Dutch Bridge. Saphan Hok, Khlong Khu Mueang Doem, Bangkok, Thailand
In the early seventeenth century (1608) the Dutch East Indies Trading Company (VOC) established a trading post in what was then the capital of Siam, Ayutthaya. Local trade was, of course, important but the Dutch especially wanted to find a good trading route to China. That didn't happen... and down until 1767 Siam and the VOC post, too, waged warfare on and again with the Burmese. The Dutch finally cut their losses and withdrew to Bangkok and then hurried back to their base, Batavia (now Jakarta, Indonesia).
But about a century later Dutch interest in Siam revived presumably because the British Empire had opened up trade by the Bowring Treaty of 1855. A Dutch mission (1862) under Alexander Loudon (accompanied by the botanist Johannes Elias Teijsmann [1808-1882]) was sent to Bangkok to see what could be done.
This was all brought to my mind when this afternoon I came upon a pretty drawbridge, the Saphan Hok. It looks strikingly Dutch except for the background... I thought it might have been Dutch influence through that Loudon mission. But apparently it had already been built as part of the waterways exploits - e.g. the digging of the canal Khlong Khu Mueang Koem during the Rattanakosin period, just before that mission arrived. Possibly the bridge dates from bit later than the canal; or else it may be a throwback to the Dutch heritage before 1767.
Dutch Bridge. Saphan Hok, Khlong Khu Mueang Doem, Bangkok, Thailand
In the early seventeenth century (1608) the Dutch East Indies Trading Company (VOC) established a trading post in what was then the capital of Siam, Ayutthaya. Local trade was, of course, important but the Dutch especially wanted to find a good trading route to China. That didn't happen... and down until 1767 Siam and the VOC post, too, waged warfare on and again with the Burmese. The Dutch finally cut their losses and withdrew to Bangkok and then hurried back to their base, Batavia (now Jakarta, Indonesia).
But about a century later Dutch interest in Siam revived presumably because the British Empire had opened up trade by the Bowring Treaty of 1855. A Dutch mission (1862) under Alexander Loudon (accompanied by the botanist Johannes Elias Teijsmann [1808-1882]) was sent to Bangkok to see what could be done.
This was all brought to my mind when this afternoon I came upon a pretty drawbridge, the Saphan Hok. It looks strikingly Dutch except for the background... I thought it might have been Dutch influence through that Loudon mission. But apparently it had already been built as part of the waterways exploits - e.g. the digging of the canal Khlong Khu Mueang Koem during the Rattanakosin period, just before that mission arrived. Possibly the bridge dates from bit later than the canal; or else it may be a throwback to the Dutch heritage before 1767.