T H A I L A N D
Thailand formally called as the Royal Kingdom of Thailand is a nation state. It’s formerly called Siam, located in Southeast Asia. Its name has been changed from Siam to Thailand in 1939. Thailand is the 50th largest country of the world with 513,115 square kilometers. With 66 million people of population, it’s the 20th most population of the world. Bangkok is the largest city and the center of administration. In provincial administration, there are currently 77 provinces. Even though it has been reformed from absolute monarchy to constitutional democracy since 1932, the military has been highly involved in the Thai politics. The last coup took place on May 22, 2014. There have been discoveries of evidences that Thailand has been the human habitat since 20,000 years BC. The first Thai groups of people moved to this area in the 11th century. Some important groups are namely Sukhothai, Lan Na and Ayutthaya. Historians consider that the Sokhothai period is the start of Thai history. Later on, Ayutthaya was so powerful and became the regional superpower. The relationship with western nations started in the 14th century, and Portuguese were the first formal diplomats in 1511. The most prosperous period of Ayutthaya was in the reign of King Narai (1656-1688). After that, its power deteriorated due to the seizure of power with bloodshed tragedy during each changing of many rulers. It was completely destroyed by Burmese troops in 1767. King Taksin salvaged the nations by putting together different Thai cluster fighting against the Burmese. He founded a new dynasty named Thon Buri Dynasty. By the end of the dynasty which lasted only 15 years, there were disorders that led to the collapse of the new dynasty. His subordinate founded the Chakkri or Rattanakosin Dynasty and became King Rama1 or King Phutthayodfa Chulaloke. The Chakkri Dynasty has lasted until nowadays.
During the first period of the dynasty, Rattanakosin had faced with battles and threats from neighboring nations. After the reign of King Rama 4, western nations started to expand their influence into the region, and Siam was no exception. This had led to the signing of several unfair agreements. Nevertheless, Siam had never been colonized by the westerners since there were efforts by King Rama 5 (1868-1910) to modernize the country, implement an appropriate diplomacy and centralize the country’s administration. Siam took part on the alliance side in WW1 in 1917. In 1932, the bloodless revolution changed the ruling system from absolute monarchy to constitutional monarchy. The group called “Khana Ratsadorn” or the group of ordinary people led the revolution and were actively involved in Thai politics. In 1937, Prime Minister Gen. Plaek Pibunsongkram initiated the intensive nationalism policy. During WW2, Thailand joined the Axis Group
But most of the Alliance superpowers did not accept the war participation announcement. During the Cold War, Thailand had a very close tie with the United States of America, which highly supported the military-backed governments. A coup led by General Sarit Thanarat in 1957 dissolved the Khana Ratsadorn’s influence. He tried to revive the monarchy’s power, and imposed the anti-communism policy. The aftermath of the Bloody Crisis on October 14, 1973 led to a short-live parliamentary democracy. Thailand had the first prime minister directly from a general election in 1988. In 1997, a series of political crisis caused by one group that supported Prime Minister Thaksin Shainawatra and the other group who opposed him. This led to 2 coup. The latest one took place in 2014. The current constitution law, number 20, was endorsed on April, 2017 after the general public consensus a year earlier.
Thailand is one of the members of the United Nation, APEC and one of the founding nations of ASEAN. It signed SEATO Treaty in 1954 and became one of the closest allies of the United States of America. It is considered as a leading nation in ASEAN and a moderate power in the world. Thailand has been upper-middle income earner and one of the newly industrialized countries. The major earnings come from industrial and services sectors. The global continued economic changes have driven thousands of rural families to migrate to live in urban areas. In
2017, Thailand’s GDP is approximately 432,898 million US$, which is the 2nd of Southeast Asia and the 26th of the world.
G E O G R A P H Y
Thailand is located in the middle of Indo-China Peninsula in Southeast Asia, and on some part Malayu Peninsula between Northern Latitude 5° and 21° and Eastern Longitude 97° and 106°. It borders with Laos and Cambodia on the East. On the South, it borders with Malaysia and the Gulf of Thailand. On the West, it borders with Andaman Sea and Myanmar. Laos and Myanmar also have borders with Thailand on the northern part with the Mekong River as the natural border on some part. With 513,115 square kilometers of land, it is the third largest land in Southeast Asia after Indonesia and Myanmar. Thailand has more than 323,488 square kilometers of maritime zone according to the United Nation’s Convention on Maritime Zone of 1982, with the total of 3,148 kilometers-long shore lines on both the Gulf of Thailand and the Andaman Sea.
Thailand has diversified geographical types. It is mountainous in the North with Doi Inthanon as the highest point of the country at 2,565 above sea level. Some parts of the North are covered with forests which are the origin of important rivers. Most of the Northeast is on the Korat Plateau with dry soil, not very appropriate for farming. The Central is mostly of flooded flat areas with the Chao Phraya River which is the largest river of the country flowing pass. The Ping River and Nan River merged at Pak Nam Pho in Nakhon Sawan Province. This makes the Central part the most fertile land and is considered as one of the largest rice production areas of the world. The South of Thailand is partly located on the Malayan Peninsula with the seas on both sides. The narrowest land between the 2 seas is call Kra Isthmus. Songkla Lake is the largest lake of Thailand. The western part of the country lie mountain ridges and valleys from the western part of the North.
THAILNAD
CLIMATE
Thailand’s climate is mostly of tropical hot and humid zone or savanna type. In the Southernmost and Easternmost part of Thailand is considered tropical monsoonal. The average temperature is between 18–34° C.
There are 3 seasons in Thailand. The first is the rainy season or southwestern monsoon (from mid-May to mid-October) with the most rainfall in August and September. Winter or northeastern monsoon start in mid-October to mid-February, when most part of the country is dry and not very hot except for the South where there are heavy rains, especially during October to November.
In summer or pre-monsoon from mid February to mid-May, it’s generally hot, and the temperature can reach 40 °C except on the coastal areas where the cool wind from mainland China makes the temperature lower. The difference of temperature between the day and night in the South is very low due to the influence of the sea.
Most parts of the country get the average of between 1,200 and 1,600 millimeters of rainfall yearly. However, some areas on the wind receiving side of the mountain such as Ranong and Trad Province, the amount of rainfall sometimes reach 4,500 millimeters per year. Areas on the other side such as the Central valleys and upper part of the South has only 1,200 millimeters of rainfall per year. In the South, it rains the most during both northeastern and south western monsoons in September on the western coast and from November to January on the eastern coast.
THAILAND
Provincial Administration
Thailand’s administration is nowadays divided into 77 provinces, 878 districts and 7,255 sub-districts. The latest province is Bueng Kan which was divided from Nong Khai Province in 2011.
(66,038,607 + 21%)
79,820,864
Population of Thailand
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