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Asia PacificEvent

Burney Treaty signed at Bangkok

When
1826
Where
Bangkok
Episodes
1

The Burney Treaty was signed in Bangkok on 20 June 1826 between Great Britain and the Kingdom of Siam. Henry Burney, an agent of the British East India Company, negotiated for Britain, while King Rama III represented Siam. The agreement ended centuries of royal trade monopoly, allowing British private trade, and acknowledged Siamese claims over five northern Malay states.

Episodes

  1. 20 June 1826 · BangkokSigning of the Burney Treaty

    Henry Burney and King Rama III signed the treaty in Bangkok in June 1826, ending royal trade monopoly and acknowledging Siamese claims over northern Malay states.

Background and detail

Terms. The treaty ended three centuries of royal Siamese monopoly over Western trades, granting British rights to trade privately. It also acknowledged Siamese claims over five northern Malay states: Kedah, Kelantan, Perlis, Terengganu, and Patani. These Malay states were not represented in the negotiations. The agreement had drastic effects on royal court revenue due to the termination of the trade monopoly.

Context. King Rama III, who ascended the throne in 1824, faced major financial problems. The treaty was signed in Bangkok, the capital established in 1782 as Rattanakosin. During the First Anglo-Burmese War, Britain informed Siam of the conflict and requested Siamese aid, and Burmese threats to Siam effectively ended only when Burma ceded Tenasserim to the British in the 1826 Treaty of Yandabo.

People involved

Sources

  1. Burney Treaty Wikipedia, revision of 2026-04-03
  2. Rattanakosin Kingdom (1782–1932) Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-14
  3. Henry Burney Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-15

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.