Overview
Lan Na — the “land of a million rice fields” — was the Tai kingdom of the north, centered on Chiang Mai, its capital founded by Mangrai in 1296. It developed a distinct northern Thai culture and dialect and used the Tai Tham (Lan Na) script.
Key developments
Mangrai unified the northern mueang and conquered the old Mon kingdom of Hariphunchai (Lamphun) in the 1280s–90s (chronicle datings vary). Northern tradition holds that he allied with Ram Khamhaeng of Sukhothai and Ngam Mueang of Phayao. The kingdom’s golden age came in the 15th century under Tilokarat (r. 1441–1487), with wars against Ayutthaya and flourishing Buddhist scholarship — by northern tradition, a major Buddhist council was held at Chiang Mai in 1477.
End and transition
After dynastic strife in the 16th century, the Burmese under Bayinnaung took Chiang Mai in 1558, opening roughly two centuries of Burmese overlordship. In 1775 the northern lord Kawila, allied with Taksin’s Siamese forces, expelled the Burmese. Lan Na then became a Siamese tributary ruled from Chiang Mai and was administratively integrated into Siam around the turn of the 20th century.