The Kalahom had succeeded in getting rid of one of his rivals, however Yamada Nagamasa and his men had once more proven their might was not to be underestimated. By…

The Kalahom (Phya Sriworawong) had complete control over King Cetthathirat, and he could have disposed of him at any time. Before that, he had to deal with two other potential…

The history of aviation in Thailand goes back over a century when, during the reign of King Rama VI, a Belgian pilot named Charles Van Den Born made the first…

If we consider the history of Siam of the late 1620s in its entirety, in retrospective YamadaNagamasa was no more than one of many pawns on the chessboard maneuvered by…

Back in 1626, when the 4th official Siamese embassy reached Japan, Yamada Nagamasa sent a request for a shuin so that his ship, still harboured in Nagasaki, could return to…

After the incident of 1624, the years between 1625 and 1628 went smoothly for both Yamada Nagamasa and for the commercial and diplomatic relations between Ayutthaya and Japan. A new…

If we are to generalize, at this point there were two kinds of Europeans roaming the waters of East Asia: the Iberians (Portuguese and Spanish) and Northern Europeans (English and…

In 1622 and 1623 there were various skirmishes between Siam and Cambodia. Both kingdoms were involved in international trade, and to a great extent their fortunes depended upon it. There…

Most of the Japanese living in Ayutthaya had to face the 1622 disaster. According to the diary of a Dutch merchant, an accidental fire originated in one of the houses…

Besides the Kyuemon party’s alleged visit of 1616, there had been another minor encounter in 1612, when a Siamese junk reached Japan and the commander met with the retired Ieyasu…