The
Kingdom of Thailand is an independent country that lies in the heart of
Southeast AsiaManila
Bangkok
Ho Chi Minh City
Kuala Lumpur
Singapore
Yangon
Bandung
Hanoi
Surabaya
Taichung
Kaohsiung
Medan|-|}...
.
It is bordered to the north by
LaosLaos , officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and People's Republic of China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...
and Burma, to the east by Laos and
CambodiaThe Kingdom of Cambodia , formerly known as Kampuchea , is a country in South East Asia with a population of over 14 million people. The kingdom's capital and largest city is Phnom Penh...
, to the south by the
Gulf of ThailandThe Gulf of Thailand or Gulf of Siam is a shallow arm of the South China Sea.-Geography:The Gulf of Siam is bordered by Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam. The northern tip of the gulf is the Bay of Bangkok at the mouth of the Chao Phraya River. The gulf covers roughly 320,000 km²...
and
MalaysiaMalaysia is a country in Southeast Asia that consists of thirteen states and three Federal Territories, with a total landmass of . The capital city is Kuala Lumpur, while Putrajaya is the seat of the federal government. The population stands at over 28 million inhabitants...
, and to the west by the
Andaman SeaThe Andaman Sea is a body of water to the southeast of the Bay of Bengal, south of Myanmar, west of Thailand and east of the Andaman Islands; it is part of the Indian Ocean. It is roughly and wide , with an area of...
and Burma. Its maritime boundaries include
VietnamVietnam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam , is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea to the east...
in the
Gulf of ThailandThe Gulf of Thailand or Gulf of Siam is a shallow arm of the South China Sea.-Geography:The Gulf of Siam is bordered by Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam. The northern tip of the gulf is the Bay of Bangkok at the mouth of the Chao Phraya River. The gulf covers roughly 320,000 km²...
to the southeast and
IndonesiaThe Republic of Indonesia is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia comprises 17,508 islands. With an estimated population of around 237 million people, it is the world's fourth most populous country, with the world's largest population of Muslims.Indonesia is a republic, with an...
and
IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
in the
Andaman SeaThe Andaman Sea is a body of water to the southeast of the Bay of Bengal, south of Myanmar, west of Thailand and east of the Andaman Islands; it is part of the Indian Ocean. It is roughly and wide , with an area of...
to the southwest. The capital and largest city of Thailand is
BangkokBangkok is the capital, largest urban area and primary city of Thailand. Known in Thai as Krung Thep Mahanakhon , or กรุงเทพฯ Krung Thep for short, it was a small trading post at the mouth of the Chao Phraya River during the Ayutthaya Kingdom. It came to the forefront of Siam when it was given the...
. It is also the country's center of political, commercial, industrial and cultural activities.
Thailand is the world's
50th largest country in terms of total area (slightly smaller than
YemenYemen , officially the Republic of Yemen is a country located on the Arabian Peninsula in Southwest Asia...
and slightly larger than
SpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.
[The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...]
), with a surface area of approximately 513,000 km
2 (198,000 sq mi), and the
21st most-populous country, with approximately 64 million people. About 75% of the population is ethnically
ThaiThe Thai are the main ethnic group of Thailand and are part of the larger Tai ethnolinguistic peoples found in Thailand and adjacent countries in Southeast Asia as well as southern China. Their language is the Thai language, which is classified as part of the Kradai family of languages, and the...
, 14% is of
ChineseThe Thai Chinese are an overseas Chinese community who live in Thailand. Official statistics show that six million people in 1987, or about 14% of Thailand's population claim to be of Chinese ethnicity. Extensive intermarriages with the Thais, especially in the past has resulted in many people who...
origin, and 3% is ethnically
MalayThai Malays is a term used to refer to ethnic Malays in Thailand. Thailand hosts the third largest ethnic Malay population after Malaysia and Indonesia, and most Malays are concentrated in the Southern provinces of Narathiwat, Pattani, Yala, Songkhla and Satun.Ethnic Malays in Narathiwat, Pattani,...
; the rest belong to minority groups including
MonsThe Mon are an ethnic group from Myanmar, living mostly in Mon State, Bago Division, Irrawaddy Delta of present-day Burma, and along the southern Thai-Myanmar border. One of the earliest peoples to reside in Southeast Asia, the Mon were responsible for the spread of Theravada Buddhism in...
, Khmers and various hill tribes. There are approximately 2.2 million legal and illegal migrants in Thailand. Thailand has also attracted a small number of
expatriateAn expatriate is a person temporarily or permanently residing in a country and culture other than that of the person's upbringing or legal residence...
s from developed countries in the West. The country's official language is
ThaiThai is the national and official language of Thailand and the mother tongue of the Thai people, Thailand's dominant ethnic group. Thai is a member of the Tai group of the Kradai language family. The Kradai languages are thought to have originated in what is now southern China, and are linked to...
.
Thailand is one of the most devoutly Buddhist countries in the world. The national religion is
TheravadaTheravada Theravada Theravada (Pāli: थेरवाद theravāda (cf Sanskrit: स्थविरवाद sthaviravāda); literally, "the Teaching of the Elders" or "the Ancient Teaching", is the oldest surviving Buddhist school. It was founded in India...
BuddhismBuddhism, as traditionally conceived, is a path of salvation attained through insight into the ultimate nature of reality. It encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha...
which is practiced by more than 94.7% of all Thais.
Muslim:A Muslim , , is an adherent of the religion of Islam. The feminine form is Muslimah . Literally, the word means "one who submits ". Muslim is the participle of the same verb of which Islam is the infinitive. Muslims believe that there is only one God, translated in Arabic as Allah...
s make up 4.6% of the population and 0.7% belong to other religions. Culture and traditions in Thailand are significantly influenced by
IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
, as are Burma,
LaosLaos , officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and People's Republic of China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...
and
CambodiaThe Kingdom of Cambodia , formerly known as Kampuchea , is a country in South East Asia with a population of over 14 million people. The kingdom's capital and largest city is Phnom Penh...
.
Thailand is a
constitutional monarchyA constitutional monarchy is a form of government in which a monarch acts as head of state within the parameters of a written , unwritten or blended constitution...
with King
Bhumibol Adulyadejclass="infobox vcard" style="font-size: 88%; text-align: left; width: 22em;"|-! colspan="2" style="background: #ffff00; color: #000000; font-size: 120%; text-align: center;" class="fn"|...
, the
ninth king of the
House of ChakriThe Chakri Dynasty The Chakri Dynasty (also known as the House of Chakri) The Chakri Dynasty (also known as the House of Chakri) ( is the current ruling royal house of the Kingdom of Thailand, the Head of the house is the King of Thailand. The Dynasty has ruled Thailand since the founding of the...
, as the ruling monarch. The king has reigned for more than sixty-three years, making him the longest reigning
Thai monarchThe Monarchy of Thailand The Monarchy of Thailand (also referred to as the King of Thailand) The Monarchy of Thailand (also referred to as the King of Thailand) ( refers to the constitutional monarchy and monarch of the Kingdom of Thailand (formerly Siam). The King of Thailand is the head of state...
and the longest reigning current monarch in the world. The king is officially titled as the Head of State, the Head of the Armed Forces, an Upholder of the Buddhist religion, and the Defender of all faiths.
Thailand experienced rapid economic growth between 1985 and 1995 and today is a newly industrialized country with an emphasis on exports and a flourishing
tourismTourism is a major economic factor in the Kingdom of Thailand, contributing an estimated 6.7% to Thailand's GDP in 2007.-Overview:The tourism industry in Thailand truly took off when US soldiers started to arrive in the 1960s for Rest and Recuperation during the Vietnam war period...
industry, thanks to various world-famous
tourist destinationA tourist destination is a city, town, or other area that is dependent to a significant extent on the revenues accruing from tourism. It may contain one or more tourist attractions and possibly some "tourist traps."...
s such as
PattayaPattaya is a city in Thailand, located on the east coast of the Gulf of Thailand, about 165 km southeast of Bangkok located within but not part of Amphoe Bang Lamung in the province of Chonburi....
,
BangkokBangkok is the capital, largest urban area and primary city of Thailand. Known in Thai as Krung Thep Mahanakhon , or กรุงเทพฯ Krung Thep for short, it was a small trading post at the mouth of the Chao Phraya River during the Ayutthaya Kingdom. It came to the forefront of Siam when it was given the...
, and Phuket.
Etymology
The Country's official name was
Siam ( , ) until June 23, 1939, when it was changed to Thailand. It was renamed Siam from 1945 to May 11, 1949, after which it was again renamed Thailand. Also spelled
Siem,
Syâm or
Syâma, it has been identified with the
SanskritSanskrit is a historical Indo-Aryan language, one of the liturgical languages of Hinduism and Buddhism, and one of the 22 official languages of India. It is also declared as a classical language by the government of India....
Śyâma (श्याम, meaning "dark" or "brown"). The names
ShanThe Shan are a Tai ethnic group of Southeast Asia. The Shan live primarily in the Shan State of Burma , but also inhabit parts of Mandalay Division, Kachin State, and Kayin State, and in adjacent regions of China and Thailand...
and A-hom seem to be variants of the same word, and Śyâma is possibly not its origin but a learned and artificial distortion.
The word
Thai (ไทย) is not, as commonly believed, derived from the word
Tai (ไท) meaning "freedom" in the
Thai languageThai is the national and official language of Thailand and the mother tongue of the Thai people, Thailand's dominant ethnic group. Thai is a member of the Tai group of the Kradai language family. The Kradai languages are thought to have originated in what is now southern China, and are linked to...
; it is, however, the name of an
ethnic groupAn ethnic group is a group of humans whose members identify with each other, through a common heritage that is real or presumed.Ethnic identity is further marked by the researcher Seng Yang in the recognition from others of a group's distinctiveness and the recognition of common cultural,...
from the central plains (the
Thai peopleThe Thai are the main ethnic group of Thailand and are part of the larger Tai ethnolinguistic peoples found in Thailand and adjacent countries in Southeast Asia as well as southern China. Their language is the Thai language, which is classified as part of the Kradai family of languages, and the...
). A famous Thai scholar argued that Tai (ไท) simply means "people" or "human being" since his investigation shows that in some rural areas the word "Tai" was used instead of the usual Thai word "khon" (คน) for people. The phrase "Land of the free" is derived from Thai pride in the fact that Thailand is the only country in Southeast Asia never colonized by a European power.
The Thai National Anthem refers to the Thai nation as: prathet-thai (Thai: ประเทศไทย). The first line of the national anthem is: prathet thai ruam lueat neua chat chuea thai (Thai: ประเทศไทยรวมเลือดเนื้อชาติเชื้อไทย) and was translated in 1939 by Colonel Luang Saranuprabhandi as: “Thailand is the unity of Thai blood and body.”
While the Thai people will often refer to their country using the polite form prathet-thai (Thai: ประเทศไทย), they most commonly use the more colloquial word 'Mueang-Thai' (Thai: เมืองไทย) or simply Thai (Thai:ไทย); the word mueang (Thai: เมือง) meaning nation but most commonly used to refer to a city or town.
Ratcha Anachak Thai means "Kingdom of Thailand" or "Kingdom of Thai". Etymologically, its components are:
-Ratcha- (from Sanskrit
rajaRaja is the Hindustani term for a monarch, or princely ruler of the Kshatriya varna...
