam and occupied Chantaburi and Trat. Chulalongkorn sent Rolin-Jacquemyns to negotiate. The issue was eventually settled with the cession of Laos in 1893, but French troops refused to leave Chantaburi and Trat for another ten years.

• 5. Abolishing Slavery And Corvée Labor

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  In 1867, household slaves accounted for one-third of the Siamese population. People sold themselves into slavery by rich noblemen when they could not live on their own. A borrower who defaulted on a debt would become a slave of the lender until the debt was redeemed. Those whose parents were household slaves were bound to be slaves forever because their redemption price was extremely high. Chulalongkorn enacted a law in 1874 that lowered the redemption price of household slaves born in 1867. He freed all of them when they had reached twenty-one years old. The Slave Abolition Act ended Siamese slavery in all forms in 1905. The Employment Act of 1900 required that all workers be paid rather than forced to work. This system replaced the traditional corvée labor obligations that had existed since King Ramathibodi II established it in 1518.

• 6. Railways And Civic Infrastructure

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  The construction of railways in Siam had a political motivation to connect all of the country so as to better maintain control. In 1901, the first railway opened from Bangkok to Korat. That same year, the first power plant of Siam produced electricity and electric lights illuminated roadways for the first time. Sukhaphiban sanitary districts were created in Bangkok by royal decree in 1897. Chulalongkorn learned about these units during his European tour earlier that year. He adopted an orphan boy named Khanung in 1906. The king also founded the royal rice varieties competition in 1907 at Tung Luang and Rangsit Canal districts. Hua Lamphong railway station was built by Rama V but completed after his death.

• 7. Death And Enduring Legacy

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  King Chulalongkorn died on the 23rd of October 1910 of kidney disease at the Amphorn Sathan Residential Hall in the Dusit Palace. He was succeeded by his son Vajiravudh who became King Rama VI. The royal Equestrian statue of King Chulalongkorn was finished in 1908 to celebrate the fortieth anniversary of his reign. It was cast in bronze by a Parisian metallurgist. Chulalongkorn University was founded in 1917 as the first university in Thailand and named in his honor. King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital is operated by the Thai Red Cross Society and remains one of Thailand's largest hospitals. In 1997, a memorial pavilion was raised in Ragunda, Sweden to commemorate his visit there in 1897. Time Asia Magazine named him one of twenty Most Influential Asians of the Century in 1999.