Northeast Thailand Kingdoms and Empires

There have been eight Kingdoms or Empires of significance in East Thailand during the past 2000 years. These include:

Different People & Different Kingdoms In Northeast Thailand

Funan was a Kingdom of mixed peoples, Melanesian, Mon, Austroloid and Khmer
Chenla was an Kingdom of the Khmer people
The Dvaravati Kingdom was that of the Mon people who were ethnically separate from the Tai who invaded them from China and the Khmer who also invaded them from Cambodia
the Khmer Empire was that of the Hindu believing Khmer of Cambodia who ethnically were Austroasians (as were the Mon)
the Lan Xang Kingdom was ruled by the Tai Lao who were Buddhist
The Sukhothai Kingdom was that of the Buddhist Tai Siamese, relatives of the other Tai tribes which originated in China and which formed the various Tai Kingdoms
The Tai Siamese kingdom of Ayutthaya
The Tai Siamese Kingdom of Bangkok

The first human settlements

Human settlement in the area can be traced back 5 - 7000 years, this is evidenced by archeological digs and carbon dating of relics excavated there. The recorded history of North East Thailand is initially that of the emergence, dominance and then decline of the Khmer and their political replacement by the various Tai tribes from Laos, Sukhothai, Ayutthaya and finally, Bangkok.

The art and architecture of each of these ethnic communities is distinct.

Each ethnic tribe spoke a separate language and had separate cultures. All the Empires were Buddhist with the exception of the Khmer who accepted Buddhism but additionally subjugated their inhabitants to subscribe to Hindu concepts of the divine rights of their kings who regarded themselves as Gods. These differences are explained in detail in the links.