, meaning "king, royal, realm") ;
-ana- (from
PāliPali is a Middle Indo-Aryan language of India. It is best known as the language of the earliest extant Buddhist scriptures, as collected in the Pāi Canon or Tipitaka, and as the liturgical language of Theravada Buddhism....
, "authority, command, power", itself from Sanskrit
, same meaning)
-chak (from Sanskrit
cakra or
cakraṃ meaning "wheel", a symbol of power and rule).
History
The region known as Thailand has been inhabited by humans since the
PaleolithicThe Paleolithic or Palaeolithic Age, Era, or Period, or Old Stone Age, is a prehistoric era distinguished by the development of the first stone tools, and covers roughly 99% of human technological history...
period, about 10,000 years ago. Before the fall of the
Khmer EmpireThe Khmer Empire was the third largest empire of South East Asia , based in what is now Cambodia. The empire, which seceded from the kingdom of Chenla, at times ruled over and/or vassalised parts of modern-day Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, and Malaysia...
in the 13th century, various states thrived there, such as the various
Tai"Thai peoples" redirects here. For the subgroup of the Tai, see Thai peopleThe Tai "Chinese 泰" ethnicity refers collectively to the ethnic groups of southern China and Southeast Asia, stretching from Hainan to eastern India and from southern Sichuan to Laos, Thailand, and parts of Vietnam, which...
, Mon,
KhmerThe Khmer people; ខ្មែរ ; are the predominant ethnic group in Cambodia, accounting for approximately 90% of the 14.8 million people in the country. They speak the Khmer language, which is part of the larger Mon-Khmer language family found throughout Southeast Asia...
and Malay kingdoms, as seen through the numerous archaeological sites and artifacts that are scattered throughout the Siamese landscape. Prior to the 12th century however, the first
ThaiThe Thai are the main ethnic group of Thailand and are part of the larger Tai ethnolinguistic peoples found in Thailand and adjacent countries in Southeast Asia as well as southern China. Their language is the Thai language, which is classified as part of the Kradai family of languages, and the...
or Siamese state is traditionally considered to be the Buddhist kingdom of
SukhothaiThe Sukhothai kingdom was an early kingdom in the area around the city Sukhothai, in north central Thailand. It was First Thai Empire. It existed from 1238 till 1438...
, which was founded in 1238.
Following the decline and fall of the Khmer empire in the 13th–14th century, the Buddhist
TaiTai may refer to the*Tai ethnic groups*Tai languagesOther meanings include*Tai , a Chinese surname*Tai, Nigeria, a local government area in Rivers State, Nigeria*Mount Tai, in Shandong, China...
kingdoms of Sukhothai,
LannaThe Kingdom of Lanna was a state in what is now northern Thailand from the 13th to 18th centuries. The cultural development of the people of Lanna, the Tai Yuan people, had begun long before as successive Tai Yuan kingdoms preceded Lanna...
and Lan Chang were on the ascension. However, a century later, Sukhothai's power was overshadowed by the new
kingdom of AyutthayaAyutthaya was a Siamese kingdom that existed from 1351 to 1767 until it was invaded by the Burmese. Ayutthaya was friendly towards foreign traders, including the Chinese, Vietnamese , Indians, Japanese and Persians, and later the Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch and French, permitting them to set up...
, established in the mid-14th century in the lower
Chao Phraya RiverThe Chao Phraya is a major river in Thailand, with its low alluvial river plain marking the mainland of the country. It runs through Bangkok, the capital of Thailand.-Etymology:...
, or Menam area. Ayutthaya's expansion centered along the Menam while in the northern valley Lanna Kingdom and other small Tai city-states ruled the area.
Thailand retained a tradition of trade with its neighboring states, from China to India, Persia and Arab lands. Ayutthaya became one of the most vibrant trade centers in Asia. European traders arrived in the 16th century, beginning with the
PortugueseThe Portuguese people are the ethnic group or nation native to the country of Portugal, in the far west of the Iberian peninsula of south-west Europe...
, followed by the French, Dutch and English.
After the fall of the
AyutthayaAyutthaya was a Siamese kingdom that existed from 1351 to 1767 until it was invaded by the Burmese. Ayutthaya was friendly towards foreign traders, including the Chinese, Vietnamese , Indians, Japanese and Persians, and later the Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch and French, permitting them to set up...
in 1767 to the Burmese, King
TaksinTaksin was King of Siam Empire. He was greatly revered for his leadership in liberation of Siam from the Burmese occupation after the Fall of Ayutthaya in 1767 and unification of Siam under various warlords...
the Great moved the capital of Thailand to
ThonburiThon Buri was capital of Thailand for a short time during the reign of King Taksin, after the previous capital Ayutthaya was sacked by the Burmese. It is located on the opposite bank of Chao Phraya River, or nowaday Royal Palaces...
for approximately 15 years. The current Rattanakosin era of Thai history began in 1782, following the establishment of
BangkokBangkok is the capital, largest urban area and primary city of Thailand. Known in Thai as Krung Thep Mahanakhon , or กรุงเทพฯ Krung Thep for short, it was a small trading post at the mouth of the Chao Phraya River during the Ayutthaya Kingdom. It came to the forefront of Siam when it was given the...
as capital of the
Chakri dynastyThe Chakri Dynasty The Chakri Dynasty (also known as the House of Chakri) The Chakri Dynasty (also known as the House of Chakri) ( is the current ruling royal house of the Kingdom of Thailand, the Head of the house is the King of Thailand. The Dynasty has ruled Thailand since the founding of the...
under King Rama I the Great. A quarter to a third of the population of some areas of Thailand were slaves.
Despite European pressure, Thailand is the only
Southeast AsiaManila
Bangkok
Ho Chi Minh City
Kuala Lumpur
Singapore
Yangon
Bandung
Hanoi
Surabaya
Taichung
Kaohsiung
Medan|-|}...
n nation that has never been colonized. Two main reasons for this were that Thailand had a long succession of very able rulers in the 19th century, and that it was able to exploit the rivalry and tension between the
French||-|French Indochina was part of the French colonial empire in southeast Asia. A federation of the three Vietnamese regions, Tonkin , Annam , and Cochinchina , as well as Cambodia, was formed in 1887. Laos was added in 1893 and Kouang-Tchéou-Wan in 1900...
and the
BritishThe British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom, that had originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height it was...
. As a result, the country remained a
buffer stateA buffer state is a country lying between two rival or potentially hostile greater powers, which by its sheer existence is thought to prevent conflict between them. Buffer states, when authentically independent, typically pursue a neutralist foreign policy, which distinguishes them from satellite...
between parts of
Southeast AsiaManila
Bangkok
Ho Chi Minh City
Kuala Lumpur
Singapore
Yangon
Bandung
Hanoi
Surabaya
Taichung
Kaohsiung
Medan|-|}...
that were colonized by the two colonial powers. Despite this, Western influence led to many reforms in the 19th century and major concessions, most notably being the loss of a large territory on the east side of the
MekongThe Mekong River is one of the world’s major rivers. It is the world's 10th-longest river and the 7th-longest in Asia. . Its estimated length is , and it drains an area of ....
to the
French||-|French Indochina was part of the French colonial empire in southeast Asia. A federation of the three Vietnamese regions, Tonkin , Annam , and Cochinchina , as well as Cambodia, was formed in 1887. Laos was added in 1893 and Kouang-Tchéou-Wan in 1900...
and the step-by-step absorption by Britain of the Shan (Thai Yai) States (now in Burma) and the
Malay PeninsulaThe Malay Peninsula or Thai-Malay Peninsula is a major peninsula located in Southeast Asia, with its narrowest point at the Isthmus of Kra. The land mass runs approximately north-south and, at its teminus, is the most southern point of the Asian mainland...
. The losses initially included Penang and Tumasik and eventually culminated in the loss of four predominantly ethnic-Malay southern provinces, which later became
MalaysiaMalaysia is a country in Southeast Asia that consists of thirteen states and three Federal Territories, with a total landmass of . The capital city is Kuala Lumpur, while Putrajaya is the seat of the federal government. The population stands at over 28 million inhabitants...
's four northern states, under the
Anglo-Siamese Treaty of 1909The Anglo-Siamese Treaty of 1909 or Bangkok Treaty of 1909 was a treaty between the United Kingdom and Thailand signed on March 10 1909 in Bangkok....
.
In 1932, a
bloodless revolutionThe Siamese Revolution of 1932 or the Siamese Coup d'état of 1932 was a crucial turning point in Thai history in the 20th century...
carried out by a
small groupKhana Ratsadon , or the People's Party, frequently mistakenly written as Khana Rat , was a Siamese group and later a political party, which staged a bloodless coup in the reign of King Prajadhipok...
of military and civilian officials resulted in a transition of power, when King
PrajadhipokPhra Bat Somdet Phra Poramintharamaha Prajadhipok Phra Pok Klao Chao Yu Hua , or Rama VII was the seventh monarch of Siam under the House of Chakri. He was the last absolute monarch and the first constitutional monarch of the country. His reign was a turbulent time for Siam due to huge political...
was forced to grant the people of Siam their first constitution, thereby ending centuries of
absolutist monarchyAbsolute monarchy is a monarchical form of government where the king or queen has absolute power over all aspects of his/her subjects' lives. Although some religious authorities may be able to discourage the monarch from some acts and the sovereign is expected to act according to custom, in an...
.
During
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the
Empire of JapanThe Empire of Japan was a Japanese political entity that existed during the period from the...
demanded the right to move troops across Thailand to the Malayan frontier.
Japan invaded the countryThe Japanese invasion of Thailand occurred on December 8, 1941.To invade Malaya and Burma the Japanese needed to make use of Thai ports, railways, and airfields. The Thai people, however, were fiercely proud of never having been colonised and were determined to maintain their independence, having...
and engaged the Thai army for six to eight hours before
Plaek PibulsonggramField Marshal Luang Plaek Pibulsonggram was Prime Minister and military dictator of Thailand from 1938 to 1944 and 1948 to 1957.- Early life...
ordered an armistice. Shortly thereafter Japan was granted free passage, and on December 21, 1941, Thailand and Japan signed a military alliance with a secret protocol wherein Tokyo agreed to help Thailand regain territories lost to the British and French. Subsequently, Thailand undertook to 'assist' Japan in its war against the Allies, while at the same time maintaining an active anti-Japanese resistance movement known as the Seri Thai. After the war, Thailand emerged as an ally of the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. As with many of the developing nations during the
Cold WarThe Cold War was the continuing state of political conflict, military tension, and economic competition existing after World War II , primarily between the USSR and its satellite states, and the powers of the Western world, including the United States...
, Thailand then went through decades of political instability characterised by
coups d'étatA coup d'état , or coup for short, is the sudden unconstitutional deposition of a legitimate government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another, either civil or military...
as one military regime replaced another, but eventually progressed towards a stable prosperity and
democracyDemocracy is a system of government in which either the actual governing is carried out by the people governed , or the power to do so is granted by them...
in the 1980s.
In 1997, Thailand was hit by the Asian financial crisis, and the Thai baht for a short time peaked at 56 baht to the US dollar compared to about 25 baht to the dollar before 1997. Since then, the baht has regained most of its strength and as of August 2009 is valued at 34.01 baht to the US dollar.
