A picture paints a thousand years: historical photos of Thailand and beyond

Pictures From History is an innovative photo library specializing in Asian history and Asian culture.

Some books you can’t put down; Pictures From History is a virtual page-turner ... a site that entices the history surfer deeper into Asian epochs such as Chinese dynasties, wondrous Buddhist and Hindu temples, and the warriors and tyrants of Asian history, from Genghis Khan to Pol Pot (no relation to Bill and Ben the Flowerpot Men).

Or, if you think like me, you simply type in 'Miss Thailand' and back comes images like the one at left of Miss Songkran, Phuket, 1951. Jing jing.

The commercial arm of the site is aimed very clearly at the photo editors of the international press, travel guides and historical magazines. However, any red-blooded history buff or Jing Jing reader will get lost inside the archives of pictures, paintings and ancient scripts.

The best way to navigate this site is to type into the Search Box a country, an era or an interest, such as “Thai Buddhist temples”, or “Indochina Wars”. However, the site also offers a hearty selection of “Themes” to whet your appetite—collections of revolving images, which you can click on at any time to go directly to a series of related images. Individual images are accompanied by a paragraph or two of historical and at times anecdotal information about the picture, the people and the period in time.

Anyway, if you'll excuse me, I'm just going to search for Miss Songkran 1952 now ...

See the picture library here: http://www.picturesfromhistory.com