"A" as... Ayutthaya

Michael Boym arrived in Ayutthaya, the capital of the country of the same name, in January 1658 on his way back from Europe to China and stayed until about May of the same year. At the time, Ayutthaya - now Thailand - was one of the most powerful maritime powers in the region.

Michael Boym arrived in Ayutthaya, the capital of the country of the same name, in January 1658 on his way back from Europe to China and stayed until about May of the same year. At the time, Ayutthaya - now Thailand - was one of the most powerful maritime powers in the region, becoming a major commercial and economic center of Southeast Asia. Prosperity attracted people of different races and religions to the kingdom. One of the first groups of foreigners to settle in Ayutthaya were Chinese overseas merchants. Later, more foreigners of increasingly diverse backgrounds arrived. Ancient maps made by Europeans indicated foreign communities in the south of the island. They identified places that served as residences, places of worship and factories for the Japanese, Malays, Mongs, Vietnamese, Chinese, Portuguese and Dutch. The first Jesuits arrived in 1626, building St. Paul`s Church and Mission on the Chao Phraya River shortly thereafter. A Dominican church dedicated to St. Peter was built nearby. This part of the city became known as the Portuguese Settlement. Across the river was a settlement of Japanese, many of whom were Christians who fled persecution in their country by the then Edo Shogunate after the 1638 uprising on Shimabara Island.

It is estimated that by 1600 Ayutthaya had a population of about 300,000, and around 1700 its population may have reached 1,000,000, making it one of the largest cities in the world at the time, when it was called the "Venice of the East." It was more than Paris and Rome combined.

please visit our Facebook fanpage: http://(1) Facebook