The
official calendarThe Thai solar calendar, Suriyakati was adopted by King Chulalongkorn in 1888 as the Siamese version of the Gregorian calendar. It is the official calendar in Thailand, though Thai lunar calendar dates continue in use...
in Thailand is based on the Eastern version of the
Buddhist EraThe Buddhist calendar is used on mainland Southeast Asia in the countries of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Burma and Sri Lanka in several related forms. It is a lunisolar calendar having months that are alternately 29 and 30 days, with an intercalated day and a 30-day month added at regular intervals...
, which is 543 years ahead of the
Gregorian (western) calendarThe Gregorian calendar is the internationally accepted civil calendar. It was first proposed by the Calabrian doctor Aloysius Lilius, and decreed by Pope Gregory XIII, after whom the calendar was named, on 24 February 1582 by the papal bull Inter gravissimas...
. For example, the year AD 2009 is 2552 BE in Thailand.
Southern Violence
Malay PeninsulaThe Malay Peninsula or Thai-Malay Peninsula is a major peninsula located in Southeast Asia, with its narrowest point at the Isthmus of Kra. The land mass runs approximately north-south and, at its teminus, is the most southern point of the Asian mainland...
was once known as
Tanah Melayu (Malay Land). It extends from Singapore to the Isthmus of Kra bordering Burma, Thailand and Malay Land. Phuket is Bukit (hill) in Malay, "Satun" is "Setol" (a tropical fruit) was the Province of "Kedah" under the Malay Sultanate and Patani (Land of Farmers) was also part of the Malay Sultanate. In these areas people once spoke both English as well as
Sam-sam, a local version of the Siamese language. The majority of residents were Muslims. Thailand pushed to dominate the peninsula as far as Malacca in the 1400s and held much of the peninsula for the next few centuries, including Tumasek (Singapore) some of the Andaman Islands and a colony on Java, but eventually failed when the British used force to guarantee their suzerainty over the sultanate.
All the states of the Malay Sultanate presented annual gifts to the Thai king in the form of a
golden flowerThe bunga mas dan perak , often abbreviated to bunga mas, was a tribute sent every three years to the King of Siam from its vassal states in the Malay Peninsula - in particular, by Terengganu, Kelantan, Kedah and Pattani. The tribute consisted of two small trees made of gold and silver, plus costly...
, which understood the gesture to be tribute and an acknowledgement of vassalage. The British intervened in the Malay State and with the
Anglo-Siamese TreatyThe Anglo-Siamese Treaty of 1909 or Bangkok Treaty of 1909 was a treaty between the United Kingdom and Thailand signed on March 10 1909 in Bangkok....
tried to build a railway from the south to Bangkok, Thailand relinquished sovereignty over what are now the northern Malay provinces of Kedah, Pelis, Kelantan and Terengganu to the British. Satun and Pattani provinces were given to Thailand.
The Malay peninsula provinces were infiltrated by the Japanese in 1654, during World War I, and by the
Malayan Communist PartyThe Malayan Communist Party , also known as the Communist Party of Malaya was founded in 1930. Illegal from the outset, it advocated an end to British colonial rule, and was active in forming trade unions.-Formation:...
(CPM) from 1942 to 2008, when they decided to sue for peace with the Malaysian and Thai governments after the CPM lost its support from Vietnam and China subsequent to the
Cultural RevolutionThe Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution was a period of widespread social and political upheaval in the People’s Republic of China between 1966 and 1976, resulting in nation-wide chaos and economic disarray.It was launched by Mao Zedong, the chairman of the Communist Party of China, on May 16,...
.
Recent insurgent uprisings may be a continuation of separatist fighting which started after World War II with Sukarno's support for the PULO, and the intensification since the U.S. initiation of the War on Terror may be related. Most victims since the uprisings have been Buddhist and Muslim bystanders.
Politics and government
History
Since the political reform of the
absolute monarchyAbsolute monarchy is a monarchical form of government where the king or queen has absolute power over all aspects of his/her subjects' lives. Although some religious authorities may be able to discourage the monarch from some acts and the sovereign is expected to act according to custom, in an...
in 1932, Thailand has had 17 constitutions and charters. Throughout this time, the form of government has ranged from military dictatorship to electoral democracy, but all governments have acknowledged a
hereditary monarch as the head of state.
1997 to 2006
The 1997 Constitution was the first constitution to be drafted by popularly elected Constitutional Drafting Assembly, and was popularly called the "People's Constitution".
The 1997 Constitution created a bicameral legislature consisting of a 500-seat House of Representatives (สภาผู้แทนราษฎร, sapha phutaen ratsadon) and a 200-seat
SenateA senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a legislature or parliament. There have been many such bodies in history, since senate means the assembly of the eldest and wiser members of the society and ruling class...
(วุฒิสภา, wuthisapha). For the first time in Thai history, both houses were directly
electedAn election is a formal decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy since the 17th century. Elections may fill offices in the legislature, sometimes in the executive and...
. Many
human rightsHuman rights refer to the "basic rights and freedoms to which all humans are entitled." Examples of rights and freedoms which have come to be commonly thought of as human rights include civil and political rights, such as the right to life and liberty, freedom of expression, and equality before the...
are explicitly acknowledged, and measures were established to increase the stability of elected governments. The House was elected by the first-past-the-post system, where only one candidate with a simple majority could be elected in one constituency. The Senate was elected based on the province system, where one province can return more than one senator depending on its population size. Members of the House of Representatives served four-year terms, while senators served six-year terms. The 1997 People's Constitution also promoted human rights more than any other constitutions.
The court system (ศาล, saan) included a
constitutional courtThe Constitutional Court of Thailand is an independent Thai court originally established under the 1997 Constitution with jurisdiction over the constitutionality of parliamentary acts, royal decrees, draft legislation, as well as the appointment and removal of public officials and issues regarding...
with jurisdiction over the constitutionality of parliamentary acts, royal decrees, and political matters.
The
January 2001 general electionGeneral elections were held in Thailand on January 6, 2001. 500 seats in the House of Representatives were at stake...
, the first election under the 1997 Constitution, was called the most open, corruption-free election in Thai history. The subsequent government was the first in Thai history to complete a 4-year term. The
2005 electionGeneral elections were held in Thailand on 6 February, 2005. With a turnout of 60.7 percent, the Thai Rak Thai Party of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra won a landslide victory. Out of 500 seats in the House of Representatives, Thaksin's party won 374 seats, with its former coalition partner, the...
had the highest voter turnout in Thai history.. Despite efforts to clean up the system, vote buying and electoral violence remained problems of electoral quality in 2005. The PollWatch Foundation, Thailand's most prominent election watchdog, declared that vote buying in this election, specifically in the North and the Northeast, was more serious than in the 2001 election. The organization also accused the government of violating the election law by abusing state power in presenting new projects in a bid to seek votes.
2006 coup d'état
Without meeting much resistance, a
military juntaA military junta is a government led by a committee of military leaders. The term derives from the Spanish junta meaning committee, specifically a board of directors...
overthrew the interim government of
Thaksin ShinawatraThaksin Shinawatra is a Thai businessman who was Prime Minister of Thailand from 2001 to 2006, when he was deposed in a military coup and convicted in absentia for a conflict of interest. He was born in Chiang Mai Province, Thailand and started his career in the police...
on 19 September 2006. The
juntaA military dictatorship is a form of government wherein the political power resides with the military. It is similar but not identical to a stratocracy, a state ruled directly by the military....
abrogated the constitution, dissolved Parliament and the Constitutional Court, detained and later removed several members of the government, declared
martial lawMartial law is the system of rules that takes effect when the military takes control of the normal administration of justice.Martial law is sometimes imposed during wars or occupations in the absence of any other civil government. Examples of this form of military rule include Germany and Japan...
, and appointed one of the king's Privy Counselors, General
Surayud ChulanontGeneral Surayud Chulanont is a Thai political figure. He was the Prime Minister of Thailand and head of Thailand's Interim Government between 2006 and 2008...
, as the Prime Minister. The junta later wrote a highly abbreviated
interim constitutionThe 2006 Interim Charter of Thailand was drafted by the Council for Democratic Reform after it seized power from the government of Thaksin Shinawatra in the 2006 Thailand coup...
and appointed a panel to draft a permanent constitution. The junta also appointed a 250-member legislature, called by some critics a "chamber of generals" while others claimed that it lacks representatives from the poor majority. In this interim constitution draft, the head of the junta was allowed to remove the prime minister at any time. The legislature was not allowed to hold a vote of confidence against the cabinet and the public was not allowed to file comments on bills. This interim constitution was later surpassed by
the permanent constitutionA Permanent Constitution for the Kingdom of Thailand was drafted by a committee established by the military junta that abrogated the previous 1997 Constitution. On August 19, 2007, a referendum was held in which 59.3% of the voters voted in favor of the constitution...
on 24 August 2007.
Martial law was partially revoked in January 2007. The ban on political activities was lifted in July 2007, following the 30 May dissolution of the
Thai Rak ThaiThai Rak Thai was a political party in Thailand that was officially banned on May 30, 2007, by the Constitutional Court of Thailand. From 2001 to 2006, it was the ruling party under Prime Minister and its founder Thaksin Shinawatra...
party. The new constitution has been approved by a referendum on 19 August, which led to a return to
democratic elections on 23 December 2007The 2007 Thai general elections were held on 23 December. This was the first legislative election after the Council for National Security, a military junta, had overthrown Thailand's elected government and abrogated the constitution on September 19, 2006. The junta had canceled general elections...
.
Political Crisis
The
People's Power Party (Thailand)The People's Power Party was a Thai political party founded on November 9, 1998 by Police Lieutenant Colonel Garn Tienkaew. The party leaders were Somchai Wongsawat , the Party Secretary General was Surapong Suebwonglee and the Party Spokesperson was Kuthep Saikrajarng...
, led by
Samak SundaravejSamak Sundaravej . He was the Prime Minister of Thailand and Minister of Defense in 2008, as well as the leader of the People's Power Party in 2008...
formed a government with five smaller parties. Following several court rulings against him in a variety of scandals, and surviving a vote of no confidence, and protesters blockading government buildings and airports, in September 2008, Sundaravej was found guilty of conflict of interest by the
Constitutional Court of ThailandThe Constitutional Court of Thailand is an independent Thai court originally established under the 1997 Constitution with jurisdiction over the constitutionality of parliamentary acts, royal decrees, draft legislation, as well as the appointment and removal of public officials and issues regarding...
(due to being a host in cooking TV program), and thus, ended his term in office. He was replaced by PPP member
Somchai WongsawatSomchai Wongsawat is a Thai politician, as well as former executive member of the People's Power Party whose political rights have been revoked by the Constitutional Court for five years....
. As of October 2008, Wongsawat was unable to gain access to his offices, which were occupied by protesters from the
People's Alliance for DemocracyThe People's Alliance for Democracy also called the National Liberation Alliance - กลุ่มพันธมิตรกู้ชาติ or the Yellow Shirts - เสื้อเหลือง - was originally a coalition of protesters against Thaksin Shinawatra, the former Prime Minister of Thailand who was freely elected by the people...
