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Flag ca.1656-1782 (Thailand)

Civil and State Ensign ca.1656-1782, Civil Ensign 1782-1855

ca.1656-1782 | 1782-1855 |
by Santiago Dotor

Description

See also:

Historical Flags (Thailand)
Thailand

Description

Not all flag books are in agreement on when the various flags of Siam/Thailand were introduced. According to Crampton, the first flag of Thailand was red with a white chakra (...). Some sources state that the first flag was a plain red field. Sources: Crampton 1992; Jos Poels 1990; Crampton 1991.

From contributions by
Roy Stilling, 21 February 1996
Jan Oskar Engene, 3 October 1996 and
Mark Sensen, 3 March 1997

From the Singha Beer source:

According to historical records, from the reign of King Narai the Great of the Ayudhya Era, down through the Thonburi [2310-2365 BE i.e. 1767-1822 AD] and Ratanakosin [since 2365 BE i.e. 1822 AD] Periods, a plain red banner represented the national flag on merchant ships trading with nations overseas.

Santiago Dotor, 26 October 1999

For the origin of Thai flag, it was a plain red flag during the reign of King Narai the Great (1656-1688).

Wisarut Bholsithi, 29 October 1999

According to The booklet of Thai Flags, Thailand Fine Arts Department, 1977, the 1782-1817 and 1817-1855 flags were used as state flag together with the plain red flag as civil flag until the white elephant on red flag was introduced in 1855 by Rama IV.

Nozomi Kariyasu, 22 September 2002

A tourist information website (in French) about Thailand, introducing the national symbols and the national career Thai Airways (with the history of the company logotype), gives more information on the ancient Thai flags.

The early history of the Thai flags is obscure because the Burmese invaders trashed and burned down the city of Ayudhya in 1767. Most historical records from the Ayudhya Era and king Narai the Great were lost.

Chronicles say that a French vessel sailed to the mouth of the Chao Praya river during the reign of Narai the Great. This ship would have been sent by king Louis XIV, which is historically possible, since the kingdoms of France and Siam set up diplomatic relationships at that time. In order to salute the ship, the local authorities hoisted a piece of red cloth, red being then the traditional colour of aristocracy. It was later decided that the national flag would be plain red.

Ivan Sache, 21 July 2004