Mangrai the Great

Mangrai มังราย
King Mangrai Monument in Chiang Rai
King of Lanna
Reign	1292 – 1311
Predecessor	Himself as King of Ngoenyang
Successor	Chaisongkhram
King of Ngoenyang
Reign	1261 – 1292
Predecessor	Lao Meng
Successor	Himself as King of Lanna
Born	1239 Chiang Saen, Ngoenyang
Died	1311 (aged 73) Chiang Mai, Lanna
House	Mangrai Dynasty
Father	Lao Meng
Mother	Ua-ming Chommueang

King Mangrai (Lanna: ) (1238–1311), also known as Mengrai, was the 25th King of Ngoenyang (r. 1261–1292) and the 1st King of Lanna (r. 1292–1311). He established a new city, Chiang Mai, as the capital of the Lanna Kingdom (1296–1558).

King Mangrai was born on October 2, 1238 in Ngoen Yang (present day Chiang Saen) Thailand on the Mekong River, a son of the local ruler Lao Meng and his wife Ua Ming Chommueang, a princess from the Tai Lue city of Chiang Rung, which is now called Jinghong, in Sipsongpanna (Xishuangbanna), China.

In 1259, Mangrai succeeded his father to become the first independent king of the unified Tai city states in northern Lanna and what is now northern Laos. Seeing the Tai states were disunited and in danger, Mangrai quickly expanded his kingdom by conquering Muang Lai, Chiang Kham and Chiang Khong and initiating alliances with other states.

In 1262, he founded the city of Chiang Rai as his new capital in the Kok River basin. He also seems to have been operating around this time in the area of Fang in the Upper Kok Valley.

In 1287, Mangrai first made peace between King Ngam Muang of Phayao and King Ram Khamhaeng of Sukhothai, who had seduced the former's queen. The three Kings then entered a "Strong pact of friendship".