It was to become the centre of one of the first modern civilisations in the present Thailand borders, occupying much of Northern Thailand and prospering with trade from China, rice cultivation and craftsmen from Burma and Lanchang (Laos). Older excavations of an ill fated first city are found southeast of the city and are collectively known as Vieng Khum Kham, but this settlement was abandoned after persistent flooding of the River Ping. Even the much revered Emerald Buddha, which now resides in Wat Phra Kaew, inside the Grand Palace in Bangkok, spent time at Wat Chedi Luang after it was discovered in Chiang Rai. The completion of an enormous 96 metre chedi at Wat Chedi Luang in the early 16th century signalled the zenith of this kingdom. In 1545, an earthquake felled the mighty chedi to its present height of 42 metres and the city’s fortunes similarly fell into ruin from then on. It was invaded and sacked by the Burmese soon after, who then went on to rule this province for 200 years, almost emptying it of citizens at one point. With the arrival of the railway in 1921, the Lanna Kingdom’s independent claims and isolation from an expanding world were effectively over, and when the country became a constitutional monarchy in 1932, following a bloodless coup, Chiang Mai and the North became provinces of the new Siam. Japanese occupation during WWII exacted a huge price in manpower fatalities, building mountain roads, and after the war, Chiang Mai emerged as an impoverished backwater whose economy depended on agriculture. | 
