Bowring Treaty

The Bowring Treaty, formally the Treaty of Friendship and Commerce between Great Britain and Siam, was signed on 18 April 1855 at Thonburi, Bangkok, between the United Kingdom under Queen Victoria and the Kingdom of Siam under King Mongkut. It replaced the unsatisfactory Burney Treaty of 1826. Its terms set up British extraterritorial jurisdiction through a consul, so that British subjects charged in Siam were tried under British law, abolished the measurement duties in favour of a low general import duty of three percent, allowed British travel and land ownership in a designated area around Bangkok, and limited British opium imports to sales through the Siamese government tax farmers. Ratifications were exchanged in April 1856. The treaty became the model for other unequal treaties Siam made with Western states, and later agreements in 1883 and 1909 wore down its jurisdiction rules before the Anglo-Siamese Treaty of 1925 ended it.