. On December 2, 2008, Thailand's Constitutional Court found the ruling Peoples Power Party guilty of electoral fraud, which led to the dissolution of the party according to the law. After defections from smaller parties the opposition
Democrats PartyThe Democrat Party is Thailand's oldest political party, represented as the core coalition member in the six-party coalition government since December 15, 2008. The party upholds a centre-right, royalist, socially conservative, and economically liberal position...
was able to form a government, a first for the party since 2001. The leader of the Democrat party, and former leader of the opposition,
Abhisit VejjajivaAbhisit Vejjajiva is the 27th and current Prime Minister of Thailand. He has been the leader of the Democrat Party since February 2005....
was appointed and sworn-in as the 27th
Prime MinisterThe Prime Minister of Thailand is the head of government of Thailand. The Prime Minister is also the chairman of the Cabinet of Thailand. The post has been in existence since the Revolution of 1932, when the country became a constitutional monarchy....
, together with the new cabinet on 17 December 2008.
Thailand remains an active member of the regional Association of South-East Asian Nations.
Military
The
Royal Thai Armed Forces ( is the name of the
militaryA military is an organization authorized by its nation to use force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. As an adjective the term "military" is also used to refer to any property or aspect of a military...
of the Kingdom of Thailand. It consists of the following branches:
- Royal Thai Army
The Royal Thai Army The Royal Thai Army The Royal Thai Army ( is the army of Thailand responsible for protecting its sovereignty. It is the oldest and largest branch of the Royal Thai Armed Forces...
(กองทัพบกไทย)
- Royal Thai Navy
The Royal Thai Navy is the navy of Thailand and part of the Royal Thai Armed Forces, it was established in the late 1800s. Admiral Prince Abhakara Kiartiwongse is "The Father of Royal Thai Navy". Similar to the organizational structure of the United States, the Royal Thai Navy includes the Naval...
(กองทัพเรือไทย, ราชนาวีไทย)
- Royal Thai Marine Corps
The Royal Thai Marine Corps The Royal Thai Marine Corps The Royal Thai Marine Corps ( are the marines of the Royal Thai Navy, the corps was founded in 1932 when the first battalion was formed with the assistance of the USMC. It expanded to a regiment in 1940 and was in action against communist...
(นาวิกโยธินไทย)
- Royal Thai Air Force
The Royal Thai Air Force or RTAF is the air force of the Kingdom of Thailand. As of 2008, the Commander of the Air Force is Itthaporn Subhawong.-History:...
(กองทัพอากาศไทย)
- Other Paramilitary
A paramilitary is a force whose function and organization are similar to those of a professional military force, but which is not regarded as having the same status...
Forces
Today the Royal Thai Armed Forces comprises about 1,025,640 personnel. The
Head of the Thai Armed ForcesThe Monarchy of Thailand The Monarchy of Thailand (also referred to as the King of Thailand) The Monarchy of Thailand (also referred to as the King of Thailand) ( refers to the constitutional monarchy and monarch of the Kingdom of Thailand (formerly Siam). The King of Thailand is the head of state...
(จอมทัพไทย:
Chomthap Thai) is His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX), however this position is only nominal. The Armed Forces is managed by the
Ministry of Defence of ThailandThe Ministry of Defence of the Kingdom Thailand , is a Cabinet level government department of the Kingdom of Thailand. The Ministry controls and manage the Royal Thai Armed Forces, as well as maintaining national security, territorial integrity and national defence...
, which is headed by the Minister of Defence (a member of the
Cabinet of ThailandThe Cabinet of Thailand or the Council of Ministers of Thailand The Cabinet of Thailand or the Council of Ministers of Thailand The Cabinet of Thailand or the Council of Ministers of Thailand ( is a body composed of thirty-five of the most senior members of the government of the Kingdom of...
) and commanded by the
Royal Thai Armed Forces HeadquartersThe Royal Thai Armed Forces Headquarters The Royal Thai Armed Forces Headquarters The Royal Thai Armed Forces Headquarters ( or the RTARF HQ, is the joint headquarters of the Royal Thai Armed Forces, which is made up of the Royal Thai Army, the Royal Thai Navy and the Royal Thai Air Force. Formerly...
, which in turn is headed by the
Chief of Defence Forces of Thailand.
According to the
Constitution of the KingdomA Permanent Constitution for the Kingdom of Thailand was drafted by a committee established by the military junta that abrogated the previous 1997 Constitution. On August 19, 2007, a referendum was held in which 59.3% of the voters voted in favor of the constitution...
, serving in the Armed Forces is a duty of all Thai citizens. However only males over the age of 21, who have not gone through reserve training are subjected to a random draft. Those chosen randomly are subjected to twenty-four months fulltime service, while volunteers are subjected to eighteen months service, depending on their education.
The
Royal Thai Armed Forces DayPublic holidays in Thailand are regulated by the government, and most are observed by both the public and private sectors. There are usually sixteen public holidays in a year, but more may be declared by the cabinet. Since 1996, if a holiday falls on a weekend, the following workday is observed as...
is celebrated on January 18th to commemorate the victory of King Naresuan the Great in battle against the Crown Prince of
BurmaThe Taungoo dynasty was one of the most powerful post-Bagan Burmese kingdoms, over which seven kings reigned for a period of 155 years....
in 1593.
Education
Thailand enjoys a high level of literacy, and education is provided by a well-organized school system of kindergartens, primary, lower secondary and upper secondary schools, numerous vocational colleges, and universities. The private sector of education is well developed and significantly contributes to the overall provision of education which the government would not be able to meet through the public establishments.
Education is compulsory up to and including grade 9, and the government provides free education through to grade 12.
Thailand has never been colonized, and its teaching relies heavily on rote rather than on student-centred methodology. Education in a modern sense is therefore relatively recent and still needs to overcome some major cultural hurdles to ensure further development and improvement to its standards.
The establishment of reliable and coherent curricula for its primary and secondary schools is subject to such rapid changes that schools and their teachers are not always sure what they are supposed to be teaching, and authors and publishers of textbooks are unable to write and print new editions quickly enough to keep up with the volatile situation. The issue concerning university entrance has therefore also been in constant upheaval for a number of years. Nevertheless, education has seen its greatest progress in the years since 2001. Most of the present generation of students are computer literate, and knowledge of English is on the increase at least in quantity if not in quality.
There has been concern in recent years regarding the low IQ scores of many Thai youth. A study in the
NationA nation is a body of people who share a real or imagined common history, culture, language or ethnic origin. The development and conceptualization of the nation is closely related to the development of modern industrial states and nationalist movements in Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries,...
newspaper reported that the "Department of Health and the Department of Mental Health will (make) an effort to combat low intelligence, after it found the average IQ level among many youths was lower than 80." In 2006, the Vice Minister for Education Watchara Phanchet reported that "the average intelligence quotient (IQ) of Thai children, somewhere between 87 and 88 points, remains in the "low average" category when ranked internationally. Further, with the exception of the well-educated wealthy class, the level of English speaking remains quite low.
Administrative divisions
Thailand is divided into 75
provincesThailand is divided into 75 provinces , which are geographically grouped into 6 regions. The capital Bangkok is not a province but a special administrative area and is included as the 76th province since it is administered at the same level as the other 75 provinces. The name of the provinces are...
(จังหวัด, changwat), which are gathered into 5 groups of provinces by location. There are also 2 special governed districts: the capital
BangkokBangkok is the capital, largest urban area and primary city of Thailand. Known in Thai as Krung Thep Mahanakhon , or กรุงเทพฯ Krung Thep for short, it was a small trading post at the mouth of the Chao Phraya River during the Ayutthaya Kingdom. It came to the forefront of Siam when it was given the...
(Krung Thep Maha Nakhon) and
PattayaPattaya is a city in Thailand, located on the east coast of the Gulf of Thailand, about 165 km southeast of Bangkok located within but not part of Amphoe Bang Lamung in the province of Chonburi....
, of which Bangkok is at provincial level and thus often counted as a 76th province.
Each province is divided into
districtsAn amphoe is the second level administrative subdivision of Thailand. Usually translated as district, amphoe make up the provinces. Amphoe are further subdivided into tambon....
and the districts are further divided into sub-districts (tambons). As of 2006 there are 877 districts (อำเภอ, amphoe) and the 50 districts of Bangkok (เขต, khet). Some parts of the provinces bordering Bangkok are also referred to as
Greater BangkokThe Bangkok Metropolitan Area , also known as Greater Bangkok, is the urban conglomeration of Bangkok, Thailand, which includes 5 adjacent provinces....
(ปริมณฑล, pari monthon). These provinces include
NonthaburiNonthaburi is one of the central provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya, Pathum Thani, Bangkok and Nakhon Pathom.-Geography:...
,
Pathum ThaniPathum Thani is one of the central provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Ayutthaya, Saraburi, Nakhon Nayok, Chachoengsao, Bangkok and Nonthaburi....
,
Samut PrakanSamut Prakan is one of the central provinces of Thailand.Neighboring provinces are in the west and north Bangkok and Chachoengsao to the east....
,
Nakhon PathomNakhon Pathom is one of the central provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Suphan Buri, Ayutthaya, Nonthaburi, Bangkok, Samut Sakhon, Ratchaburi and Kanchanaburi....
and
Samut SakhonSamut Sakhon is one of the central provinces of Thailand.Neighboring provinces are Samut Songkhram, Ratchaburi, Nakhon Pathom and Bangkok.- Etymology :...
. The name of each province's capital city (เมือง, mueang) is the same as that of the province. For example, the capital of Chiang Mai province (
changwat Chiang Mai) is
Mueang Chiang Mai or
Chiang Mai. The 76
provincesThailand is divided into 75 provinces , which are geographically grouped into 6 regions. The capital Bangkok is not a province but a special administrative area and is included as the 76th province since it is administered at the same level as the other 75 provinces. The name of the provinces are...
are as follows:
Central
- Ang Thong
Ang Thong is one of the central provinces of Thailand. The name means "golden bowl" which refer to Angthong as a central for prosperusness as it has a lot of rice fields....
- Bangkok (Krung Thep Maha Nakhon)
Bangkok is the capital, largest urban area and primary city of Thailand. Known in Thai as Krung Thep Mahanakhon , or กรุงเทพฯ Krung Thep for short, it was a small trading post at the mouth of the Chao Phraya River during the Ayutthaya Kingdom. It came to the forefront of Siam when it was given the...
, Special Governed District of
- Chai Nat
Chainat is one of the central provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Nakhon Sawan, Sing Buri, Suphan Buri and Uthai Thani....
- Kanchanaburi
Kanchanaburi is the largest of the central provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Tak, Uthai Thani, Suphan Buri, Nakhon Pathom and Ratchaburi...
- Lopburi
Lop Buri is one of the central provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Phetchabun, Chaiyaphum, Nakhon Ratchasima, Saraburi, Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya, Ang Thong, Sing Buri and Nakhon Sawan.-Geography:...
- Nakhon Nayok
Nakhon Nayok is one of the central provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Saraburi, Nakhon Ratchasima, Prachinburi, Chachoengsao and Pathum Thani....
- Nakhon Pathom
Nakhon Pathom is one of the central provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Suphan Buri, Ayutthaya, Nonthaburi, Bangkok, Samut Sakhon, Ratchaburi and Kanchanaburi....
