The Changes Of The Agricultural Economy In Thailand During The Reign Of Rama â…£ And Rama â…¤

Thailand, known as "Siam"(hereinafter referred to as Thailand) in1948, is located in the middle of South East Asia and is one of its important countries. Thailand has a large cultivated land and it has been the exporter of rice and rubber since the modern times. This situation in Thailand originated from a complicated and profound historical reason. In A.D.1855, Thailand is in the reign of the Bangkok Dynasty, who carried an isolated policy. It was the British settlers who first impressed Thailand relied on its military might and forced the Thai government to sign the Treaty of Pauling. Later, Western countries like France, Denmark, Portugal, and Germany followed closely with Britain, signed a series of unequal treaties and establish a diplomatic relations with Thailand. Since then, Thailand has been included into the capitalist system of economy, becoming the supplier of food and the exporter of goods for the western countries. On the other hand, face the invasion of the western countries; the two generations of the king of Thailand, Rama IV and his successor Rama V have made reforms to ensure the country’s survival. On this occasion, Thailand’s traditional agriculture has went through great changes, on one hand, western countries have brought a commodity currency system, completely different from the feudal era, so that the capitalist mode of production in Thailand was quickly established and developed. In the reforms that followed, knighted granting land Sakdina system collapsed, private ownership of land established, cultivated area expanded, exports of rice increased rapidly. These changes produced a great influence on the future agricultural development in Thailand, and established a basic mode and the direction of the development for the agriculture of Thailand.This paper studies the changes caused by the invasion of western countries from1850to1910, and reforms of agricultural economy in all aspects of the two Thailand monarchs, analysis of the impact of capitalist mode of production on the traditional agriculture of Thailand. Due to fact that the rise of the economy of commodity currency relationship breaks the traditional mode of agricultural production, Real Tax and feudal personal attachment relationship and a series of old system has seriously hindered the Thailand’s economic development and social progress. Face the domestic trouble and foreign invasion, two generations of the king of Thailand carried out reforms based on the situation. Expansion of cultivated area, reforms of the financial system, abolition of the feudal dependence relationship and other measures have come out in succession, the full overhaul has further changed agricultural development path in Thailand. Especially the agricultural development policy of Rama V has a direct impact on the future agriculture, and even on the way of modernization of Thailand.