The Ayutthaya Kingdom emerged from the mandala of city-states on the Lower Chao Phraya Valley in the late fourteenth century during the decline of the Khmer Empire. After a century of territorial expansions, Ayutthaya became centralized and rose as a major power in Southeast Asia. Ayutthaya faced invasions from the Toungoo dynasty of Burma, starting centuries' old rivalry between the two regional powers, resulting in the First Fall of Ayutthaya in 1569. However, Naresuan ( 1590–1605) freed Ayutthaya from brief Burmese rule and expanded Ayutthaya militarily. By 1600, the kingdom's vassals included some city-states in the Malay Peninsula, Sukhothai, Lan Na and parts of Burma and Cambodia, though the extent of Ayutthaya's control over its neighbors varied over time. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Ayutthaya emerged as en entrepôt of international trade and its cultures flourished. The reign of Narai ( 1657–1688) was described as a "Golden Age" of Siamese culture and was known for historic contact between the Siamese court and Europeans, most notably the Siamese diplomatic mission to the court of King Louis XIV of France in 1686.