Hello and welcome. In this video, we will be exploring the lost (but not forgotten) history of Thailand's first Iranian/Indo-Persian community and the historical relationship between the Safavids in Persia (present-day Iran) and Ayutthaya (present-day Thailand). For a brief time, this two kingdoms developed a strong diplomatic and commercial relationship that ultimately unraveled do to geopolitical problems in the late early-modern period. However, the Indo-Persian community continued to play an important role in the making of modern-day Thailand into the twentieth century. Please join me on this exciting adventure and I hope you enjoy the video!

For more information on the Indo-Persian cultural influence in Thailand see:

Julispong Chularatana, "Indo-Persian Influence on Late Ayutthaya Art, Architecture, and Design," Journal of Siam Society 105 (2017).

Udom Arunrattana, "Court Music in Persia and Thailand during the Early Ayutthaya Period," Integral Study of the Silk Roads: Roads of Dialogue 18, 174 (1991).

For broader information about Indo-Persian influences in Southeast Asia see:

Brian E. Colles, "Persian Merchants and Missionaries in Medieval Malaya," Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 42, 2 (1969).

For more information on Indo-Persian community in Thailand see:

M. Ismail Marcinkowski, "The Iranian-Siamese Connection: An Iranian Community in the Thai Kingdom of Ayutthaya," Iranian Studies 35, 1-3 (2002)

Christoph Marcinkowski, "Persians and Shi'ites in Thailand: From Ayutthaya Period to the Present," Nalanda-Sriwijaya Centre, Working Paper Series 15 (2004)

Julispong Chularatana, "Muslim Communities during the Ayutthaya Period," Journal of Humanities 10, 1 (2007)