La Na

I may be beginning to learn a bit about Thai history just as I begin to feel attracted to South America again.

Lanna is a name given a large section of the north of Thailand. Petchaboon, where I am now may mark the southern boundary of Lanna. However my guess is that it lies south of that boundary. There is a mountainous area not far north of Petchaboon which seems to mark that boundary pretty well

I see a way to make a home for myself here in Petchaboon, but do not find myself strongly attracted to the idea. I may move back to Chaing Mai before the end of the year. There I may have some more work don on my eyes and prepare for a move to .....perhaps Manizales, in Caldas Colombia.

The beginnings of Lanna  fairly well coincides with the beginning of modern Thailand. I'm not very confident of any understanding of Thai history yet, but I'll do the best I can at the moment. Lanna became influential in Siam at about the same time as Mongol-Chinese influence was on the upswing in SEA. The people of Lanna with their King Mengri were among the few to successfully resist that powerful influence.

Southeast Asia which had long been strongly Indianized became so Sinicized that has been called Indo-China.

I guess that what must Thais learn is that Mengri successfully resisted a Mongol led Chinese encroachment on the area and with two friendly kings went on to found Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, and other important cities which exist today and began a culture well recognized today.

Russia

Mother Russia.

Did proto-Russians have colorful china before the Chinese?

No answers yet. I wait.

Malaysia

Until recent times Malaysia was said by Europeans to be in the East Indies. Now that part of the world is called South East Asia, SEA.

I bet that the word 'Malay' is of ancient southern India origin. Although Malaysia may be best know for its seagoing and trading past,the origin of the word 'Malay' may mean something like 'mountainous' which much of the interior of Malaysia is.

To me much of the Malay language and people seem related to Polynesia people. The fact is that they are related to that great mixture of people making up the cultures of South East Asia. India has long been a strong influence there. China to has had long standing influence and that influence increased during the rise and fall of European empire building in the area. Many Chinese were brought to Malaysia as workers during that time.

I suspect that the Malay language is spoken as the first language of just over half the population. Chinese speakers are next in number. Several other languages are popular including English.

Sunni Islam is the largest religious group and includes over 60& of the population. Buddhism is next and is practiced by less than 20% of the population. There is religious freedom, but Islam is the state religion.

Education is good and is open to a wide portion of the population.

Malaysians can play a good game of soccer even though Americans may be the only people to call it soccer.

The title of the elected ruler is, I think, Yang de Pertuan Agong. You may call him Lord and, in the third person, refer to him as His Majesty. The UNMO rules.

Malysias neighbors include Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, Brunei, and the Philippians.

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Why Egypt Should Worry China by Barry Eichengreen - Project Syndicate

Why Egypt Should Worry China by Barry Eichengreen - Project Syndicate




A very interesting place to enhance one's understating of actual economics.

Guesses About Happenings Around 1500 BC

A while back I made some guesses as what was happening around 1500 BC. I based my guesses on reading I had  done rather than on my knowledge of man. My guesses follow:


'Great bronze work and the printing of a 40,000 some character dictionary during he Shang dynasty.' [I'm using Wikipedia and other on-line sources to check my guesses.] It seems that the Shang dynasty of China was in full career from 1760 BC to 1122 BC and the Shang were known for excellent bronze work. I couldn't find a date for the printing of the dictionary. Still I'd say I should get half credit anyway.


'There was notable seismic upheaval.' I haven't found and documentation and am not sure what I meant by 'notable.' There was a large earthquake in China noted in the Bamboo Annals,
but I figure a correct guess should fall within  100 years of 1500. So my guess is WRONG.


'There was tin mining in what is now England.' There is agreement that Phoenicians transported tin from England to places around the Mediterranean and they were doing business around 1500 BC. There are those who feel sure that tin was being mined in England by 1500 BC.
Even though there is some controversy as to whether Phoenicians were doing business in what was to become Great Britain as early as 1500 BC, I consider this a correct answer. I bet my Irish ancestors knew those Phoenicians by that time.


'A library at a rebuilt Hittite capital had tablets in eight languages.' I haven't been able to verify this. I do seem to remember a site believed to be Hittite at which tablets in eight langugess were found. I guess this must be called a wrong answer.


