On 5 March 2021 the Embassy of Denmark in Bangkok released ‘On this day’ Historial memo of Denmark-Thailand 400 years relationship, as follow:
5 March 1920: On this day, the Danish Society Siam (Dansk Samfund Siam) was founded at 6.00 p.m. the first general meeting was held in the offices of The Bangkok Times where its new members agreed upon the society’s board members and bylaws.
The main purpose of the Society was to strengthen the unity between Danes in the Siam through social activities.
The establishment of the society was a result of the many Danes living and working in Siam at the time, which emphasises the strong historical ties between the two countries.
The vast amount of Danes in Siam around 1900 is described by a Danish worker in a letter sent to his family right after his arrival in Bangkok in 1892.
“𝐼𝑛 𝐵𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑘𝑜𝑘 𝐼 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑒𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝑎 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝑤𝑒𝑙𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒. 𝐻𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑡𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝐷𝑎𝑛𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑝 𝑎𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑔𝑠𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚 𝑖𝑠 𝑔𝑜𝑜𝑑…. 𝑊ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑙𝑘 𝑑𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑡, 𝐼 𝑚𝑒𝑒𝑡 𝐷𝑎𝑛𝑒𝑠 𝑠𝑢𝑐ℎ 𝑎𝑠 𝑐𝑎𝑝𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒…. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑡 𝑓𝑙𝑎𝑔 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑠𝑒𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑛 𝐵𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑘𝑜𝑘 𝑖𝑠 𝐷𝑎𝑛𝑛𝑒𝑏𝑟𝑜𝑔 (𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐷𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑠ℎ 𝑓𝑙𝑎𝑔) 𝑎𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐷𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑠ℎ 𝐶𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑢𝑙 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑡 ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑢𝑝 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑟. 𝐹𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑜𝑤 𝐷𝑎𝑛𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑙𝑠𝑜 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑦 𝑟𝑒𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑚𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑛𝑎𝑣𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑛𝑜 𝑑𝑜𝑢𝑏𝑡 𝑤𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑖𝑛𝑓𝑙𝑢𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒”.
Since 1920 the Danish Society Siam has changed its name and expanded its member base to include all Scandinavian countries and today it is still an active society serving the Scandinavian community in Thailand under the name Scandinavian Society Siam.
