Recent archaeological studies suggest that by 4000 B.C.,
communities in what is now Thailand had emerged as centers of
early bronze metallurgy. This development, along with the
cultivation of wet rice, provided the impetus for social and
political organization. Research suggests that these innovations
may actually have been transmitted from there to the rest of
Asia, including to China. The Thai are related linguistically to
Tai groups originating in southern China. Migrations from
southern China to southeast Asia may have occurred in the sixth
and seventh centuries. Malay, Mon and Khmer civilizations
flourished in the region prior to the arrival of the ethnic Tai.
Thais date the founding of their nation to the 13th century.
According to tradition, in 1238, Thai chieftains overthrew their
Khmer overlords at Sukhothai and established a Thai kingdom.
After its decline, a new Thai kingdom emerged in 1350 on the
Chao Praya river. At the same time, there was an equally
important Tai kingdom of Lanna, centered in C