'The Rig-Veda was written down.' Authorities seem to think that it was put into writing between 1700 and 1100 BC. Can I get half credit?


'Chiapas de Carzo, the oldest city in Mexico was founded' It might be the oldest. Most experts seem to believe that it was probably after 1400 BC. Close, but wrong again.


'The Dorians conquered or settled in the Peloponnesus.' Historians speak of the conquest, but I haven't been able to verify a date. Most authorities seem to agree that there were Dorians in the Greek highlands at about that time. Close, but no cigar, yet.


'Hammurabi, King of Babylon, published his famous law code. Babylonians of the time were using highly developed geometry as a basis for astronomical measurements. The Zodiac was used as a teaching tool, The Hammuabic code included guidelines  for medical practices and permissible fees for surgery and treatments.' Wrong! The details are probably right, but most authorities agree that the code was written in stone before 1700 BC. 


'Moses received the Ten Commandments.' Haven't found agreement on the date. Couldn't even find agreement on what the Commandments said about killing each other. Wrong again. Is there info that suggests I could be right?


'The first palace at Cnossos, Crete was built.'
I seem to remeber that it was found to have light and air shafts and running water in the baths, but I'm wrong about the date. The palace may have been completed before 2000 BC. Even the one built after the catastrophe, the one of labyrinth legend, was probably completed by 1700 BC. Wrong.


'The Great Labyrinth of Egypt built by Amenemhet the III.' There was  first Suez canal during this period, Contraceptives were in use, A series of labor strikes occured at Thebes. Wrong. Authorities seem to agree that this Amenemhet live or rule from about 1860 BC to 1814 BC, So the happenings I mentioned must have occurred a that time.


'Troy was.' I was thinking of Homeric Troy. I was wrong. It seems to be that no one thinks it was there before 1399. Some think that it was founded after 100 BC.


Maybe this wasn't a complete waste, bu I don't plan to do it again.

Human Rights Intelligence: Thailand

Human Rights Intelligence: The “Long-Shot” & The “Sure Thing” with the International Criminal Court & Thai Royalism Global Shield « Thai Intelligence News Study Center

Thailand is far from perfect. Still, it has beauty. There is even some thing attractive about its politics. Thailand
has kept on its feet and kept its head through two World Wars and Vietnam. I pray that the good sense and good luck of the people of all of Thailand continues. I suspect that they are in for some difficult times. Just having Indian and China competing for influence in Myanmar is a difficulty.

You can begin to learn a bit about Thai politics here.

"Police Action"

I remember it being called a 'police action' because many of us still thought that, if the people had not declared the war through their representatives, the war was illegal. We did not call people in power criminals. My memory is not perfect and I may not have all this just right.


The winners of WWII, Russia and the US, divided Korea between us. Russian forces occupied the northern part and US forces the southern. I don't remember anyone consulting the Koreans. Powerful people in the US, fearful of the power of our ally, began calling parts of the world communist or non-communist. They told us that the norther part of Korea was bad, communist.


The Russians seemed to have had less interest in Korea than we did. They seemed more interested in consolidating their power closer to home and were a bit neglectful of their duties of occupation. Most of us were pretty busy at home too, catching our breath and beginning to feel the peace. But, we were told, Chinese were bad, communist, too.


Some Koreans wanted to be whole again. They felt divided and conquered. They were not pleased to be occupied. But we had a good reputation. They knew that as democrats we valued the people and justice for the people. In June of 1950 armed Koreans from the north crossed into the south in a bid to unite their country. Americans knew about uniting; they knew about civil war too.


But it seemed that some people in the US were not sympathetic. The US, with the help of the UN, got 17 countries(I just checked)to help stop the Koreans from uniting. Most of the leaders of those 17 counties were please not to be dominated by Japan or Germany, felt some loyalty to the US, if not the cause. Americans were the good guys. However, they were pleased when the US leaders said that the could get US personal to do most of the bleeding; that US citizens would agreed to be taxed for the costs  of a 'police action.'


