On a sign in front of Ramkhamhaeng's Buriram campus (on the road to Huai Rat), it says the campus is "in honour of King Buriram" (or words to that effect). I know Buriram is a Khmer foundation, and -ram is a common ending for Khmer/Thai surnames. Does anybody know who King Buriram, presumably the founder (or re-founder) of the city, was?

Hello Isaanbirder!!!

Check out the link below. It seems that the proper name of the founder was King Rama

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buriram_Province

Glegolo

Hello Isaanbirder!!!

Check out the link below. It seems that the proper name of the founder was King Rama

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buriram_Province

Glegolo

I think you mean 'Rama I'. All the kings of the Chakri Dynasty use 'Rama' as part of their title.

His Majesty King Phra Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke the first king of the Chakri Dynasty ..

http://tudtu.tripod.com/rama1.html

Thanks! I've checked Wikipedia, and it says that the city was re-founded by King Rama I on the site of an older city; the older city was a Khmer foundation, I believe. It also says the name means "City of Happiness", which is doubtless right. One question remains, however. What does the Ramkhamhaeng sign mean? I will recheck the wording next time I go past, but I don't think I've got it wrong!

I'm no historian, but I think it would be unlikely that any Isaan area would have a specific king exclusive to it- the Khorat Plateau (Isaan) has always been less hospitable (drier, harder to farm, rocky) than the Chao Praya basin (Siam), immediate Mekong surrounds (Laos), or Tonle Sap (Cambodia). Consequently, it's always been a semi-remote frontier area passed around between those 3 countries; from the aboriginal Negritoes, Cham, Khmer, Lao, and finally to the Siamese in rough sequential order.

The actual wording of the sign was

REGIONAL CAMPUS IN HONOUR HIS MAJESTY KING BUREERUM

I suspect this is a garbled version of

Buriram Regional Campus in Honour of His Majesty the King .

Until I found out the meaning of the name Buriram, I thought this was some mythical king (such as earlier Thai history is full of).

I had some fun showing the wife a few articles and pictures of the Negrito population in Thailand - explaining to her that those are the "real" Thais.

kenk3z

I had some fun showing the wife a few articles and pictures of the Negrito population in Thailand - explaining to her that those are the "real" Thais.

kenk3z

Relevance?

Relevance?

A slight excursion to the side in order to comment on Svenn's historical narrative.

If you are not aware of what Negritos are, enter the term into Wikipedia.Org and see the relevance to Thailand. They were likely here first and so I say they should be able to claim to be the "real" Thailand people. It makes for a fun discussion. Not unlike telling Americans that the American Indians are the "real" Americans, etc. etc.

kenk3z