One reader shared an interesting observation in the comments: a map showing a city named Iudea (from Latin Judea) on the site of the capital of ancient Siam (modern Thailand).
On the map we see the full-flowing Siam River. Now this river is called Chao Phraya (Chao Phraya). Star forts are located along the banks of the river. One of them: Bangkok. The question immediately arises: how does the kingdom of Siam compare with Judea and the star forts, the construction methods of which come from Europe? Maybe this map is wrong? Are there other maps of this region with similar names?
There are not only maps, but also engravings of the city of Judea:
Engravings and drawings 17c. The link to these engravings with the indication of the authors is given below.
Promotional video:
So why is the name of Judea on European maps instead of the ancient name of the capital? Why did the navigators give this name, which is intimate for Christians (and even more so for Christians of that time)? Maybe there was some connection of this city with biblical events? Or did descendants of European settlers live here? I found a hint, and maybe an answer in the book by Gleb Nosovsky "The Last Path of the Holy Family":
Here are some interesting excerpts from it. And the link to the book itself is below.
Apparently, there really was a state related to early Christianity. Earlier I heard that the Jesuits had a huge influence in this region. If by 1614 there were more than 1 million Christians in Japan, then in Southeast Asia this confession should have also been very widespread. Most likely, the city of Judea was such a center.
Link to the book by G. Nosovskiy:
A drawing that speaks of the connection between the Jesuits and Buddhism.
But for some reason, it was decided to erase the mention of the original name of the city from history. Turning from Judea to Ayutthaya. This change can even be traced:
On one map of 1724 the name JUDIA is written (and on the previous ones it was generally called Iudea), and on the map of 1764 “D” was replaced by “TH” and it turned out JUTHIA. And in the warped version (in English or maybe in another European language) it can be read as Ayuthaya.
It's like a work by Walter Scott about the knight Ivanhoe. Read this name in Latin, it turns out: Ivanhoe. According to this scheme, what was supposedly not written in the way someone needed was distorted into the pronunciation they needed, hiding the meaning and history.
Someone decided to erase the original name of this city. This is difficult to understand within the framework of one article. But they did it. The whole world now knows the ancient capital of Thailand as Ayutthaya. By the way, why the capital moved to Bangkok is not known. Maybe for this very reason - to impart oblivion. According to the official history, Ayutthaya was destroyed by the Burmese in 1767. Strange coincidence: since during this period, the name Judea was already being distorted, remaking it into Ayutthaya.
Yes, and little remains of the most ancient capital. It doesn't look like the remains of a big city. During the rainy season, the ancient capital is regularly flooded.
It is not excluded that any stay of the Jesuits in this territory of Southeast Asia was cleared by the Anglo-French with narrow troops during the colonial wars. Here's one example:
Ruins of the Yuanmingyuan Palace (Summer Palace) in Beijing. The palace was destroyed in 1860 by the British. It was built clearly in the European style. It is difficult to imagine something European, but not related to the colonial activities of the British, existed in China and Southeast Asia.
Where did all the European-looking inhabitants of ancient Judea in Siam disappear? There is such information from DNA genealogy:
Probably all Europeans assimilated with the local Mongoloid race. And this happened very quickly, in 3-4 generations.
So why was the memory of the Jesuits' stay in this region destroyed? Perhaps they were treated the same as with the Templars in their time? Have they become too dangerous with a lot of knowledge gathered over decades of missionary work and living in different parts of the world? Although, G. Nosovsky expressed the opinion that Judea in Siam was one of the last strongholds of the province of Tartaria. And the struggle against this Empire continued until the end of the 19th century.