A Description of the Kingdom of Siam 1690 (Itineraria Asiatica: Thailand)

The writer of this account of Siam in 1690, Engelbert Kaempfer, is not well known today. This is Partly because his account of Siam was not published separately, but appeared as the first chapters of his ‘History of Japan’, first published in 1727 and reprinted in 1906. The value of his account lies in it being an account by a non-french, non-catholic observer, who did not side with any of the factions in Siamese society or seek to further the Christian faith or European national interests in Siam