Siam in Ayutthaya : the Ayutthaya in Imagination

Abstract

The historiography on the idea of internal colony of Siam is currently able to understand Siam’s response to the western countries under the reform of the provincial capital, especially the border area, but the area near the center of Siam such as Ayutthaya (old capital) which has the location and historical development closely to Siam, is not explained much in this theory. The study of the history of the city of Ayutthaya, especially related to the conservation of ancient sites and the sanitary district is what has appeared in previous studies in many previous works but the study of this concept in the term of the internal colonization of Siam has not yet appeared much. On the one hand it can be considered that Siam, as a leader of change, they are the people who come to improve lives of the people of the city. Whereas the area determination emphasizing that Siam is doing the same thing as the western colonists did that what they define to be both a way of life and various architectural buildings that give Ayutthaya (Old capital) is being determined the direction in the way of what they imagine. Ayutthaya (Old capital) as the Siamese imagination which the direction of this fantasy still has a profound effect on the old city trough development plan until the present day.