- Nonthaburi
Nonthaburi is one of the central provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya, Pathum Thani, Bangkok and Nakhon Pathom.-Geography:...
- Pathum Thani
Pathum Thani is one of the central provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Ayutthaya, Saraburi, Nakhon Nayok, Chachoengsao, Bangkok and Nonthaburi....
- Phetchaburi
Phetchaburi is one of the central provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Ratchaburi, Samut Songkhram and Prachuap Khiri Khan...
- Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya
Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya is one of the central provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Ang Thong, Lop Buri, Saraburi, Pathum Thani, Nonthaburi, Nakhon Pathom and Suphan Buri....
- Prachuap Khiri Khan
Prachuap Khiri Khan is one of the central provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Phetchaburi in the north and Chumphon in the south...
- Ratchaburi
Ratchaburi is one of the central provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Kanchanaburi, Nakhon Pathom,Samut Sakhon, Samut Songkhram and Phetchaburi...
- Samut Prakan
Samut Prakan is one of the central provinces of Thailand.Neighboring provinces are in the west and north Bangkok and Chachoengsao to the east....
- Samut Sakhon
Samut Sakhon is one of the central provinces of Thailand.Neighboring provinces are Samut Songkhram, Ratchaburi, Nakhon Pathom and Bangkok.- Etymology :...
- Samut Songkhram
Samut Songkhram is one of the central provinces of Thailand.Neighboring provinces are Phetchaburi, Ratchaburi and Samut Sakhon. Local people call Samut Songkhram Mae Klong. The province is the smallest of all Thai provinces areawise...
- Saraburi
Saraburi is one of the central provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Lopburi, Nakhon Ratchasima, Nakhon Nayok, Pathum Thani and Ayutthaya. Saraburi has been an important town since ancient times...
- Sing Buri
Sing Buri is one of the central provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Nakhon Sawan, Lop Buri, Ang Thong, Suphan Buri and Chai Nat....
- Suphan Buri
Suphan Buri is one of the central provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Uthai Thani, Chai Nat, Sing Buri, Ang Thong, Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya, Nakhon Pathom and Kanchanaburi.- Etymology :...
East
- Chachoengsao
Chachoengsao is a province of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Prachin Buri, Sa Kaeo, Chanthaburi, Chon Buri, Samut Prakan, Bangkok, Pathum Thani and Nakhon Nayok...
- Chanthaburi
Chanthaburi is a province of Thailand. It is located in the east of Thailand, at the border to Battambang and Pailin of Cambodia and the shore to the Gulf of Thailand...
- Chonburi
Chonburi is a province of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Chachoengsao, Chanthaburi and Rayong. To the west is the Gulf of Thailand. The eastern seaboard is heavily industrialized and underpinned by shipping, transportation, tourism, and manufacturing industries, and second to only Bangkok...
- Prachinburi
Prachin Buri is a province of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Nakhon Ratchasima, Sa Kaeo, Chachoengsao and Nakhon Nayok.-Geography:...
- Rayong
Rayong province is a province of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Chon Buri and Chanthaburi. To the south is the Gulf of Thailand.-History:...
- Sa Kaeo
Sa Kaeo is a province of Thailand.It is located in the east of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Chanthaburi, Chachoengsao, Prachin Buri, Nakhon Ratchasima and Buri Ram...
- Trat
Trat is a province of Thailand. It is located in the east of Thailand, and has borders with Chanthaburi Province to the northwest, Cambodia to the east, and the Gulf of Thailand to the south....
North
- Chiang Mai
Chiang Mai is the second-largest province of Thailand, located in the north of the country. Neighboring provinces are Chiang Rai, Lampang, Lamphun, Tak, and Mae Hong Son...
- Chiang Rai
Chiang Rai is the northernmost province of Thailand. Neighbouring provinces are Phayao, Lampang and Chiang Mai. In the north it borders Shan State of Myanmar and Bokeo of Laos.-Geography:...
- Kamphaeng Phet
Kamphaeng Phet is one of the provinces of Thailand, located in the north of the country. Neighboring provinces are Sukhothai, Phitsanulok, Phichit, Nakhon Sawan and Tak.- Etymology :...
- Lampang
Lampang is one of the northern provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Chiang Rai, Phayao, Phrae, Sukhothai, Tak, Lamphun and Chiang Mai. The old name of Lampang is Khelang Nakhon.-Geography:...
- Lamphun
Lamphun is one of the northern provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Chiang Mai, Lampang and Tak.-Geography:Lamphun is located in the river valley of the Ping River, surrounded by mountain chains....
- Mae Hong Son
Mae Hong Son is one of the northern provinces of Thailand, and at the same time the westernmost. Neighboring provinces are Shan State of Myanmar, Chiang Mai and Tak. To the west it borders Kayin State and Kayah State of Myanmar again...
- Nakhon Sawan
Nakhon Sawan is one of the provinces of Thailand. Neighboring Provinces are Kamphaeng Phet, Phichit, Phetchabun, Lop Buri, Sing Buri, Chai Nat, Uthai Thani and Tak.- Etymology :...
- Nan
Nan is one of the northern provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Uttaradit, Phrae and Phayao. To the north and east it borders Xaignabouli of Laos.-Geography:...
- Phayao
Phayao is one of the northern provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Nan, Phrae, Lampang and Chiang Rai. In the north-east it borders Xaignabouli of Laos.- Geography :...
- Phetchabun
Phetchabun is one of the northern provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Loei, Khon Kaen, Chaiyaphum, Lopburi, Nakhon Sawan, Phichit and Phitsanulok.- Geography :...
- Phichit
Phichit is one of the provinces of Thailand, located in the north of the country. Neighboring provinces are Phitsanulok, Phetchabun, Nakhon Sawan and Kamphaeng Phet.- Geography :...
- Phitsanulok
Phitsanulok is one of the provinces of Thailand, located in the North of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Loei, Phetchabun, Phichit, Kamphaeng Phet, Sukhothai, Uttaradit. In the north-east it also has a short border with Xaignabouli of Laos.-Etymology:The first element Phitsanu is a cognate...
- Phrae
Phrae is one of the northern provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Phayao, Nan, Uttaradit, Sukhothai and Lampang.-Geography:Phrae is located in the valley of the river Yom.-History:...
- Sukhothai
Sukhothai is one of the northern provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Phrae, Uttaradit, Phitsanulok, Kamphaeng Phet, Tak and Lampang...
- Tak
Tak is one of the northern provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Mae Hong Son, Chiang Mai, Lamphun, Lampang, Sukhothai, Kamphaeng Phet, Nakhon Sawan, Uthai Thani and Kanchanaburi...
- Uthai Thani
Uthai Thani is one of the provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Nakhon Sawan, Chai Nat, Suphan Buri, Kanchanaburi and Tak.-Geography:...
- Uttaradit
Uttaradit is one of the northern provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Phitsanulok, Sukhothai, Phrae and Nan...
Northeast (Isan)
- Amnat Charoen
Amnat Charoen is one of the north-eastern provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Ubon Ratchathani, Yasothon and Mukdahan. To the east it borders Salavan of Laos.-Geography:...
- Buri Ram
- Chaiyaphum
Chaiyaphum is one of the north-eastern provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Khon Kaen, Nakhon Ratchasima, Lopburi and Phetchabun.- Etymology :...
- Kalasin
Kalasin is one of the provinces of Thailand, located in the North-East of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Sakon Nakhon, Mukdahan, Roi Et, Maha Sarakham, Khon Kaen and Udon Thani.-Geography:...
- Khon Kaen
Khon Kaen is the second-largest of the north-eastern provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Nongbua Lamphu, Udon Thani, Kalasin, Maha Sarakham, Buriram, Nakhon Ratchasima, Chaiyaphum, Phetchabun and Loei.-Geography:Khon Kaen is located in the heart of the Khorat Plateau...
- Loei
Loei is one of the most sparsely populated provinces of Thailand, located in the North-East of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Nong Khai, Udon Thani, Nongbua Lamphu, Khon Kaen, Phetchabun, Phitsanulok...
- Maha Sarakham
Maha Sarakham is one of the provinces of Thailand, located in the northeastern region of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Kalasin, Roi Et, Surin, Buriram and Khon Kaen....
- Mukdahan
Mukdahan is one of the north-eastern provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Amnat Charoen, Yasothon, Roi Et, Kalasin, Sakon Nakhon and Nakhon Phanom. To the east it borders the Mekong River, across which lies Savannakhet Province of Laos.-Geography:The province is located in the...
- Nakhon Phanom
Nakhon Phanom is one of the north-eastern provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Mukdahan, Sakon Nakhon and Nong Khai. To the north-east it borders Khammouan of Laos.-Geography:...
- Nakhon Ratchasima
Nakhon Ratchasima , often shortened to Korat or Khorat , is one of the north-eastern provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Chaiyaphum, Khon Kaen, Buriram, Sa Kaeo, Prachinburi, Nakhon Nayok, Saraburi, Lopburi.The capital of the province is The City of Nakhon Ratchasima located in...
- Nong Bua Lamphu
Nong Bua Lamphu is one of the north-eastern provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Udon Thani, Khon Kaen and Loei.-History:...
- Nong Khai
Nong Khai is the northernmost of the north-eastern provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Nakhon Phanom, Sakon Nakhon, Udon Thani and Loei...
- Roi Et
Roi Et is one of the provinces of Thailand, located in the North-East of Thailand. Neighboring Provinces are Kalasin, Mukdahan, Yasothon, Sisaket, Surin and Maha Sarakham....
- Sakon Nakhon
Sakon Nakhon is one of the north-eastern provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Nong Khai, Nakhon Phanom, Mukdahan, Kalasin and Udon Thani...
- Si Sa Ket
Sisaket , is one of the north-eastern provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Surin, Roi Et, Yasothon and Ubon Ratchathani. To the south it borders Oddar Meancheay and Preah Vihear of Cambodia.-Geography:...
- Surin
Surin is one of the north-eastern provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Buriram, Maha Sarakham, Roi Et and Sisaket. To the south it borders Oddar Meancheay of Cambodia.- Etymology :...
- Ubon Ratchathani
Ubon Ratchathani is one of the north-eastern provinces of Thailand, and the country's easternmost. Ubon is about 600 km away from Bangkok. Neighboring Provinces are Sisaket, Yasothon and Amnat Charoen...
- Udon Thani
Udon Thani is one of the north-eastern provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Nong Khai, Sakon Nakhon, Kalasin, Khon Kaen, Nong Bua Lamphu and Loei.- Geography :...
- Yasothon
Yasothon is one of the provinces of Thailand, located in the North-East of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Mukdahan, Amnat Charoen, Ubon Ratchathani, Sisaket and Roi Et.-Geography:...
South
- Chumphon
Chumphon is one of the southern provinces of Thailand, at the shore of the Gulf of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Prachuap Khiri Khan, Surat Thani and Ranong. To the west it also borders Myanmar.-Geography:...
- Krabi
Krabi is one of the southern provinces of Thailand, at the shore of the Andaman Sea.Neighboring provinces are Phang Nga, Surat Thani, Nakhon Si Thammarat and Trang. The Phuket province to the west is also neighboring, but without any land boundary...
