DBWI: No Large Siamese Colonial Empire

[Fardell]

What sort of POD would be required for there to be no Siamese Colonial Empire Building in Africa and the Pacific in the early 19th Century? And still have a small empire surrounding the homeland in 1900? What would the world be like today?

[King Gorilla]

I think you would have to remove Siam's conquest, conversion and assimilation of the Malays over the course of the 14th-19th centuries. Without control of the trade duties of the straits of Malacca they would never have been exposed to the modernizing force of European social theories and technology on such "equal" terms nor would they have had the financial heft to support the colonies in the first place.

[Keenir]

Originally Posted by King Gorilla

I think you would have to remove Siam's conquest, conversion and assimilation of the Malays over the course of the 14th-19th centuries. Without control of the trade duties of the straits of Malacca they would never have been exposed to the modernizing force of European social theories and technology on such "equal" terms nor would they have had the financial heft to support the colonies in the first place.

whoa! the OP was asking what if Siam didn't have it's colonial empire....why aren't you factoring in all the South Deccan expansions? or the Tamil Maritime Holdings ?

I suspect that, in the absence of Siam's influence, Europe is more likely to adopt a form of the caste system...which is good news for the Jews in Christendom.

[Fabilius]

Originally Posted by Keenir

whoa! the OP was asking what if Siam didn't have it's colonial empire....why aren't you factoring in all the South Deccan expansions? or the Tamil Maritime Holdings ?

I suspect that, in the absence of Siam's influence, Europe is more likely to adopt a form of the caste system...which is good news for the Jews in Christendom.

Nah... Europeans didn´t come into contact with Siam until the late fifteenth century and by then castes had been dropped mostly.

But Siam did affect Europe in many ways though, especially when it came to philosophy and so on.

Vice versa of course. Those events mostly take place in the 16th century am I not correct.

But I must say, I applaud the effort Siam made against the indian caste system, although it in the end put India into the hands of their european competitors.