SIBERIA 



5368 



SIBERIA 



tian world with Siam dates from the early six- 

 teenth century, when Portuguese traders es- 

 tablished intercourse with the country. In the 

 seventeenth century, commercial relations with 

 the Dutch and English were established. Dur- 

 ing this period Siam was almost continually 

 fighting neighboring tribes to maintain its in- 

 dependence, and in 1767 Ayuthia was taken by 

 Burma. After some years the kingdom re- 

 gained its independence and established the 

 capital at Bangkok. 



A new era of Siamese history, began in 1854, 

 when treaties were made with Great Britain 

 and the United States which placed Siam in 

 the van of that great movement by which the 

 Orient abandoned its policy of seclusion and 

 started upon a new course of progress and de- 

 velopment. At that time Siam was opened to 

 the trade of all nations. 



The limits of the kingdom have varied at 

 different periods in its history. In 1891 the 

 boundary between Burma and Siam was settled 

 by treaty with England. In 1904, in an Anglo- 

 French agreement, this boundary was con- 

 firmed and the provinces of Luang Prabang, 

 Maluprey and Bakak, west of the Mekong, 

 were acknowledged to belong to France. In 

 1907 more territory in Eastern Siam was ceded 

 to France, and tracts in the Laos territory and 



on the south coast were returned to Siam. The 

 kingdom was reduced to its present limits in 

 1909, when the tributary states of Kelantan, 

 Trengganu and Kedah, with a total area of 

 about 15,000 square miles, were ceded to Great 

 Britain. 



In recent years, resulting from the introduc- 

 tion of Western civilization, many reforms in 

 the government have been made. Slavery was 

 abolished in 1905, and a new penal code has 

 been in force since 1908. The present king suc- 

 ceeded to the throne in December, 1911, and 

 has been following the* enlightened and liberal 

 policy of the administrations of his father and 

 grandfather, inviting the commerce, science and 

 even religion of the Western world. In July, 

 1917, Siam issued a statement declaring that a 

 state of war existed with Germany and Austria. 

 The government seized nine vessels of the Ger- 

 manic powers and ordered the arrest of all 

 alien enemies in the kingdom. E.B.P. 



Consult Vincent's The Land of the White Ele- 

 phant; Whitney's Jungle Trails and Jungle Peo- 

 ple. 



Related Subjects. The reader who is inter- 

 ested in Siam may consult the following articles 

 in these volumes : 



Bangkok 



Buddhism 



Elephant 



Mekong River 



Rice 



Teak 



THE STORY OF SIBERIA 



A Village of the Better Class 



IBERIA, si be'ria, a vast country extending across the northern 

 part of Asia, and until 1917 an integral part of the Russian Empire. 

 With the disintegration of that government Siberia proclaimed its 

 independence. It has an area of a little more than 4,800,000 square 

 miles; it is more than one and one-half times the size of the United 

 States, exclusive of Alaska, and exceeds the area of Canada by 1,100,- 

 000 square miles. For governmental purposes Siberia is divided into 

 four governments Irkutsk, Tobolsk, Tomsk and Yeniseisk and six 

 provinces Amur, Kamchatka, Primorskaya, The People. Siberia has a population of over 

 Sakhalin, Transbaikalia and Yakutsk. In 1919 10,000,000. The two most populous govern- 

 a stable government was yet lacking. ments are Tomsk, with nearly 4,000,000 in- 



