Portugal - Thailand

Period

1511 (August)

End of 1511

1515

1516

1518

Major Events

- Afonso de Albuquerque commanded a fleet with 3000 soldiers to overcome Malacca. After the conquest he established trade negotiation with other powerful territories such as Siam, Pegu, Kedah and Pattani.

Beginning of Thai – Portuguese relations

- Afonso de Albuquerque, the Portuguese Viceroy in Goa, then sent Duarte Fernandes as his envoy to Siam. The Malay speaker travelled in traditional Chinese junk which was bound for Ayutthaya. The kingdom was under King Ramathibodi II’s reign.

- The Siamese Court had a pleasure to establish trade negotiation with Portugal and sent an envoy to travel with Duarte Fernandes back to Malacca.

- Afonso de Albuquerque appointed Antonio de Miranda and Manuel Fragoso new envoys to Siam. Fragoso was supposed to stay in Siam in order to collect information for the Governor of Goa. (According to Joaquim de Campos, author of Early Portuguese Accounts of Thailand, this document should be kept at the Archive of Lisbon)

- Miranda subsequently submitted King Ramathibodi II’s royal tribute to Dom Manuel I in Lisbon.

- The Captain of Malacca, Jorge de Brito and the Sultan of Kedah were involved in a dispute. (The Sultan of Kedah was the Sultan of Malacca’s enemy)

- The new Captain of Malacca, Aleixo de Meneses appointed Duarte Coelho head of envoy to Ayutthaya. The head of mission had a good knowledge of this area.

- This diplomatic corps submitted the royal letter and Dom Manuel I’s tribute to King Ramathibodi II.

- The Treaty of Commerce and Alliance between Portugal and Siam was signed. It was the 1st treaty that Siam had ever done with a Western nation.

- A warehouse (feitoria) was established.

- Portugal invited Siam to trade in Malacca (Muslim merchants had left Malacca) and in return asked a permission to trade in Mergui, Ligor, Kedah and Pattani while entering in the region. However, the commercial relation between Ayutthaya and Malacca (Portugal) did not flourish or give any high profits. The goods that Portuguese merchants needed could be found in other places: spices from Pegu, Pattani; rice from Bengal. Therefore, there was no envoy from Malacca or Goa to Siam for a while.

- Portugal still maintained an important commercial relation with the Sultan

of Pattani as it was a market of Chinese goods such as tea, silk, porcelain. And Portugal brought spices to sell in Pattani and then to resell in China.

Period

1533

1538

1564-1592

1557

1566

1615

Major Events

- The Captain of Malacca, Paulo da Gama established a treaty of commerce and alliance with the Queen of Pattani.

- 300 Portuguese people lived in Pattani.

Private trade

- When the Governor of Goa, Lopo Soares de Albergaria, who was Albuquerque’s successor, allowed private merchants to do business and to receive a concession, the private trade increased then.

- Many Portuguese communities were settled without the authority’s knowledge. The one in Ayutthaya composed of low-ranking soldiers, merchants and adventurers. The Siamese Court hired mercenaries and those who had a good knowledge of navigation for service. At the end of King Ramathibodi II’s reign, the trade flourished with about 300 Portuguese settlers in Ayutthaya. They bought raw material from local forests to make traditional medicine such as sappan wood, raw lac, benzoin, ivories, rhinoceros horns, beeswax, serow oil and various kinds of herbs. They also sold many kinds of cloths from Gujarat and Coromandel, spices, rose water, cinnabar, copper and odd objects from Europe, including cowries from Maldives, firearms and ammunition.

Portuguese mercenaries in Siam

- Besides selling firearms and ammunition to Ayutthaya, Portuguese mercenaries in Ayutthaya’s services taught Siamese troops how to use weapons.

- Domingos de Seixas, a noble adventurer in Asia, was caught with other Portuguese men in Tenasserim and then transferred to Ayutthaya. He joined

Siamese army for 25 years (1523-1547).

- Fernão Mendes Pinto was a soldier in Asia in 1537 and afterwards became a merchant and an adventurer in Malacca in 1539. He spent 21 years in Asia: Siam, Pegu, Sunda, China, Japan and other places in Asia. He went back to Lisbon in 1558 and died in 1583. He wrote “the Pilgrim”, referring to Siam. While he was in Siam in 1548, he mentioned that King Chairacha had engaged in a military campaign to attack Srisattanakhanahut or Lan Xang in 1545 with 160 Portuguese mercenaries, including Domingos de Seixas, in his army.

- Sebastião de Canto and Jerónimo da Cruz were 2 priests sent from Malacca to work with the Portuguese Christian community in Ayutthaya. Jerónimo da Cruz was assassinated due to a conflict with local Muslims. Another priest was transferred to Ayutthaya. When Ayutthaya had lost its independence, captives, including a Portuguese man, António Toscano, were forced to move to Burma. However, he managed to flee to Goa in 1579.

- In 1593 during the battle between King Naresuan and the Burmese Crown Prince, Portuguese mercenaries were hired by both parties.

- King Songtham sent an envoy to Goa to reestablish a relation with Portugal.

- He proposed official trade relations.

Period

1886

1887

1888

1890

1897

1898

February 1908

October 1910

1915

August 14, 1925

1926

July 2, 1948

1960

Major Events

King Rama V

- Dom Luiz I addressed a royal letter to the King of Siam from the Ajuda Palace, announcing the marriage of his son, Dom Carlos.

- The Consul, Frederico António Pereira reported the good relationship between Siam and Macau. 9 people originating from Macau worked with the Siamese state. The relationship went well among the citizens. The Consulate was upgraded to level 1 under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ protection, not to Macau anymore.

- The Governor of Macau, Firmino José da Costa had an audience with King Rama V as the plenipotentiary ambassador (submitted the official document and had a conversation with Prince Devavongse Varoprakarn).

- The commander, Wenceslau de Sousa Morais travelled on the Tejo ship from Macau to Bangkok. The Consul’s main duty was to register the Chinese people such as those from Macau under Portuguese consular jurisdiction.

- King Rama V visited Europe including Lisbon. The welcome ceremony was held in Cascais.

- The Governor of Macau, Eduardo Augusto Rodrigues Galhardo visited Bangkok and stayed at the Oriental Hotel. He had an audience with the King. The King told him about his visit to Lisbon and also showed him the insignia of Portuguese Order of Chivalry. Eduardo Augusto Rodrigues Galhardo wrote that Portuguese was still the official language for consular affairs.

- The Ambassador of Siam in Paris, M. C. Charunsakdi Krisdakara reported that the King of Portugal and the Crown Prince had been assassinated by gunmen and he would attend the funeral.

- The Ambassador of Siam in Paris, H.R.H. Prince Bavoradej reported the establishment of republic regime in Portugal. King Rama V did not give an official recognition until other countries had agreed to do so.

Current relations (King Rama VI – the present King)

- The President Bernardino Luiz Machado Guimarães sent a letter to King Rama VI that he had been elected the President of the Portuguese Republic. The King replied in words of congratulations.

- A new treaty of friendship between Portugal and Siam was signed in Lisbon. Dr. Vasco Borges was representative of Portugal and Phraya Sappkijpreecha of Siam.

- The President of Portugal appointed Alfredo do Rosário Rodrigues consul of Portugal in Bangkok.

- The old treaty was cancelled due to its unfair contract terms. A new one had been signed and has come into effect until now.

- The present King and the Queen paid a state visit to Lisbon.

credit by Ajarn Bulong Srikanok