- Nakhon Si Thammarat
Nakhon Si Thammarat is one of the southern provinces of Thailand, at the eastern shore of the Gulf of Thailand...
- Narathiwat
Narathiwat is one of the southern provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Yala and Pattani. To the south it borders the Malaysian state of Kelantan.-Geography:...
- Pattani
Pattani is one of the southern provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Narathiwat, Yala and Songkhla.-Geography:...
- Phang Nga
Phang Nga is one of the southern provinces of Thailand, on the shore to the Andaman Sea. Neighboring provinces are Ranong, Surat Thani and Krabi. To the south is the Phuket province, but without land boundary to Phang Nga.-Geography:The province is located on the west side of the Malay...
- Phatthalung
Phatthalung is one of the southern provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Nakhon Si Thammarat, Songkhla, Satun and Trang.-Geography:...
- Phuket
Phuket is one of the southern provinces of Thailand...
- Ranong
Ranong is one of the southern provinces of Thailand, on the coast of the Andaman Sea. It is the province with the fewest citizens. Neighboring provinces are Chumphon, Surat Thani and Phang Nga...
- Satun
Satun is one of the southern provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Trang, Phatthalung and Songkhla...
- Songkhla
Songkhla is the one of the southern provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Satun, Phatthalung, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Pattani and Yala. To the south it borders Kedah and Perlis of Malaysia....
- Surat Thani
Surat Thani is the largest of the southern provinces of Thailand, on the eastern shore of the Gulf of Thailand. Surat Thani means City of Good People, the title given to the city by King Vajiravudh ....
- Trang
Trang is the one of the southern provinces of Thailand, at the western shore of the Malay Peninsula to the Andaman Sea. Neighboring provinces are Krabi, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Phatthalung and Satun.Trang used to be a port involved in foreign trade. It was the first city where rubber was planted...
- Yala
Yala is the southernmost province of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Songkhla, Pattani and Narathiwat. Yala is the only land-locked province in the south of Thailand. The southern part borders Kedah and Perak of Malaysia. This city has once been one of the most beautiful city in Thailand and...
BangkokBangkok is the capital, largest urban area and primary city of Thailand. Known in Thai as Krung Thep Mahanakhon , or กรุงเทพฯ Krung Thep for short, it was a small trading post at the mouth of the Chao Phraya River during the Ayutthaya Kingdom. It came to the forefront of Siam when it was given the...
Pattaya BeachPattaya is a city in Thailand, located on the east coast of the Gulf of Thailand, about 165 km southeast of Bangkok located within but not part of Amphoe Bang Lamung in the province of Chonburi....
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Metropolitan area |
Population |
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Chiang MaiChiang Mai , also sometimes written as "Chiengmai" or "Chiangmai", is the largest and most culturally significant city in northern Thailand, and is the capital of Chiang Mai Province. It is located some north of Bangkok, among some of the highest mountains in the country...
Hatyai
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BangkokThe Bangkok Metropolitan Area , also known as Greater Bangkok, is the urban conglomeration of Bangkok, Thailand, which includes 5 adjacent provinces....
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11,971,000 |
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Pattaya-Chon Buri Pattaya-Chonburi metropolitan area is a conurbanation in Chonburi Province of Thailand. It comprises Pattaya City, 7 town municipalities, and 23 township municipalities in 6 districts with 1,003,839 registered inhabitants as of 2009...
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1,003,839 |
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Chiang Mai The Chiang Mai Metropolitan Area is the urban sprawl of the twin cities of city of Chiang Mai and town of Lamphun. It has an area of around 2,905.13 km² in 2 Province, 2,302.88 km² in Chiang Mai and 602.25 km² in Lamphun. There are 970,479 inhabitants in the metropolitan area. The population...
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960,906 |
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Hat Yai-Songkhla The Greater Hatyai-Songkhla Metropolitan Area is an urban corridor in Southern Thailand's Songkhla Province between two cities--Hat Yai, the commercial center of the province and the region, and Songkhla, the provincial capital. Located 30 km apart, the twin cities are complementary to each other....
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801,747 |
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Nakhon RatchasimaThe Nakhon Ratchasima Metropolitan Area is the urban sprawl of the city of Nakhon Ratchasima. It covers in Mueang Nakhon Ratchasima district , parts of Kham Thale So district , and parts of Sung Noen district with 767.98 km² of land...
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439,546 |
Communications
- Telephone: Thailand has about 7,024,000 base telephones, and about 51,377,000 numbers for GSM/3G
International Mobile Telecommunications-2000 , better known as 3G or 3rd Generation, is a family of standards for mobile telecommunications defined by the International Telecommunication Union, which includes GSM EDGE, UMTS, and CDMA2000 as well as DECT and WiMAX...
- Radio: AM 238 stations, FM 351 stations
- Television: 6 stations with 111 network stations. There are about 15,190,000 cable subscribers.
- Satellite: 4 satellites
Geography
Totaling , Thailand is the world's 50th largest country in land mass, while it is the world's 20th largest country in terms of population. It is comparable in population to countries such as FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
and the United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
, and is similar in land size to France and California in the United States; it is just over twice the size of the entire United Kingdom, and 1.4 times the size of Germany. The local climateClimate encompasses the statistics of temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind, rainfall, atmospheric particle count and numerous other meteorological elements in a given region over long periods of time...
is tropical and characterized by monsoonA pennis is traditionally defined as a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by seasonal changes in precipitation, but now is used to describe seasonal changes atmospheric circulation and precipitation The major monsoon systems of the world consist of the African and Asia-Australian monsoons...
s. There is a rainy, warm, and cloudy southwest monsoon from mid-May to September, as well as a dry, cool northeast monsoon from November to mid-March. The southern isthmus is always hot and humid.
Thailand is home to several distinct geographic regions, partly corresponding to the provincial groups. The north of the country is mountainous, with the highest point being Doi InthanonDoi Inthanon is the highest mountain in Thailand. The mountain was also known in the past as Doi Luang or Doi Ang Ka, meaning the crow's pond top. Near the mountain's base was a pond where many crows gathered...
at 2,565 metres above sea level (8,415 ft). The northeast, IsanIsan is the northeast region of Thailand. It is located on the Khorat Plateau, bordered by the Mekong River to the north and east, by Cambodia to the southeast and the Prachinburi mountains south of Nakhon Ratchasima...
, consists of the Khorat PlateauThe Khorat Plateau also Korat Plateau, is a plateau in the northeastern region of Thailand, also called Isan. It is named after the biggest city in the area, Nakhon Ratchasima, which is often called shortly Khorat....
, bordered to the east by the MekongThe Mekong River is one of the world’s major rivers. It is the world's 10th-longest river and the 7th-longest in Asia. . Its estimated length is , and it drains an area of ....
River. The centre of the country is dominated by the predominantly flat Chao Phraya river valley, which runs into the Gulf of ThailandThe Gulf of Thailand or Gulf of Siam is a shallow arm of the South China Sea.-Geography:The Gulf of Siam is bordered by Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam. The northern tip of the gulf is the Bay of Bangkok at the mouth of the Chao Phraya River. The gulf covers roughly 320,000 km²...
. The south consists of the narrow Kra IsthmusThe Kra Isthmus is the narrow land bridge which connects the Malay Peninsula with the mainland of Asia.-Geography:The east part of the landbridge belongs to Thailand, while the west part belongs to the Tanintharyi division of Myanmar...
that widens into the Malay PeninsulaThe Malay Peninsula or Thai-Malay Peninsula is a major peninsula located in Southeast Asia, with its narrowest point at the Isthmus of Kra. The land mass runs approximately north-south and, at its teminus, is the most southern point of the Asian mainland...
. Politically, there are six geographical regions which differ from the others in population, basic resources, natural features, and level of social and economic development. The diversity of the regions is the most pronounced attribute of Thailand's physical setting.
The Chao Phraya and the Mekong River are the sustainable resource of rural Thailand. Industrial scale production of crops use both rivers and their tributaries. The Gulf of ThailandThe Gulf of Thailand or Gulf of Siam is a shallow arm of the South China Sea.-Geography:The Gulf of Siam is bordered by Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam. The northern tip of the gulf is the Bay of Bangkok at the mouth of the Chao Phraya River. The gulf covers roughly 320,000 km²...
covers 320,000 km² and is fed by the Chao Phraya, Mae Klong, Bang Pakong and TapiThere are two rivers named Tapi*Tapti River , in the state of Gujarat, India*Tapi River, Thailand , in Surat Thani Province, Southern Thailand...
Rivers. It contributes to the tourism sector owing to its clear shallow waters along the coasts in the Southern Region and the Kra Isthmus. The Gulf of Thailand is also an industrial center of Thailand with the kingdom's main port in Sattahip along with being the entry gates for Bangkok's Inland SeaportThe Port Authority of Thailand is a state corporation of Thailand, responsible for the regulation and governance of the ports of Thailand, primarily the ports of Laem Chabang and Bangkok, the country's two largest ports. PAT operates Thai ports in conjunction with public companies including...
. The Andaman SeaThe Andaman Sea is a body of water to the southeast of the Bay of Bengal, south of Myanmar, west of Thailand and east of the Andaman Islands; it is part of the Indian Ocean. It is roughly and wide , with an area of...
is regarded as Thailand's most precious natural resource as it hosts the most popular and luxurious resorts in Asia. Phuket, KrabiKrabi is a town on the west coast of southern Thailand at the mouth of the Krabi River into the Andaman Sea. As of 2005 the town has a population of 24,986. The town is the capital of Krabi Province and Krabi district. Tourism has become the most important feature of Krabi today...
, RanongRanong is a town in southern Thailand, capital of the Ranong Province and the Mueang Ranong district. The town covers completely the area of the tambon Khao Niwet . As of 2005 it has a population of 16,163, and has town status .The town is located at the estuary of the Pak Chan River, opposite...
, Phang NgaPhang Nga is a town in southern Thailand, capital of the Phang Nga Province. The town covers the whole tambon Thai Chang of Mueang Phang Nga district. As of 2005 it has a population of 9,559 and covers an area of 6.75 km²....
and TrangTrang is the capital of Trang Province, Thailand. The city has a population of 59,637 and covers the whole tambon Thap Thiang of Mueang Trang district....
and their lush islands all lay along the coasts of the Andaman Sea and despite the 2004 Tsunami, they continue to be and ever more so, the playground of the rich and elite of AsiaAsia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.6% of the earth's total surface area and with approximately 4 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population.Asia is traditionally defined as part of the...
and the world.
Plans have resurfaced of a logistical connection of the two bodies of water which would be coined the Thai CanalThe Thai Canal refers to a plan for a large canal that would cut through southern Thailand to enable improved transportation in the region, like the Panama Canal and Suez Canal.-History:...
, analogous to the SuezThe Suez Canal is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. Opened on November 1869, it allows water transportation between Europe and Asia without navigating around Africa...
and the Panama CanalThe Panama Canal is a ship canal which joins the Caribbean Sea to the Pacific ocean. One of the largest and most difficult engineering projects ever undertaken, it had an enormous impact on shipping between the two oceans, replacing the long and treacherous route via the Drake Passage and Cape Horn...
