Bangkok’s Colonial Period | S02E01
All about Bangkok’s Colonial Period | Unearthing Bangrak
Bangrak & Sampangtawong Exploration
Season 2 ~ Episode 1 ~ What Was Colonial Bangkok All About?
Khlong Phadung Krung Kasem
Khlong Phadung Krung Kasem was significant in shaping the riverside areas from Rattanakisin Island (Phra Nakhon district) home to the 18th-century Grand Palace, a royal residence, the Temple of the Emerald Buddha and Wat Pho and downstream and the riverside areas of Bang Rak, Patpong, Sathorn, Solom and the S (which is Chinatown).
Time = Bangkok became capital of the Rattanakosin Kingdom in 1782 to Colonial 1820
When the city of Rattanakosin (the formal name of the capital city today known as Bangkok) was founded by King Phutthayotfa Chulalok (Rama I), after the fall of Ayutthaya in 1782, it was set within fortified walls, and Khlong Rop Krung was constructed as a moat to protect the city's eastern flank. The Chao Phraya River formed a natural barrier to the west. By the time of King Mongkut (Rama IV)'s reign, the city had outgrown its original area, and in 1851 (four kings later and 69 years later) the King Mongkut ordered the digging of another canal, roughly parallel to the original moat and about 1.5km further out extending the boundaries to the north and east and more than doubling the city area. The canal was completed in 1852 and the King Mongkut named the canal Khlong Phadung Krung Kasem, roughly meaning "the canal upholding the city's happiness".
Rewind to 1782; riverside areas beyond the fortified city of Rattanakosin Island developed into fringe neighbourhoods settled by various ethnic communities. Downstream of the city and just beyond the Chinatown area, the waterfront stretch that is now Bang Rak Subdistrict was home to Thais, Chinese, Vietnamese, Malays, Lao, Tavoyans, and descendants of Portuguese, among others.
Holy Rosary Church, Bangkok
In 1787 with a land grant from King Rama I, four years after Bangkok was established as the capital, the Portuguese community in the area built a Catholic church and dedicated it to the Lady of the Rosary. French priests then moved into the area for missionary work, followed by Protestants, mostly from the United States. As international trade increased in the nineteenth century, the neighbourhood developed.
In 1838, a new church building, of wood on a masonry base, was built to replace the old damaged structure. It was consecrated on 1 October 1839, and formally dedicated to Our Lady of the Rosary. By 1890, the structure had fallen into disrepair, and the pastor, Father Desalles, arranged for the construction of a new building and this new church was consecrated in October 1897, and remains in operation.
The Thai name for this Catholic church was originally Kalawario, a Thai transliteration of Calvary, the mount on which Jesus Christ was crucified. The name was later changed to Kalawar. The local name for the church as shown on signboards is Kalawar Church (a Thai transliteration of Calvary). In Thai the church is known as Wat Kalawar, from the Portuguese word Calvario. In English Calvary or Golgotha, the church is named after the hill just outside Jerusalem where Jesus was crucified.
The word Rosary means "Crown of Roses". Our Lady has revealed to several people that each time they say a Hail Mary they are giving her a beautiful rose and that each complete Rosary makes her a crown of roses. The rose is the queen of flowers, and so the Rosary is the rose of all devotions and it is therefore the most important one.
Architecture - The current church was built in Gothic Revival style. It follows a cruciform floor plan, with the main façade facing the river. The church employs Gothic-arched doors and windows throughout and the present cream-colored structure has a high facade topped with a towering spire; a statue of Virgin Mary stands above the high arches framing the main entrance, leading to tall arched doors. The church has some wonderfully well kept stained glass work and in between these windows are 14 painting depicting the crucifixion of Christ. The church is consider to be among the most beautiful in Thailand.
