Historical Atlas of Thailand

The Historical Atlas is a set of six maps, the first depicting the southward movement of Tai/Thai people from the Altai Mountains, (as was a popular theory at the time) and the others depicting the territories of the Thai kingdoms of Nanzhao (considered so under said theory), Sukhothai during the reign of King Ram Khamhaeng, Ayutthaya during Naresuan's, Thonburi during Taksin's and Rattanakosin during Rama I's.[1]

The History of Thailand's Boundary is a single map, labelling territories lost by Thailand over several occasions, resulting in the country's present-day shape. Several versions of the map exist, with differing accounting of the losses, but all include the cession of territory that is now Laos and Cambodia to the French in 1893, 1904 and 1907, and of the four Malay states to the British in 1909.[1]

The Historical Atlas of Thailand series (six plates, left) and Map of the History of Thailand's Boundary (right), in the most widely recognized version depicted in Thongbai Taengnoi's atlas

The Historical Atlas set of maps was first published by the Royal Thai Survey Department around 1935–1936.[2] The History of Thailand's Boundary map (also referred to as Evolution of the Boundary of Thailand) was also first produced in 1935, though it was a different version that rose to prominence in 1940, amid the spread of the irridentist ideology of Pan-Thaiism promoted by the government of Plaek Phibunsongkhram (Phibun), with calls for the return of territory ceded to the French in 1904 and 1907. The map was distributed to schools and government offices, prompting protests from British and French diplomats. The government distanced itself from the publication, but its distribution was then taken up by one of Phibun's aides.[1]

Thailand briefly annexed some of the territories thanks to its alliance with Japan during World War II, but had to renounce the claims after the war. Despite the changed political climate, the maps continued to live on thanks to their adaptation into school material.

In 1957, Phunphon Atsanachinda, a former Royal Survey Department officer and professor at Chiang Mai University, produced a similar set of maps (including the six Historical Atlas maps and the boundary history map) for Thai Watana Panich, one of the largest publishers of school textbooks, titled Bandai Prawattisat Thai Tae Boran (บันไดประวัติศาสตร์ไทยแต่โบราณ, 'the steps of Thai history since antiquity'). It was sold as sets of posters, and became widely distributed among schools.[3]

In 1963, another version of the set was included in a student atlas illustrated by Thongbai Taengnoi, a school headteacher from Prachin Buri. Thongbai's atlas, also published by Thai Watana Panich, became an extremely popular textbook and was widely used by schools all over the country into the 21st century, with its 44th printing in 2014.[4] Most Thai people have since become acquainted with the maps through its use in Thongbai's atlas.[1][5]

Several other versions of the maps, especially the History of Thailand's Boundary, have also been produced, some by historians discussing the historical issues,[1] others by organizations or groups using them for political purposes, especially those surrounding territorial disputes with Cambodia. Following the attack of the Thai embassy in the 2003 Phnom Penh riots, the Survey Department released a Map of Siam's Territorial Losses, which claimed thirteen losses as opposed to the around eight usually depicted in earlier maps. After the flare-up of the Preah Vihear dispute in 2008, a widely circulated anonymous online video featured another version with up to fourteen losses.[3]

The maps are not factually accurate. The Historical Atlas systematically overstates the extent of territories under Siam's control, and selectively depicts only time points of greatest territorial extent, ignoring the ebbs and flows in between. The representations are also anachronistic, as the concept of geographical territories was not recognized in those times, and does not reflect the mandala tributary system of the region.[2] The depiction of the Altai Mountains origin theory suggests that the Historical Atlas was strongly influenced by Khun Wichitmatra's book Lak Thai, a popular account which became adopted into mid-20th century conventional historiography. The theory it is based on—that Nanzhao was a Tai state—has been widely discredited by historians since the 1980s, though it continues to be reproduced in Thongbai's atlas.[5]

Likewise, the boundary history map provides no basis for the claims it makes of areas historically belonging to Siam, and creates an illusion that the country had a distinct geographical shape before the loss of those territories, while in reality those boundaries had never been clearly demarcated.[1]

Later historians, beginning with Thongchai Winichakul in 1994, have viewed the maps as a political tool, used to strengthen the Thai nationalist view of history. According to Thongchai, they are "not for a study of historical geography, but for historical consciousness about the life of the nation".[1] Charnvit Kasetsiri has mentioned Thongbai's atlas as an example of how outdated concepts are still perpetuated by school textbooks, allowing nationalist sentiments to be stoked up by political groups.[6]