Mangrai

Mangrai (Northern Thai: ᨻᩕ᩠ᨿᩣᨾᩢ᩠ᨦᩁᩣ᩠ᨿ; Thai: มังราย; c. 1238–1311) was the 25th king of Ngoenyang (r. 1261–1292) and the first king of Lan Na (r. 1292–1311). He established a new city, Chiang Mai, as the capital of the Lan Na Kingdom (1296–1558).

King Mangrai the Great was born on 23 October 1238, in Ngoen Yang (present day Chiang Saen), Thailand, on the Mekong River, a son of the local ruler Lao Meng and his wife Ua Ming Chom Mueang, a princess from the Tai Lue city of Chiang Rung, which is now called Jinghong, in Sipsongpanna (Xishuangbanna), China.

In 1259, Mangrai succeeded his father to become the first independent king of the unified Tai city states in northern Lanna and what is now northern Laos. Seeing the Tai states disunited and in danger, Mangrai quickly expanded his kingdom by conquering Muang Lai, Chiang Kham and Chiang Khong and initiating alliances with other states.

In 1262, he founded the city of Chiang Rai as his new capital in the Kok River basin. He also seems to have been operating around this time in the area of Fang in the Upper Kok Valley.

In 1287, Mangrai first made peace between King Ngam Muang of Phayao and King Ram Khamhaeng of Sukhothai, who had seduced the former's queen. The three kings then entered into a "Strong pact of friendship".

While still living in the area of Fang, he was visited by merchants from the Mon kingdom of Haripunchai (Haripunjaya, now known as Lamphun). Hearing of the wealth of that kingdom, he was determined to conquer it, against the advice of his counselors. As it was thought impossible to take the city by force, Mangrai sent a merchant named Ai Fa as a mole to gain the confidence of its King Yi Ba. In time, Ai Fa became the Chief Minister and managed to undermine the King's authority.

In 1291, with the people in a state of discontent, Mangrai defeated the Mon kingdom and added Haripunchai to his kingdom. Yi Ba, the last king of Hariphunchai, was forced to flee south to Lampang.

After defeating the Hariphunchai kingdom, Mangrai decided to relocate his capital, and in 1294, Wiang Kum Kam was founded on the eastern bank of the Ping River. The site was plagued with floods, and a new site was chosen several kilometres to the northwest at the foot of Doi Suthep, on the site of an older fortified town of the Lua people. Construction of Chiang Mai (lit. "New City") began in 1296. and it has been the capital of the northern provinces more or less ever since.