Historians and students have long been familiar with names like Odia, Iudia, Sian, Syam and Siam, as found in historical writings, but a new study has discovered that the kingdom's earliest name, inscribed on a map of the known world mid-way through the 15th Century, was "Scierno", a word in the ancient Italian language.

The mapmaker was Fra (Father) Mauro, a Venetian monk who created the map under commission from King Alfonso V of Portugal (1432-1481). Fra Mauro's map depicts Asia, Africa and Europe. It was completed and sent to Portugal in 1459.

A 10-line inscription on the map's Southeast Asia section reads "Scierno: This city of Scierno is six or seven days' travel inland. On one shore, its river named Scierno or Ganges is lined with inhabitants for a distance of around thirty days, whilst the other shore is dotted with magnificent towns, castles and palaces."

The inscription was a clue for the well-known map collector Thavatchai Tangsirivanich, who took years decoding Fra Mauro's writings. Thavatchai is well-recognised among historians and scholars for his expertise on Siam in western maps.

Fra Mauro never laid a foot in the ancient kingdom. His geographic knowledge was based on tales by Nicolo di Conti, a Venetian merchant who lived in Tennessarim, which was then Ayutthaya's port on the Andaman Coast, Thavatchai said.

The map collector managed to obtain a complete facsimile set of Fra Mauro's world maps from Italy. It contains 48 plates.

"I put the plates together, and what I saw before my eyes was one of the oldest projections [images] of Southeast Asia," Thavatchai said.

Other places surrounding "Scierno" on the ancient map were Auv [Ava], Melacha [Malacca], India Cin [Indochina], Giava [Java], Saylam [Sri Lanka] and Trabobana [Sumatra].

Previously, Thavatchai had concluded that the oldest name for Ayutthaya was "Cerener", a name he found on a world map drawn in 1502 by an anonymous Portuguese cartographer. Judging by its geographic position, the map collector believed "Cerener" was a European name for either Ayutthaya or the Chao Phya River.

He continued his search for clues to "Scierno" and "Cerener" in other maps and books on early Siamese history. He consulted "The Rise of Ayudhya" by historian Charnvit Kasetsiri, "Arab Navigation in the Indian Ocean before the Coming of the Portuguese", by GR Tibbetts, "Cathay and the Way Thither" by Sir Henry Yule, and Hobson-Jobson's dictionary, "A Glossary of Colloquial Anglo-Indian Words and Phrases".

It was Sir Henry Yule's book that confirmed that "Scierno" derived from a Persian word "Shahr-i-nau". Yule wrote that Scierno was "Cernoue in Poggio; ie, Gaur under the name of Shahr-i-nau".

The Persian language was used as a working language for cities on the Bay of Bengal during the Ayutthaya Era.

"It is generally assumed that the first visitors from the west to Ayutthaya were the Portuguese, who visited Siam in 1511, but I learned from Charnvit's 'The Rise of Ayudhya' that Persian merchants came to Ayutthaya as early as 1351," Thavatchai said.

" 'Arab Navigation in the Indian Ocean before the Coming of the Portuguese' also confirmed the connection between the Persian name "Shahr-i Naw" and Ayutthaya. It stated: 'This [Sharr-i Naw] is Persian for 'the New City' … obviously a Siamese city near the Chao Phya delta.'"

Thavatchai went on to consult Hobson-Jobson's dictionary, and that confirmed his new discovery about the earliest name of Ayutthaya.

It read: "Sarnau, Sornau. A name often given to Siam in the early part of the 16th century; from Shahr-i-nao, Persian for 'New city'; the name by which Yuthia or Ayodhya, the capital founded on the Menam about 1350, seems to have become known to the traders of the Persian Gulf."

Fra Mauro's map also shows the first western name for the Chao Phya river. It names it "fl.Scierno", the map collector said. The oldest message about the Chao Phya reads: "This river is named Scierno, Ganges, Phison, Quinanfu, Thalay. This is due to the variety of the language."

The Fra Mauro map was made between 1457 and 1459. It was completed on April 24, 1459 and sent to Portugal, but did not survive to the present day. Fra Mauro died the following year while he was making a copy of the map for the Seigniory of Venice. The copy was completed by his assistant, Andrea Bianco, a sailor-cartographer.

The map was discovered in the monastery of Murano, and is now located in a stairway in the Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana in Venice.

Note: Thavatchai Tangsirivanich will reveal his journey to discover "Scierno" at the launch of "Ayutthaya in European Maps" hosted by The Association of Thai Archives and the National Archives, on Monday at the National Archives' main auditorium. The event will be held from 1.30pm to 4pm, with historians Charnvit Kasetsiri, Assoc Professor Chalong Soontravanich and Assist Professor Thamrongsak Petchlert-anan, taking part in discussions. An exhibition entitled "Decoding The Fra Mauro Map" will be displayed.

For more information, call 02-6133840-1.

Subhatra Bhumiprabhas

The Nation