with the Napoleonic Wars, meant there was little contact between Thailand and foreigners. However, the wars caused many subsequent changes, which were observed in Southeast Asia. The British interest in Malaya increased as their trade with China increased. The Sultan of Kedah, a Siamese vassal, gave Penang off to the British without consulting Siam in 1786, followed by the British acquisition of Seberang Perai. Soon the British replaced the Dutch as the dominating naval power south of Siam. The mission of the Portuguese governor of Macau in 1818 was the first formal Western contact in Siam since the Ayutthaya times. The British founded Singapore in 1819 and Jaslis, a missionary from Yangon, introduced the printing press in the same year. The Portuguese established the first western consulate in 1820. The first renewed formal British visit was made by John Crawfurd in 1822. Death and succession In July 1824, he died "very suddenly". It was said to be caused by strangury, but rumours were not without strong suspicions of his being poisoned. According to the succession rule then theoretically in force, the throne would go to the son of Queen Sri Suriyendra, Prince Mongkut; however, his elder half-brother Jessadabodindra succeeded the same day. Though only the son of a concubine, he had served their father in putting down a revolt and then as Kromma Tha (Ministry of Trade and Foreign Relations.) The elder brother's experience counted for more than the theoretical claim of the much younger and inexperienced brother, who nevertheless did succeed his elder brother much later, and sired many sons but raised none of their mothers to the rank of queen, thus technically none of his sons had claim to the throne over their half-uncle whose mother was a Rama II's principal consort. Ancestry References See also List of people with the most children Monarchs of Thailand Thai people of Mon descent Rattanakosin Kingdom 18th-century Chakri dynasty 19th-century Chakri dynasty 19th-century Thai monarchs 1767 births 1824 deaths Front Palaces Thai poets Thai-language poets People from Samut Songkhram province 1800s in Siam 1810s in Siam 1820s in Siam 19th-century monarchs in Asia Thai male Chao Fa 18th-century Thai people 19th-century Thai people