Rama V

Rama V, king of Siam

Rama V: see Chulalongkorn.

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Chulalongkorn

 or Phrachunlachomklao or Rama V

Chulalongkorn

(credit: BBC Hulton Picture Library)

(born Sept. 30, 1853, Bangkok, Siam [Thailand]—died Oct. 23, 1910, Bangkok) King of Siam (r. 1868–1910). He succeeded to the throne at 15 but did not assume his duties until he was 20. He enacted ambitious reforms patterned on Western models, abolishing slavery, instituting the rule of impersonal law, and overhauling his antiquated administration. By persuading Western colonial powers that Siam was a modern state and playing their interests against one another, he kept Siam from being colonized for decades. However, in 1907 Siam was forced to give up its rights in Laos and western Cambodia to the French, and in 1909 it ceded four Malay states to Britain.