Bangkok began in 1782 as a settlement on the bank of the Chao Phraya, and this area soon
became the centre of the city's government and religious institutions. Government officials
at first lived just to the east of the city and across the river in Thon Buri. The commercial centre, predominantly Chinese, was immediately to the south along the east bank of the river. A small European community began even further south and attracted increasing commercial development. The city subsequently grew in all directions, but in general its layout radiated outward from a royal and religious core through a government or bureaucratic ring to a mixed Chinese and European outer ring.
Most of the city's arteries were waterways, and people travelled more by boat than by any other mode of transport. Almost all major streets were either flanked by canals or were boulevards with canals running down the middle. By the 1970s most of the canals were gone and replaced by multi-lane roads. With the decline of the canal system that once so distinguished the city,
Bangkok's famous floating market has had to move from the city to the western suburbs. The market features vendors selling their wares from boats in the early-morning hours.
Since the 1960s, high-rise buildings have been erected all over the city.
Typically, accommodation in the city centre is situated on the floors above ground-level shops,
with the building's only recreational space being the rooftop. In the suburbs, many people live in tiny houses on small plots of land that were built in massive developments. These areas are usually poorly served by public transport. Dotted everywhere are the larger, taller buildings of banks and department stores.
Educational and Cultural Institutions
Bangkok is the centre of Thai culture and education. The city is the seat of six major universities: Chulalongkorn (1917); Thammasat (1933); Silpakorn (1943), for students of the fine arts; Kasetsat (1943), an agriculture school; Mahidol, a medical school; and the Asian Institute of Technology (1959). Many private and proprietary universities, technical institutes,
and teacher-training colleges are also located here.
The National Museum houses excellent collections on Thai art and archaeology, as does the much smaller Jim Thompson House. The preeminent research and scholarly institution is the Siam Society (1904), which has an excellent, small library. The National Library and its municipal branches serve the capital's students and scholars.
History
King Rama I defined and shaped the city when he moved the capital across the river from
Thon Buri to Bangkok in 1782. Community life centred around the river and an exclusive system
of canals, or klongs, which provided defence as well as passport routes. The elite that was created
in the first half of the 19th century established the city's Buddhist temples and expanded
the canal system. In the second half of the 19th century, under the rule of Rama V, the canals began to be replaced with roadways. Land to the south and east of the city was granted to foreign consulates and business firms. In the early 1900s, the city added public facilities and established a close relationship with the surrounding countryside. After a coup in 1932, military governments expanded the educational system by creating Thammasat, Silpakorn, and Kasetsat universities.
Thailand was technically allied with Japan during much of World War II, but Japanese troops effectively occupied the country, especially Bangkok, during the war. Bangkok suffered serious Allied bombing in the last year of the war.
Bangkok remained a quiet city until the 1960s, when the country's economy and society began rapid expansion, especially influenced by the Vietnam War. Since the 1960s, Bangkok's population has increased sixfold, and the building boom continued, especially in the 1990s.