. Such an idea has been greeted with positive accounts by Thai politicians as it would cut fees charged by the Ports of SingaporeThe Port of Singapore refers to the collective facilities and terminals that conduct maritime trade handling functions in Singapore's harbours and which handle Singapore's shipping...
, improve ties with ChinaChina is a cultural region, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
and IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
, lower shipping times and increase ship safety owing to pirate fears in the Strait of Melaka and, support the Thai government's policy of being the logistical hub for Southeast Asia. The ports would improve economic conditions in the south of Thailand, which relies heavily on tourism income, and it would also change the structure of the Thai economy moving it closer to a services center of Asia. The canal would be a major engineering project and has expected costs of 20–30 billion dollars.
Economy
Thailand is an emerging economyThe term emerging markets is used to describe a nation's social or business activity in the process of rapid growth and industrialization. Currently, there are approximately 28 emerging markets in the world, with the economies of India and China considered to be by far the two largest...
and considered as a Newly Industrialized Country. After enjoying the world's highest growth rate from 1985 to 1996 – averaging 9.4% annually – increased pressure on Thailand's currency, the bahtThe baht is the currency of Thailand. It is subdivided into 100 satang . The issuance of currency is the responsibility of the Bank of Thailand.-History:...
, in 1997, the year in which the economy contracted by 1.9% led to a crisis that uncovered financial sector weaknesses and forced the Chavalit YongchaiyudhGeneral Chavalit Yongchaiyudh is a Thai politician and general who started his political career as Defence Minister, Deputy Prime Minister during the term of Chatichai Choonhavan from 1988 to 1991, as Minister of Interior from 1992 to 1994 and again Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence...
administration to float the currency, however, Prime Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh was forced to resign after his cabinet came under fire for its slow response to the crisis. The baht was pegged at 25 to the US dollar from 1978 to 1997, however, the baht reached its lowest point of 56 to the US dollar in January 1998 and the economy contracted by 10.8% that year. This collapse prompted the Asian financial crisis.
Thailand's economy started to recover in 1999, expanding 4.2% and 4.4% in 2000, thanks largely to strong exports. Growth (2.2%) was dampened by the softening of the global economy in 2001, but picked up in the subsequent years owing to strong growth in Asia, a relatively weak baht encouraging exports and increasing domestic spending as a result of several mega projects and incentives of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, known as ThaksinomicsThaksinomics is a term used to refer to the economic set of policies of Thaksin Shinawatra, Prime Minister of Thailand from 2001-2006. There has been considerable controversy over the role Thaksinomics has played in Thailand's recovery from the 1997 Asian financial crisis...
. Growth in 2002, 2003 and 2004 was 5–7% annually. Growth in 2005, 2006 and 2007 hovered around 4–5%. Due both to the weakening of the US dollar and an increasingly strong Thai currency, by March 2008, the dollar was hovering around the 33 baht mark.
Thailand exports an increasing value of over $105 billion worth of goods and services annually. Major exports include Thai rice, textiles and footwear, fishery products, rubber, jewelry, automobiles, computers and electrical appliances. Thailand is the world’s no.1 exporter of rice, exporting more than 6.5 million tons of milled rice annually. Rice is the most important crop in the country. Thailand has the highest percentage of arable land, 27.25%, of any nation in the Greater Mekong Subregion. About 55% of the available land area is used for rice production.
Substantial industries include electric appliances, components, computer parts and automobiles, while tourism in ThailandTourism is a major economic factor in the Kingdom of Thailand, contributing an estimated 6.7% to Thailand's GDP in 2007.-Overview:The tourism industry in Thailand truly took off when US soldiers started to arrive in the 1960s for Rest and Recuperation during the Vietnam war period...
makes up about 6% of the economy. Prostitution in ThailandProstitution in Thailand is illegal , but in practice it is tolerated and regulated.Since the Vietnam War, Thailand has gained international notoriety among travelers from many countries as a sex tourism destination....
and sex tourism also form a de facto part of the economy. Cultural milieu combined with poverty and the lure of easy money have caused prostitutionProstitution is the act or practice of engaging in sex acts for hire. In most cultures, prostitution is viewed by many as a deviant profession, either illegal or socially discouraged...
and sex tourism in particular to flourish in Thailand. One estimate published in 2003 placed the trade at US$The United States dollar is the unit of currency of the United States. The U.S. dollar is normally abbreviated as the dollar sign, $, or as USD or US$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies and from others that use the $ symbol. It is divided into 100 cents .The U.S...
4.3 billion per year or about three percent of the Thai economy. According to research by Chulalongkorn UniversityChulalongkorn University is the oldest university in Thailand and has been long-time considered the country's most prestigious university. It now has eighteen faculties and a number of schools and institutes. Regarded as the best and most selective university of Thailand, it normally attracts top...
on the Thai illegal economy, prostitution in Thailand in the period between 1993 and 1995, made up around 2.7% of the GDP. It is believed that at least 10% of tourist dollars are spent on the sex trade.
Thailand uses the metric system but traditional units of measurement and imperial measure (feet, inches) are still much in use, particularly for agriculture and building materials. Years are numbered as B.E. (Buddhist EraThe Thai solar calendar, Suriyakati was adopted by King Chulalongkorn in 1888 as the Siamese version of the Gregorian calendar. It is the official calendar in Thailand, though Thai lunar calendar dates continue in use...
) in education, the civil service, government, and on contracts and newspaper datelines; in banking, however, and increasingly in industry and commerce, standard Western year (Christian or Common Era) counting prevails.
Language
The official language of Thailand is the Thai languageThai is the national and official language of Thailand and the mother tongue of the Thai people, Thailand's dominant ethnic group. Thai is a member of the Tai group of the Kradai language family. The Kradai languages are thought to have originated in what is now southern China, and are linked to...
, a Kradai language closely related to LaoLao or Laotian is a tonal language of the Kradai language family. It is the official language of Laos, and also spoken in the northeast of Thailand, where it is usually referred to as the Isan language. Being the primary language of the Lao people, Lao is also an important second language for...
, ShanShan is related to the Thai language and is called Tai-Yai, or Tai Long in the Tai languages. It is spoken in Northeast Burma, that is to say, in the Shan States of Burma, and in pockets in Northern Thailand...
in Burma, and numerous smaller languages spoken in an arc from HainanHainan is the smallest province of the People's Republic of China . Although the province comprises some two hundred islands scattered among three archipelagos off the southern coast, all but three percent of its land mass is on Hainan Island , from which the province takes its name...
and YunnanYunnan is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the far southwest of the country spanning approximately 394,000 square kilometers . The capital of the province is Kunming...
south to the Malaysian border. It is the principal language of education and government and spoken throughout the country. The standard is based on the dialect of the central Thai people, and it is written in the Thai alphabetThe Thai alphabet is used to write the Thai language and other minority languages in Thailand. It has forty-four consonants , fifteen vowel symbols that combine into at least twenty-eight vowel forms, and four tone marks .The character set is an abugida, a writing system in which each consonant may...
, an abugidaAn abugida , also called an alphasyllabary, is a segmental writing system which is based on consonants, and in which vowel notation is obligatory but secondary. This contrasts with an alphabet proper, in which vowels have status equal to consonants, and with an abjad, in which vowel marking is...
script that evolved from the Khmer scriptThe Khmer script is used to write the Khmer language which is the official language of Cambodia. It is often considered to be the longest alphabet in the world....
. Several other dialects exist, and coincide with the regional designations. Southern ThaiSouthern Thai or Dambro is a Tai language spoken in the 14 changwat of Southern Thailand as well as by small communities in the northernmost Malaysian states...
is spoken in the southern provinces, and Northern ThaiThe Northern Thai language or Kham Mueang or Lanna is the language of the Thai Yuan people of Lannathai, Thailand. It is a Tai language, closely related to Thai and Lao...
is spoken in the provinces that were formally part of the independent kingdom of Lannathai.
Thailand is also host to several other minority languages, the largest of which is the LaoLao or Laotian is a tonal language of the Kradai language family. It is the official language of Laos, and also spoken in the northeast of Thailand, where it is usually referred to as the Isan language. Being the primary language of the Lao people, Lao is also an important second language for...
dialect of IsanIsan is the principal language of the Isan region of Thailand, which lies in the country's northeast...
spoken in the northeastern provinces. Although sometimes considered a Thai dialect, it is a Lao dialect, and the region in where it is traditionally spoken was historically part of the Lao kingdom of Lan XangThe Lao kingdom of Lan Xang or Lan Ch'ang was established in 1354 by Fa Ngum....
. In the far south, Yawi, a dialect of Malay, is the primary language of the Malay Muslims. Chinese dialects are also spoken by the large Chinese population, Teochew being the dialect best represented.
Numerous tribal languages are also spoken, including those belonging to the Mon-Khmer family, such as MonThe Mon language is an Austroasiatic language spoken by the Mon, who live in Burma and Thailand. Mon, unlike most languages in the Southeast Asian region, is not tonal. Mon is spoken by less than a million people today. In recent years, usage of Mon has declined rapidly, especially among the...
, KhmerKhmer , or Cambodian, is the language of the Khmer people and the official language of Cambodia. It is the second most widely spoken Austroasiatic language , with speakers in the tens of millions. Khmer has been considerably influenced by Sanskrit and Pali, especially in the royal and religious...
, VietVietnamese , formerly known under French colonization as Annamese , is the national and official language of Vietnam...
, MlabriMlabri is a language spoken by the Mlabri people in the border area between Thailand and Laos.It is usually classified as a Khmuic language, a subgroup of the Austro-Asiatic languages. Linguist Jørgen Rischel has studied the language and described its peculiarities in several works...
; Austronesian family, such as ChamCham is the language of the Cham people of Southeast Asia, and formerly the language of the kingdom of Champa in central Vietnam. A member of the Malayo-Polynesian branch of the Austronesian family, it is spoken by 100,000 people in Vietnam and up to 220,000 people in Cambodia . There are also...
, Moken, and Orang AsliThe Aslian languages are the languages of the Orang Asli, the aboriginal inhabitants of Malaya and peninsular Thailand, and a branch of the Mon-Khmer languages, in the Austro-Asiatic language family.-Classification:...
, Sino-TibetanThe Sino-Tibetan languages form a language family composed of, at least, the Chinese and the Tibeto-Burman languages, including some 250 languages of East Asia, Southeast Asia and parts of South Asia...
family such as Lawa, AkhanAkha is the language spoken by the Akha people. It is sometimes considered a dialect of the Hani language spoken in China, although most speakers live in eastern Myanmar.-External links:*...
, and KarenThe Karen languages are tonal languages spoken by some three million Karen people. They are of unclear affiliation within the Tibeto-Burman languages. The Karen languages are written using the Burmese script. The three main branches are Sgaw, Pwo, and Pa'o. Karenni and Kayan are related to the...
; and other Tai languagesThe Tai languages are a subgroup of the Kradai language family. The Tai languages include the most widely spoken of the Tai-Kadai languages, including standard Thai, the national language of Thailand, Lao or Laotian, the national language of Laos, Myanmar's Shan language, and Zhuang, a major...
such as NyawThe Nyaw or Tai Nyaw are an ethnic group of Thailand and Laos, scattered throughout the provinces of Isan such as Nong Khai, Sakon Nakhon, Nakhon Phanom, and parts of areas of Bolikhamxai and Khammouan provinces of Laos...