Assumption Cathedral & Assumption College
In 1822 the original cathedral was built and in 1910, the church underwent significant reconstruction and was rebuilt in the romanesque style between 1910 and 1918. The church has a relatively tall rectangular structure with a red brick exterior which stands out against its surrounding white buildings. The tall square towers flank the main entrance. Inside is a high ceiling adorned with many ornate decorations. Construction costs were largely covered by a local catholic businessman, Mr Low Khiok Chiang (also known as Jacobe) who owned the nearby Kiam Hoa Heng & Company, a Chinese Teochew family business.
In 1942, during World War II, nearby buildings were destroyed by allied bombing which resulted in serious damage to the church. It underwent extensive restoration shortly afterwards, and was partly refurbished in the 1980s and 1990s and the stained glass windows were installed.
Assumption Cathedral had been visited by two supreme pontiffs. First, in May 1984 the cathedral welcomed Pope John Paul II and on the 22nd of November 2019, Pope Francis visited the cathedral during his apostolic visit to Thailand where he conduct the holy mass with catholic youth from around the country, given that the church is the center of the Roman Catholic diocese there.
Assumption Cathedral is “hidden” in the courtyard of Assumption College, with its main entrance facing west in the direction of the Chao Phraya River. The standout building of the area was designed with Romanesque architecture. The characteristics of the cathedral, including buttresses, semicircular arches for openings, arcades, piers and columns, all combine to strike viewers with awe and tranquillity.
Portuguese Embassy
Portugal was the first foreign nation to establish a consulate in the capital of Siam.
Dating to 1820, with the ambassador's residence built in 1860, it is the oldest diplomatic mission in Thailand, and the ambassador's residence has been recognized as an award-winning historic building. Portugal was the first European nation to come into contact with Siam in the 16th century, during the time of the Ayutthaya Kingdom. The Portuguese were granted land near the capital, and a sizeable community settled in Siam.
In 1786, as thanks for Portugal's assistance in the Nine Armies' War against the Burmese, King Rama I granted a piece of land to Portugal, which would be used for the establishment of the Holy Rosary Church. The King also promised land for a factory/warehouse/trading post, should the Portuguese wish to establish one. This was realised in 1820, during the reign of King Rama II. A piece of land on the river, not far from the church, was granted to the Portuguese Consul-General. The land was along the waterfront and had two shipyards, and had been the former residence of the Vietnamese Emperor Gia Long during his time in exile in Siam. The original building, of bamboo and wood, was replaced by a masonry structure in 1875 and by this time, Charoen Krung Road had been built, and the embassy would come to be served by the side-street known as Captain Bush Lane. Other foreign missions, including those of Britain and France, would also be established nearby, and the area became a centre of the European expatriate community during the turn of the 19th–20th centuries.
The entrance, decorated with ceramic tiles from Portugal, opens into a large hall, which is a few steps lower than outside ground level due to subsidence and subsequent raising of the exterior grounds to prevent flooding. A prison cell, used in the days of extraterritoriality, also used to be located in the basement. The original teak, used for structural beams and upper-level flooring, remains intact and the building is the oldest diplomatic residence in Bangkok, and received the ASA Architectural Conservation Award in 1984. Among the decorative objects in the residence are a pair of carved wooden doors from at least the 18th century, which had been brought from the original Portuguese settlement in Ayutthaya. Several bronze cannons guard the entrance to the residence. The embassy has relatively large grounds and gardens, part of which it leases to the next-door Royal Orchid Sheraton Hotel for the hotel's swimming pool and tennis courts.
Captain Bush & His Lane
The riverside area now served by Soi 30 used to be the area of a Buddhist temple called Wat Kaeo Fa (วัดแก้วฟ้า). During the 1880s, part of the temple grounds were used for the establishment of the HSBC Bank and the United Club (a Western social club) and streets (now Captain Bush Lane and the final stretch of Si Phraya Road) were built to serve the area, which also became home to several European expatriates, including consular officials and Captain Bush himself. In 1898, Captain Bush and twelve other foreigners wrote a complaint to the foreign minister regarding the stench and hygienic hazards emanating from the temple's charnel grounds, which had actually resulted in the death from cholera of a European living in the area. Officials investigated and found that the area was the site of a public latrine, that some locals kept pigs, which contributed to the smell, and that the temple's old graveyard was being used as an open refuse dump. The investigation suggested that the temple be relocated and the area redeveloped. During the same time, the temple's abbot also complained about the prohibition on cremation imposed on the temple, which adversely affected its finances, already constrained by being in the middle of a European community. King Chulalongkorn (Rama V), approved the relocation of the temple which was re-established as Wat Kaeo Chaem Fa (วัดแก้วแจ่มฟ้า). The Northern plot of the temple grounds was rented to the Louis T. Leonowens Company, Ltd. who built offices and warehouses next to House No.1.
