Yerakis (Γεράκης) was that guy's name, Falcon is an anglicisation or rather translation of his name into English. Γεράκι is the greek for hawk (from anc. Greek "hieraks" - Ἱέραξ
A Dutchman named Jan Janszoon became a Barbary pirate (after he had been captured by them) and rose in the ranks to become governor of a Maroccan fortress town and then he became ruler of the independent pirate state of Salé under the name Murad Rais the Younger.
I accidentally stumbled upon the dude when I was researching for an assignment. I was rather amazed as a Greek man leading Siam is far from one's mind, but your channel is kinda made for those stuff.
Speaking of Greeks who ruled foreign lands, perhaps you could make a video about Iacob Heraclid, also known as despot voda, a military leader and a con-man who ended up becoming the ruler of Moldova
In Thai we also known the greek guy as "phrayavichaiyen". Also about the persian, we have a coup in 2006 led by Army commander who is of persian descent name Sondhi Boonyaratglin. He could choose to be a prime minister which would make him the first muslim from a shia family to ever rule a buddhist country(technically he is an acting prime minister for 12 days) but he choose not to and give the job to another military men because he worried that the majority buddhist population would not accept him.
Any idea if Sultan Ibrahim of Cambodia adhered to any denomination specifically? ur comment got me thinking, reality is really more interesting than fiction
3 mistakes - He was introduced to the King in 1681, not 1881, *Van Vliet and the date of the Anglo-Thai War. I can't seem to fix them after upload. So please just pretend I got it all right.
@@danielcukarrolli2213 I mean, considering he spoke Greek as a first language, called himself a Greek, participated in the Greek Olympics. Oh, you must be one of those conspiracy theorists. You think Alexander was, what, Albanian? Slavic?
@@srfrg9707 ahh ok, I thought Logos was the root word for Logic in English, but not that it was basically a direct translation in a sense. Thank you for lesson
@@philippesom5066 Λογος had many meanings in greek : -Speech -Reason -Cause and a few derivatives meanings such has - someone's turn to speak (in a debate) - the ability to speak (by opposition to alogo = animals mostly used for horses) - causality (the concept) - God (preamble of the gospel of st John)
Yeah Siam in 16th is even more globalize than china, meanwhile Japan have the most gun in asia but Siam has the most artillery piece there are more than 3000 canon in Ayutthaya alone mostly is the dutch style of bronze cannon
This story reminds me of William Adams, who was shipwrecked on Japan and became a samurai for Tokugawa Ieyasu. His story is really blown out of proportion in James Clavell's book: Shogun, which is a fun read
they ruled them for centuries not just 18th century and the greek revolution of 1821 actually started in modern day romania with a few thousand greeks of the sacred band they made the turks move armies in the north so that the main rebellion in the south could spread more quickly and they will have time to prepare themselves
Well , The Persian still hold an influence in Thailand today. General Sonti Boonyaratkarin that launch a coup in 2006 was form prominent Ahmadchula family. By the way could you made a clip about Yamada Nagamasa Leader of Japanese mercernary and governor of Nakorn Si Thammarat.
I wonder if in the future a similar thing might happen in Europe in the far future due to the migration of Middle Eastern and African people in the early 21st century.
@@Vampybattie well it's a noteworthy event. *Something* will come of it. Maybe they will end up like the Lipka Tatars. The Lipka Tatars were a group thousands of Turks invited by Poland-Lithuania to come settle in their borderland territory. Today most have assimilated. They still follow Islam but there is far less Lipka villages due to marrying out. They also lost their language and just speak Polish. Poles still accept them despite the difference in religion. I can image a similar situation in England and other countries. Maybe not France though due to Laïcité, but we'll see.
@@003mohamud doubt that they would assimilate. More than half of the Muslim population in England wanted Sharia law to be implemented according to survey, so one would've guess that the rest in Europe would think the same way. So no. They'd do something similar like in Thailand all the LGBTQ people will be stoned and Christianity will be suppressed. Islam will reign.
I love these videos about unique individuals from far off lands in a place completely foreign, and especially when they become game changers there. Some lesser known but very amazing tales (in my opinion) is the danish native Charles Zanco who was in the Texas Revolution and he fought in the battle of the Alamo. Also William Walker, an American, who briefly took over Nicaragua is also interesting
@@nunyabiznes33 In greece we argue about anything. Politics, religion, education, hobbies, love, lgbt, cities and much more. We even argue about the name of a type of food, as northeners call it differently that how the southerners do.
An example of this sort of thing Abram Pytrovitch Gannibal, an Ethiopian who was captured by Arab slave-traders and sold to the Turks, where he served in the court of Istanbul. He was then smuggled out by the Russians and became Pyotr the Greats adopted son. He grandson was Alexandr Pushkin.
Awesome video with so many details. The Ayutthaya period is my favorite part of Thai history because of cosmopolitan Siam was. Obviously that ended with Narai, but it's really interesting seeing the usually introverted Thailand as a center of congregation for the entire Indian Ocean
Two low born portuguese that rose to proeminence in foreign lands: In Myanmar: Filipe de Brito e Nicote, from coal-seller to King of Syriam. In Russia: Anton DeVier, from a sailor scrub to one of the most proeminent of Czar Peter I's courtiers.
@Benova Otmavela having your children kidnapped, castrated and converted to another religion against their will, slowly having your ancestral lands of 1,000 years being taken away, being forced to pay a tax because of your faith and many more yeah the Greeks were oppressed just because they were highly represented in trade (being a maritime people helps with that) doesn't mean they weren't oppressed.
