Ayutthaya as a cosmopolitan society: a case study of Daniel Brochebourde and his descendants
The French-born Dutchman Daniel Brochebourde and his descendants were key figures at the Siamese court during the late 17th and early 18th century AD. They worked as surgeons and translators for both the Dutch East India Company (VOC) and several successive kings of Siam, thus acting as a link between the Siamese and Dutch communities. As foreign experts at court who got more and more integrated into Siamese society by marrying local women, the Brochebourdes were also an example of a highly successful ethnically mixed family in the cosmopolitan city of Ayutthaya.