Captain John Bush, an English sea captain, was a significant historical figure during King Rama IV’s reign. He arrived in 1857, two years after the Bowring Treaty was signed. The Bowring Treaty was a treaty siged between the British Empire and the Kingdom of Siam which allowed foreign trade in Siam. so two years after this, when Captain Bush arrived, there was already loads of foreign ships crowding the harbour. To bring order to the increasing chaos of the shipping, King Rama IV appointed Captain Bush as Harbour Master, a position he held for thirty years. Anna Leonowens, (Anna and the King of Siam / The King and I) met Captain Bush when he sailed out to meet her incoming ship on the night of 15th March 1862. Anna, alone except for her six-year-old son Louis, had been distraught to learn no one had arranged accommodation for her in Bangkok, but the kindly captain took her and the lad ashore and housed them in his riverside home on the narrow thoroughfare known today as Captain Bush Lane. These days, the location of his home is best known as the address of the Royal Orchid Sheraton Hotel & Towers.
He held that position for 30 years, serving King Mongkut as well as his son, King Chulalongkorn (Rama 5), and was trusted to captain their royal yachts sailing to domestic and international ports. He ultimately became Admiral Bush and was bestowed the royal title of Phraya Wisuth Sakoradith (a Siamese knighthood). His grave in the Protestant Cemetery is marked by an obelisk with an inscription written by King Chulalongkorn himself. His contributions to Siam were highly valued by both the kings he served.
During his 50 year stay in Bangkok, Capt. Bush had time to pursue profitable sidelines too. He founded and managed the highly successful Bangkok Dock Company, one of the oldest and largest engineering and shipping companies at the time. In 1908 it reported having two dry docks and three slipways capable of taking small steamers. It had a motor garage and electric and mechanical workshops and in 1907 It built 18 launches (small vessels) while 45 other vessels were docked there
He was among the first foreigners to buy plots of land and build houses—the first foreign property developer! When he and his wife arrived in Bangkok, most people lived in floating houses anchored to the riverbank. Bangkok consisted of a walled royal city and little else. There were no roads, no wheeled traffic and very few houses on dry land. People traveled by boat to get across the marshes of what was Bangkok today.
When King Mongkut enlarged the city by having Klong Padung Krung Kasem dug, a new city wall was erected and a 2-mile stretch of roadway was paved with bricks. Captain Bush was among the first to buy plots of land along the NEW Road (Charoenkrung Road). He was also among the first Westerners to build houses, and his own grand residence stood where the Royal Orchid Sheraton stands now. He had other property on the banks of the Sathorn canal where many of the early foreign arrivals settled.
Captain Bush was a well-known and popular figure who eventually built a fortune for his large family. He had 6 children by two wives (his first wife died in 1866) and at his death he was worth 1,240,000 Baht (when you could build a house for 10,00 baht and build a church for 50,000 baht). In short, he became one of the most respected, wealthiest and popular men in Siam in his time.
Louis T. Leonowens' Warehouse
The name Leonowens continues to be spoken in Thailand more than 150 years after Anna Leonowens and her son, Louis, first arrived to Bangkok. If Louis’s mother is still reviled for her libel against the Kingdom through her two memoirs, then Louis Leonowens is still held in high esteem as one of the country’s most prominent and astute businessmen.
