Ayutthaya Kingdom

This episode covers the rise, structure, and collapse of the Ayutthaya Kingdom, the powerful Siamese state that thrived from 1351 to 1767. It outlines Ayutthaya's origins, its Theravada Buddhist foundations, the development of its hierarchical sakdina system, and its emergence as a major international trading hub linked to China and several European powers. The episode also looks at the kingdom's destruction by the Burmese Konbaung dynasty and highlights how modern scholarship has shifted from older nationalist narratives toward viewing Ayutthaya as a commercially dynamic and globally connected polity right up to its fall.