We did good and moved our troops across the north right up to the Chinese border and seemed ready to cross it. The Chinese, remembering that we had been calling them bad, asked us to back off. We had just won the greatest war and were not ready to 'back off' for anyone. China was sill suffering from their part in the war and were broke, still had something to fight with, including a lot of willing Chinese. They backed us out of China, across the north and back into what has come to be called South Korea.


Not completely up-beat, but better than The Black Death.


Home work: Why didn't Russia stop us from going into the north? Why did we give we give up our war powers? How ready should we be to have our young bleed even if we have made them pros? 


  

The Bright Side of Life

I've planned to be more positive in these posts, but it seems that I have not begun just yet.


Someone mentioned 'flu season.' That got me to thinking about being lucky about not having been touched by the flu for years even though I had resisted inoculation. Thinking of luck got me to thinking of 'luck' 13. One thing led to another and I got to thinking of the 1300s.


The 1300s were not a particularly luck times for Europeans. Not that it was all bad then; Universities were being founded France, Italy, and Czechoslovakia: in Spain it was the height of Arabic civilization and Yusuf the first was Caliph of Granada; scholarship was flourishing I Catholic monasteries; St. Catherine was born in Siena. Chaucer was born around 1340, In 1321 Dante Finished The Divine Comedy


Still I imagine that the Poles did not feel lucky when the Teutonic Knights blocked their access to the Baltic Sea; nor did the Jews being persecuted in Germany. The French and the English were beginning the Hundred Year War. The citizens of the Crimean city of Koffa, I imagine, did not feel lucky as they watched warriors of a Mongol army catapult the bodies of warriors dead of the bubonic plague over their walls. 


Plague.


The People of Europe and most of the world had see plague before and They would see it again. However, this one in the 1300s has been particularly memorable. It was called the Black Death and was thought to have begun in China or India between 1330 and 1333. By 1347 it had reached Cyprus. By bout 1350 it had killed about 50,000,000 Asians and 24,000,000 Europeans. People in India and China probably feel lucky either. The 25 million individuals who died in Europe between about 1347 and 1351,when the Black Death Swept Russia, may not seem dramatic by our standards, but it was half of them.


Then, early in the 1360s, it came back. It appeared in England in 1361.


The ruled classes acted disturbed by this. In 1358 they revolted in France; in 1381 in England.


Home work: Why did the describe it as the Black Death? Do you really want to know? Did you know that today wild rodents living near people are infected with the bubonic plague? Why do we call it bubonic? Is the Black Death waiting? Are you feeling lucky.


I plan to make an effort to reflect more of the bright side of life in my posts.

Some SEA Beliefs

In most of South East Asia Buddhism might be called he state Religion. However in Viet Nam the Chinese custom of state authority moderates this influence. Chinese tradition supplies an ideology that legitimized authority over many phases of life. That means that it is justified in regulating the affairs of Buddhist monks to a greater degree than is generally accepted elsewhere. The ideology I mention is, of course, Confucianism.

Of the great religions, Brahmanism seems to be the first o take hold in maritime SEA as it was in much of the mainland realms. I was followed by Saivism and Mahayana Buddhism before the arrival of Islam. Brahmanism, without much evidence of the cast system of Hinduism, was evident in most of SEA before the 7th century and was probably several centuries earlier.

Old Javanese sources from the 11th century on mention three religions under the supervision of the central government: Saivas(worshiper of Siva), Buddhists, and Reis(court Brahmins). Important Tantric rites were performed b Buddhist monks and the court Brahmin. In Java, then and now, there were other religions and sects at a greater distnce from the larger centers of power. Saints referred to bu Saias of the time were Kusika, Garga, Mairi Kurusya, and Patnjali. Also the teacher Agastya is mentioned.

Is good to keep in mind that from at least 400 BC to 1300 AD there is nearly constant commerce with India and intermediate commerce with China.

As we well know Islam became the main religion of  maritime SEA with the major exception of the Philippines. Theravada Buddhism became the main religion of mainland SEA. Islam took pervasive hold in the area more than six centuries after the foundation of Islam in the Middle East. Te first center of power of Islam was probably at Aceh of recent tsunami fame. Islam rose in Malaca and in ll directions including Patani in southern Thailand.