Louis Leonowens was born in 1856, and his mother, Anna Leonowens, worked as a teacher; his father, Thomas, was a hotel manager and he died unexpectedly of a stroke in 1859, leaving the family impoverished. A few years later Anna was invited to come to Thailand to teach English to the wives and children of King Mongkut (Rama IV) Anna accepted the invitation and in 1862 Anna went to Bangkok with 5 year old Louis. Louis was educated by his mother along with the other royal children in the Grand Palace for almost six years. While his mother and he were in England on a vacation in 1868, King Mongkut suddenly died and Anna was not invited to return to Thailand to teach again. Eventually she went to New York City while Louis continued his studies in England.
By 1874 Louis had been reunited with his mother in the U.S. but soon he ran up some bills and fled the country, leaving his debts behind, and returned to Thailand when he was 25 years old. If there was ever the right person at the right place at the right time with the right skills – and the right connections in Thailand – it was Louis T. Leonowens. He spoke fluent Thai, had the closest connections with the royal family, was highly intelligent and extremely ambitious and Thailand trade was going to soon see a great expansion. He was immediately commissioned as a Captain with the Royal Siamese Cavalry by King Chulalongkorn (King Rama IV) and served until 1884. He then entered the teak trade just as the upcountry timber business was exploding, due to the accelerated demand for strong, rot resistant wood for Royal Navy ships, flooring, furniture and other crafted items.
Louis quickly became one of the leading businessmen in Thailand. He eventually branched out into representing manufacturers of Champagne and whisky, typewriters, engineering products and building materials, insurance companies and continued to export hardwoods. In 1913 Louis eventually left Thailand for the U.K. and sadly died during the great influenza pandemic in 1919. Louis had a reputation for generosity and eccentricity. On the teak posts supporting the balcony of his home that still exists, he carved the heights and names of his visitors. Louis is also commemorated through one of Bangkok’s most noted landmarks, The Giant Swing (Sao Ching Cha) because in 1920, his company donated the teak wood to reconstruct the swing after it had fallen into disrepair.
House No.1
House No. 1 on Captain Bush Lane is a legacy of European presence in Southeast Asia at the turn of the century. From 1887 to 1954, Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia existed as a single colony of France known as French Indochina. The colony served to provide not only for itself, but also for the motherland that was forced upon it. State monopolies were gradually cooked up for certain products. Alcohol, one product that French Indochina supplied to its domestic and international market, was included and eventually carefully managed. Societe Francaise des Distilleries de l’Indochine (SFDI), a French Corporation, stepped in to help the government manage this. In the time of its existence, SFDI’s presence was not limited to French Indochina. In fact, it also established an office in Siam, right in House No. 1. SFDI’s chosen location in House No. 1 is of no surprise because the European community had established itself in Bangrak area with Bangkok’s first paved road, the Embassy of France, the Grand Postal Office, Bangkok’s first customs house LINK three sites will be explored in a future video), and many other institutions required for business at the time.. The House No. 1 building was designed of neoclassical architecture, clearly evident in its front pediment. Built in the early 1900s, the two-storey structure was constructed with masonry and supported by its load-bearing walls. In 2012 to 2016, Crown Property Bureau saved the building from dereliction. Due to its architecture rarity, House No. 1 has been listed by the Department of Fine Arts as an ancient monument.
Such integration of old and new has been very common in the hotel industry where developers acquire land with historical architecture and choose to renovate and preserve portions of the original structure, creating hotel facilities with stories to tell and attract guests.
How COLONISATION was avoided
There are a few factors that contributed to the reason why Thailand was never colonised:
Context - Burma to the west was colonised by the British. To the south, Indonesia belong to the Dutch and the region was called the Dutch East Indies. Then to the east was Vietnam and that was colonised by the french. The Siam region was Thailand, Laos and Cambodia and it was a buffer zone between the United Kingdom (India and Burma) and French (Vietnam) and because then there was no need to have border disputes.
