Economy
The import of new techniques and the growth of the initial Thai state affected agricultural production. The water buffaloes were introduced as beasts of burden instead of the oxen. This method was ideally suited for wet rice farming. Rice production increased and became an economic base for the development of the community. The people were able to develop their own economic system based on rice until they gained economic and political power over all others states in this region.
Although the international trade through the Strait of Malacca had been favored since 6th century, the overland routes from the coastal towns in Southern Myanmar to the port towns of central Thailand were favored until the early Rattanakosin period. Together with the rice commerce, Sukhothai, Ayudhya and Rattanakosin became one of the trans-peninsula routes parallel with the Strait of Malacca.
Read more about this topic: Initial States Of Thailand
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