Ram Khamhaeng

Ram Khamhaeng (c. 1237/1247-1298) was a king of the Sukhothai Kingdom in what is now Thailand, ruling during the kingdom's most prosperous period from 1279 to 1298. He is traditionally credited with creating the earliest Thai script and with establishing Theravada Buddhism as the kingdom's state religion, and he expanded Sukhothai's political and commercial influence across much of mainland Southeast Asia, including sending embassies to Yuan dynasty China and importing Chinese ceramic techniques that established Sukhothai's Sangkhalok wares as a major export industry. Much of what is known about his reign comes from the Ram Khamhaeng Inscription, a stone stele bearing an account of his rule that is preserved in the Bangkok National Museum and was added to UNESCO's Memory of the World Register in 2003.