1688 Siamese Revolution
Upon his return to Siam, Kosa Pan became one of the strongest supporters of Petratcha, the ruler who eliminated Narai and ousted the French, and became his Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Kosa Pan is known to have been met in Siam in 1690 by the German naturalist Engelbert Kaempfer, who described "pictures of the Royal family of France and European maps" hanging "in the hall of his house":
"He is a more comely Person, and of better aspect, than I ever met amongst this black race of mankind... He is also quick of understanding and lively action, for which reasons he was a few years ago sent Ambassador to France, of which Country, its Government, Fortresses and the like, he would often entertain us in his discourses; and the hall of his House, where we had a private audience of him, was hung with the pictures of the Royal Family of France, and European Maps, the rest of his furniture being nothing but Dust and Cobwebs. —Engelbert Kaempfer (1727/1987:38).In 1699, Kosa Pan and Petracha received a visit by the Jesuit Father Guy Tachard, but the meeting remained purely formal and led to nothing.
In 1700 Kosa Pan was disgraced, had his nose cut off by King Petracha, and apparently committed suicide. Nevertheless, he is claimed to be the direct ancestor of King Rama I, founder of the present ruling dynasty of Thailand
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Famous quotes containing the words siamese and/or revolution:
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