Lan Na

The Lanna Kingdom or simply Lanna was a kingdom centered in present-day Northern Thailand which existed from the 13th to 18th centuries. The kingdom was historically called Mueang Lanna (Northern Thai: ᨾᩮᩬᩥᨦᩃ᩶ᩣ᩠ᨶᨶᩣ) or Mueang Lanna Tai (Northern Thai: ᨾᩮᩬᩥᨦᩃ᩶ᩣ᩠ᨶᨶᩣᨴᩱ᩠ᨿ) by the local people. However, it was known by various exonyms by its neighboring states. The cultural development of the Northern Thai people began earlier, in the kingdoms that preceded it. Lanna grew out of Ngoenyang and by the 15th century was strong enough to fight the Ayutthaya Kingdom on equal terms. It weakened thereafter and became a vassal state of the Toungoo dynasty in 1558. A succession of vassal kings followed, some of them with considerable autonomy. Burmese control slackened and then tightened again as the Konbaung dynasty extended its reach. In 1775 the Lanna chiefs left Burmese allegiance for Siam, which brought on the Burmese–Siamese War (1775–76). Burmese control ended with the retreat of that force, and Siam under Taksin of the Thonburi Kingdom took Lanna in 1776. From then on, Lanna became a vassal state of Siam under the succeeding Chakri dynasty. Throughout the latter half of the 1800s, the Siamese state dismantled Lanna independence, absorbing it into the emerging Siamese nation-state. Beginning in 1874, the Siamese state reorganized Lanna Kingdom as Monthon Phayap, brought under the direct control of Siam. The thesaphiban system introduced in 1899 brought it under central administration. By 1909, when Siam settled its borders with the British and the French, Lanna had ceased to exist as a separate polity.