Chulalongkorn

Meet Thai King Chulalongkorn, the fifth monarch who reigned from 1853 to 1910, of the Chakri dynasty.

Using clever politics and wit, he managed to persuade the British and French to leave Siam as a buffer zone between Burma and French Indochina. When all of Southeast Asia was colonised, Siam was the only state which remained free.

His other works include major reformations and modernisation of Siam/Thailand, abolition of slavery, and the proliferation of education.