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Lanna, land
of a million rice fields, is the name by which the North
and its culture have been known for centuries. Bordered by
the Mekong River and the mountains of Burma and walled off
by jungle from the Central Plains, Lana lived in remote
splendor until early this century. It had its own royal
families, spoke its own dialect, and fought its own
battles with Burmese and Siamese armies.
The early power bases
were along the Mekong River. In the mid 13th century, King
Mengrai marched south to create an empire in Kok River
Valley, establishing the city of Chiang Rai in 1262. After
capturing Haripunchai (Lumphun) and securing joint
leadership of Pharaoh, he sought a more central
headquarters and looked for one in the Ping River Valley.
He constructed a palace/fortress at Wiang Khum Kim and a
temple, but they were unsuitable so he moved just north to
establish Chiangmai in 1296.
After having been ruled
over as an independent state by the Mengrai dynasty for
about 261 years (between 1296 A.D.- 1557 A.D.), Chiangmai
was attacked and fell into the hand of King Bureng Nona of
Myanmar in 1558.
Thus the line of
independent kings of Lanna Thai came to an end. From this
time onward Chiangmai became intermittently a vassal state
of Myanmar and gradually passed under the suffering period
of rebelling and fighting to strive for the land free from
the enemy nearly 200 years, until the reign of King TakSin
of Siam. Later King Ramah I assisted Playa Kailua and Playa
Cabin, The leader of Lanna Thai, to cast off the shackles
of Myanmar and they finally defeated the latter forces
which were expelled from Chiangmai came to and end. Then
King Ramah I appointed Playa Kailua Chief of Chiangmai, a
vassal state of Bangkok and adapted to a province after
the revolution in the reign of King Ramah VII.
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