In terms of adventurers who rose high in foreign courts, I have a couple - you already listed the White Rajas, and they were very interesting - there is Gannibal who was an Moorish general in Russia - I cannot remember their names off the top of my head, but the two British sailors who served in Kamehameha’s government - William Walker the filibuster - the various fruit companies in the banana republics
As a Thai, you've pretty much cover the whole important point about this peculiar chapter in Thai history. More finer point are : King Narai was a gifted and skillful politician. He came from a new dynasty that begin when his father who then hold the title of Military Chancellor (Kalahom), overthrown the king old dynasty, established himself as King Prasat Thong. The throne passed to Narai's brother, but he then allied with his uncle, Sri Sudharmaraja, to overthrown his brother. He then became the Prince of the Front Palace (Wang Na), that is a viceroy, or heir to his uncle. But quickly after that he, with the help of Persian (the community of Persian is much higher than you've mention), during the Ashura procession to mourn the death of Imam Husayn, where Persian was allow to bear arm into the inner area of the Ayutthaya city, Narai staged a coup againt his uncle who he himself helped became king. Then he crown as King Narai. The involvement and employment of foreigner by Ayutthaya court was very common. During Prasat Thong (Narai's father) reign, he even have to perform various political maneuvering and get rid of the leader of Japanese ronin troops employed by former court to far away province. Foreigner can quickly climb a social ladder if they benefit the court, but they can be quickly thrown out as well. The fact that Narai employ Persian sheikhs and later Constantine Phaulkon were just a political maneuvering, nothing more. Basically he just use these foreigners as a mean to his political goal. His ally with France is also just to balance out the influences of Portuguese, Dutch, and British traders. This balancing diplomacy is also seems to be employ later by King Chulalongkorn, Rama V, of the later Chakri dynasty too. As he sought to ally Siam with Russia against French and British colonialism.
Obviously the famous Anjin Miura (William Adams) who became Shogun of Japan in the 1600's is probably the best known thanks to James Clavell and Richard Chamberlain
There was a french man named Orélie-Antoine de Tounens that declared himself king of Araucania and Patagonia and even had some support among part of the indigenous population
Here's the list: 1. Abraham Hannibal, an African who became one of the Russian Nobles during Peter the Great's Reign. 2. Tadeusz Kościuszko, a Polish general fought for the Continentals later he went back Poland to fight Russians. 3. Yamada Nagamasa, a Japanese adventurer who gained considerable influence in the Ayutthaya Kingdom at the beginning of the 17th century. 4. Goh Lean Tuck, a Malayan born Chinese who help the Qing government to stop the bubonic plague in Northeastern China, later in the he helped the Republic of China government to set up medical institutions. He invented the predecessor of the N95 mask and also the first to represent China(also the first Malayan) nominated for Nobel prize in Physiology or Medicine, in 1935. .
6. Jules Brunet, A French officer in the military mission to Japan, an instrumental figure in the founding of the Republic of Ezo, future minister of War and inspiration for the Tom Cruises's character in 'The last samurai'
Love your content. Would love to read some more about these events and people. Can you suggest further reading of reference sources perhaps? Should really draw your attention to 10:13 "1987-88"?? A typo methinks. Looking forward to the red seal ships video.
This is the first time I hear of this story since our school system is very censored especially in history class (in this story we only know how foreign necessary help us in the war and kosa pan) plus only small numbers of Thai people can understand English so thankyou for sharing this story
One little question about the video. Was Okya Wang literally called Okya? From what I know Okya (ออกญา) was an Ayutthayan feudal title similar to the more commonly used in later kingdoms phraya (พระญา). Great video! You don’t know how much this reflects poorly on my country’s education when a RU-vid channel teaches Thai history better than Thai schools.
Do a feature on the Luçoes/Luzones and their involvement in Burma/Thailand/Brunei/Malacca. A Filipino adventurer who became Governor or Malacca is Regimo de Raja
EXellent ! Two people went to Asia not with the power of cannons a d honored by Asians Marco Polo and Costantinos Gearakisxof Faulcon c For those ,They like those kind of videos I recommend one with title "Greek conquistadors' ,even I disagree with The title,and another one with title" Greek pirates'"enjoy
I'm confused you said 17th century but you said 1881 is when they introduced the Greek man to the king if I remember correctly. That would make that the 19th century not the 17th.
The correct name for Thailand according to the era Sukhothai Kingdom : 1238-1438 Ayutthaya Kingdom : 1350-1767 Thonburi Kingdom : 1767-1782 Rattanakosin Kingdom : 1782-1851 Siam Kingdom / Siam Empire /Kingdom of Siam : 1851-1945 Kingdom of Thailand : 1945 - Present
what about the brookes, a british family that were the rajas of sarawak, they were suprisingly supported by much of the population, and politics was the only thing that toppled them
"Brunei had colonies in the Philippines" that's an overly simplified statement. It's important to note that it wasn't European type colonization, the Bruneians just mainly intermarried with the local nobility to create an alliance, settlements such as Manila were largely autonomous from direct Bruneian control. The political system in Southeast Asia at that time is referred to as a "Mandala" where you basically try to get as much allies as possible, either by intermarriages, tribute giving and trade deals... it's seldom that you would hear of direct control.
Constantine he the favourite of king narai of Siam at the time of 17th Ayuthaya city. A few things been build and bought in Chirstianity - catholic to Thailand
I can’t remember his name right now, but there was an Englishman who was shipwrecked in Japan and ended up becoming a samurai and the advisor to a daimyo.
Most Thais knew only good sides of Persian nobilities as one of the main roots in building the nation while the Greek councilor was viewed as a bad foreigner who tried to, if not, usurp the Siamese throne.
Oh man, this was so cool it made me do my own research again. This time I found a baby youtube channel that only has 20 subs that is telling the fascinating history of Myanmar. @Bloodsworn is what he goes by, definitely worth a sub if you are in to history.