King Rama V
In the mid-19thcentury, Siam had a unique and well-established political system called the “Mandala” system. The underlying philosophy of this system was very different from the European notion of nation-states. Instead, the “Mandala” system focused on spheres of influence in which weaker rulers had to pay tributes to the more powerful rulers. At the top of the pyramid was the Siamese King. At this time King Chulalongkorn was a key figure in Siam. the Siamese kings, especially Chulalongkorn, realized that in order to avoid colonization, they had to transform their political system into a more Europeanized version. This became a massive nation-building project that led to the modernization of today’s Thailand. An important aspect of this project was map-making. The Siamese realized that the Europeans put a lot of emphasis on knowledge, especially topographical knowledge. The Brits and the French used maps to define the territory that they ruled and when borders were ill-defined, they used this as an opportunity to claim the land. Another point of interest was the concentration of power. In the previous Mandala system, power was very diffused. Local rulers exerted their influence as much as they could, but large areas still remained outside the reach of any particular ruler. De facto, the king was in charge of the whole land, but de jure, many areas remained in a political limbo. Chulalongkorn recognized this problem and introduced a standing professional army for the first time in Siamese history. While they would have never been able to stand up against any European military, it gave the king more power to control the local rulers and unsupervised regions. Eventually, all local rulers were deposed and stripped of their powers, which was transferred and centralized in Bangkok. This concentration of power became a beneficial advantage in the fight against western colonization. Additionally, programs to foster nationalism were established. Historiography was used to create the sense of an eternal Thai nation and the Thai language was introduced as the only official language of the nation. These carefully calculated maneuvers turned Siam into a legitimate state in the eyes of its European competitors. Subsequently, this gave the Siamese kings much more power than they otherwise would have had. and it was during his reign that he modernised Siam and transform the region through unification, creating well defined maps (regions with ill defined maps were taken advantage of by the colonisers) and the introduction of a army - so now Siam had power and a defined region. Moreover, it was during this time that Chulalongkorn started westernising Siam with clothing, infrastructure, education and transportation and so Siam was looking more like a modern region, as opposed to uneducated, uncivilised and disorganised “savages” who needed to be colonised.
1893 Paknam incident French v Siameses
The Paknam Incident was a military engagement fought during the Franco-Siamese War in July 1893. Conflict arose when the French Navy aviso and a gunboat arrived on July 13 at Paknam with the intention of crossing the bar into the Chao Phraya River and join the a French gunboat that was already anchored off the French embassy in Bangkok. The Siamese forbade the French gunboats to cross the bar, a contravention of the Franco-Siamese Treaty of 1856 which permitted the French free passage up as far as Paknam Island. The French commander, Captain Borey, did not receive a telegram of updated instructions from Paris to hold his position at the mouth of the river, as it was not received by the French consul Auguste Pavie until the following day. But Pavie did advise him of the Siamese stance and suggested he anchor off Koh Sichang and await further instructions. Borey was under pressure since his ships could only cross the bar at high tide and chose to follow his orders from Rear Admiral Edgar Humann in Saigon rather than Pavie's counsel.
Buffer Zone
On the more practical side of politics, the king played France and UK against one another to make Thailand a buffer zone between British Burma, Malaysia, and French Indochina.
He also ceded territories to both powers (in the north-east near Laos and in the south on the border with Malaysia) to calm their appetite. Other countries understandably didn’t have the patience and abnegation to give in to western powers extravagant demands, it cost them their independence. Thailand itself came very close to skirmishes degenerating into open conflict (and annexation), but luckily that didn’t happen and Thais were able to resolve “misunderstandings” with diplomacy. The course of history hangs on a very thin thread sometimes.
Rather than try to oppose the great powers militarily, he managed to get them into a position of both courting influence in the kingdom and defending the kingdom against their rival counterpart. Siam for example invited French and British help with legal reforms, economic development, and reorganizing the military. The great powers were engaged at every step of the way. The kingdom was forced to make territorial concessions, but history has shown the kings plan as vindicated, with Thailand nee Siam not bowing to foreign rulers throughout the colonial era.
