Sukhothai (literally Dawn of Happiness), founded in 1238, was the capital of a Thai kingdom considerably larger than Thailand is now, for approximately 120 years.Today, it's just the capital of Sukhothai Province with an area of 6,596sqkm (2,546sqmi), approximately 427km (267mi) north of Bangkok.
Thais settled in various parts of the north of what is today Thailand and established city states which were not much connected to each other. In the middle of the 13th century, two Thai princes drove the Khmers out of Sukhothai, then a major frontier post of the Angkorian (Khmer) Empire, and established it as their capital.
In 1238 Sukhothai became the first Thai kingdom. Before, smaller Thai principalities had existed, mostly under Khmer rule. Thais today view Sukhothai as the cradle of the Thai nation, having a fairly romantic perception of Sukhothai as a kingdom of happiness.
Actually, this perception is partially based on historic records. A famous stone inscription reads in part: "Sukhothai is good. In the water there are fish, in the field there is rice. The ruler does not levy a tax on the people who travel along the road together, leading their oxen on the way to trade and riding their horses on the way to sell. Whoever wants to trade in elephants, so trades. Whoever wants to trade in horses, so trades. Whoever wants to trade in silver and gold, so trades."
The former greatness of Sukhothai has been preserved in architectural monuments. Ruins of the royal palaces, Buddhist temples, the city gates, walls moats, dams, ditches, ponds, canals and the water dyke control system which was the economic base of the kingdom has been restored by the Fine Arts Department with the cooperation of the UNESCO World Heritage Organisation.