, Phu ThaiPhu Thai , also known as Phuu Thai, is the language of the Phutai people. It is a closely related language to the Tai Dam, Tai Don, as well as the Isan and the Lao languages, having only few vocabulary, tonal and pronunciation differences.-Speakers:Speakers of the Phu Thai language in Thailand...
, and SaekSaek is a Tai language spoken in several villages in Laos, and in at least three villages in Nakhon Phanom Province in northeast Thailand, just across the Mekong river. It is spoken by the Saek people....
. HmongHmong or Mong is the common name for a group of dialects of the West Hmongic branch of the Hmong-Mien/Miao-Yao language family spoken by the Hmong people of Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangxi, northern Vietnam, Thailand, and Laos...
is a member of the Hmong-Mien languagesThe Hmong-Mien or Miao-Yao languages are a small language family of southern China and Southeast Asia. They are spoken in mountainous areas of southern China, including Guizhou, Hunan, Yunnan, Sichuan, Guangxi, and Hubei provinces, where its speakers have been relegated to being "hill people,"...
, which is now regarded as a language family of its own.
English is a mandatory school subject, but the number of fluent speakers remains very low, especially outside the cities.
Religion
According to the last census (2000) 94.7% of the total population are Buddhists of the TheravadaTheravada Theravada Theravada (Pāli: थेरवाद theravāda (cf Sanskrit: स्थविरवाद sthaviravāda); literally, "the Teaching of the Elders" or "the Ancient Teaching", is the oldest surviving Buddhist school. It was founded in India...
tradition. MuslimsIslam, while a minority faith in Thailand, is quickly growing, with the 2005 statistics from National Statistic Office of Thailand estimating approximately 2.2 million, or equivalent to 4.5% of the population of 49.5 million , are Muslims Most Thai Muslims belong to the Sunni sect.-Demographics:A...
are the second largest religious group in Thailand at 4.6%. Thailand's southernmost provinces – PattaniPattani may refer to* Pattani Province, in southern Thailand* Pattani , in southern Thailand* Pattani , which includes the above province** Pattani Kingdom, a former semi-independent kingdom...
, Yala-Asia:* Yala National Park, Sri Lanka* Yala is the dry season in Sri Lanka. Its counterpart is Maha, the wet season.* Yala Province, Thailand*Yala, Thailand, its administrative capital...
, NarathiwatNarathiwat is a town in southern Thailand, capital of the Narathiwat Province....
and part of SongkhlaSongkhla is a city in the Songkhla Province of southern Thailand, near the border with Malaysia. As of 2006 it had a population of 75,048...
ChumphonChumphon is a town in southern Thailand, capital of the Chumphon Province and the Mueang Chumphon district. The city is located about 463 kilometers away from Bangkok...
have dominant Muslim populations, consisting of both ethnic Thai and Malay. The southern tip of Thailand is mostly ethnically Malay, and most Malays are Sunni Muslims. ChristiansChristianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented by the revelations in the New Testament....
represent 0.5% of the population. A tiny but influential community of Sikhs in ThailandThai Sikhs are Sikhs of the Guru who have upheld the Nishaan Sahib, the Sikh flag in Thailand.- Introduction :The first Indian to arrive in Thailand was Mr Kirpa Ram Madan from India in 1880's. He was granted audience with the king of Thailand chulalongkorn. The records are available in Gurudwara...
and some Hindus also live in the country's cities, and are heavily engaged in retail commerce. There is also a small Jewish community in Thailand, dating back to the 17th century. Since 2001, Muslim activists have rallied against the central government because of alleged corruption and ethnic bias among officials.
Culture
The culture of Thailand incorporates a great deal of influence from India, China, Cambodia, and the rest of Southeast Asia. Thailand's national religion Theravada Buddhism is central to modern Thai identity and belief. In practice, Thai BuddhismBuddhism in Thailand is largely of the Theravada school. Nearly 95% of Thailand's population is Buddhist of the Theravada school, though Buddhism in this country has become integrated with folk beliefs as well as Chinese religions from the large Thai-Chinese population.Buddhist temples in Thailand...
has evolved over time to include many regional beliefs originating from Hinduism, animism as well as ancestor worship. In areas in the southernmost parts of Thailand, IslamIslam Islam Islam ( al-’islām,
[There are ten pronunciations of Islam in English, differing in whether the first or second syllable has the stress, whether the s is or , and whether the a is pronounced as in father, as in cat, or (when the stress is on the i) as in the a of sofa...]
is prevalent. Several different ethnic groups, many of which are marginalized, populate Thailand. Some of these groups overlap into Burma, LaosLaos , officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and People's Republic of China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...
, CambodiaThe Kingdom of Cambodia , formerly known as Kampuchea , is a country in South East Asia with a population of over 14 million people. The kingdom's capital and largest city is Phnom Penh...
, and MalaysiaMalaysia is a country in Southeast Asia that consists of thirteen states and three Federal Territories, with a total landmass of . The capital city is Kuala Lumpur, while Putrajaya is the seat of the federal government. The population stands at over 28 million inhabitants...
and have mediated change between their traditional local culture, national Thai and global cultural influences. Overseas ChineseOverseas Chinese are people of Chinese birth or descent who live outside the territories administered by the rival governments of the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China...
also form a significant part of Thai society, particularly in and around Bangkok. Their successful integration into Thai society has allowed for this group to hold positions of economic and political power.
After World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, American missionaries sought to win ChristianA Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic, religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, who Christians believe was the Messiah prophesied in the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible, and the Son of God.The term "Christian" is also used adjectivally to...
converts in Thailand. Harold ReevesHarold Philmon Reeves was an American clergyman in Texas who served as the first missionary to Thailand from the Southern Baptist Convention. Reeves and his wife, the former Rose Lengefeld, established two congregations and an English-language ministry now known as the Baptist Student Center in...
, for instance, in 1952 became the first missionary to Thailand sent by the Southern Baptist ConventionThe Southern Baptist Convention is a United States-based, mostly conservative Christian denomination. It is the world's largest Baptist denomination and the largest Protestant body in the US with over 16 million members and more than 42,000 churches.The word Southern in Southern Baptist Convention...
.
Like most Asian cultures, respect towards ancestors is an essential part of Thai spiritual practice. Thais have a strong sense of hospitality and generosity, but also a strong sense of social hierarchy. Seniority is an important concept in Thai culture. Elders have by tradition ruled in family decisions or ceremonies. Older siblings have duties to younger ones.
The traditional Thai greeting, the waiThe Thai greeting referred to as the wai or in Lao as kub consists of a slight bow, with the palms pressed together in a prayer-like fashion. It is very similar to the Indian Añjali Mudrā/namasté and the Cambodian sampeah...
, is generally offered first by the younger of the two people meeting, with their hands pressed together, fingertips pointing upwards as the head is bowed to touch their face to the hands, usually coinciding with the spoken word "Sawasdee khrap" for male speakers, and "Sawasdee ka" for females. The elder then is to respond afterwards in the same way. Social status and position, such as in government, will also have an influence on who performs the waiThe Thai greeting referred to as the wai or in Lao as kub consists of a slight bow, with the palms pressed together in a prayer-like fashion. It is very similar to the Indian Añjali Mudrā/namasté and the Cambodian sampeah...
first. For example, although one may be considerably older than a provincial governor, when meeting it is usually the visitor who pays respect first. When children leave to go to school, they are taught to wai to their parents to represent their respect for them. They do the same when they come back. The wai is a sign of respect and reverence for another, similar to the namasteNamaste, Namaskara or Namaskaram is a common spoken greeting or salutation in South Asia...
greeting of India and Nepal.
Muay ThaiMuay Thai is a form of hard martial art practiced in large parts of the world, including Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries. The art is similar to others in Southeast Asia such as: pradal serey in Cambodia, lethwei in Myanmar, tomoi in Malaysia and Lao boxing in Laos...
, or Thai boxing, is the national sport in Thailand and its native martial art call "Muay". In the past "Muay" was taught to royal soldiers for combat on battlefield if unarmed. After they retired from the army, these soldiers often became Buddhist monks and stayed at the temples. Most of the Thai people's lives are closely tied to Buddhism and templesThis article on Thai Temple Art and Architecture discusses Buddhist temples in Thailand.- Introduction :A typical Wat Thai has an enclosing wall that divides it from the secular world....
; they often send their sons to be educated with the monks. ”Muay” is also one of the subjects taught in the temples.
Muay Thai achieved popularity all over the world in the 1990s. The feature film Fight or Flight, which won "Best Foreign Documentary" at the Long Island Film Festival, documented a westerners journey in the Muay Thai circuit in Thailand Fight or Flight official movie website. Although similar martial arts styles exist in other southeast Asian countries, few enjoy the recognition that Muay Thai has received with its full-contact rules allowing strikes including elbows, throws and knees. This is due to Thailand's economic standing in the world while other nation such as CambodiaThe Kingdom of Cambodia , formerly known as Kampuchea , is a country in South East Asia with a population of over 14 million people. The kingdom's capital and largest city is Phnom Penh...
, LaosLaos , officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and People's Republic of China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...
and Burma are listed as the world's Least Developed CountriesLeast Developed Countries are countries which according to the United Nations exhibit the lowest indicators of socioeconomic development, with the lowest Human Development Index ratings of all countries in the world...
by the UN. Association football, however, has possibly overtaken Muay Thai's position as most widely viewed and liked sport in contemporary Thai society and it is not uncommon to see Thais cheering their favourite English Premier League teams on television and walking around in replica kits. Another widely enjoyed pastime, and once a competitive sport, is kite flying.
Taboos in Thailand include touching someone's head or pointing with the feet, as the head is considered the most sacred and the foot the dirtiest part of the body. Stepping over someone, or over food, is considered insulting. However, some traditional taboos in Thai culture, as in many other Asian cultures, have lost their meaning and are less of an integrating force in a globalized Thai culture.
Books and other documents are the most revered of secular objects. One should not slide a book across a table or place it on the floor.
Thai cuisineThai cuisine refers to typical foods, beverages, and cooking styles common to the country of Thailand in Southeast Asia. Thai Cuisine is well-known for being hot and spicy and for its balance of five fundamental flavors in each dish or the overall meal - hot , sour, sweet, salty, and bitter...
blends five fundamental tastes: sweet, spicy, sour, bitter and salty. Some common ingredients used in Thai cuisine include garlic, chillies, lime juice, lemon grass, and fish sauce. The staple food in Thailand is rice, particularly jasmine variety riceJasmine rice , sometimes known as Thai fragrant rice, is a long-grain variety of rice that has a nutty aroma and a subtle pandan-like flavor caused by 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline....
(also known as Hom Mali rice) which is included in almost every meal. Thailand is the world's largest exporter of rice, and Thais domestically consume over 100 kg of milled rice per person per year. Over 5000 varieties of rice from Thailand are preserved in the rice gene bank of the International Rice Research InstituteThe International Rice Research Institute is an autonomous, non-profit, agricultural research and training organization with offices in more than ten nations. The Institute’s main goal is to find sustainable ways to improve the well being of present and future generations of poor rice farmers and...
(IRRI), based in the Philippines. The king of Thailand is the official patron of IRRI.
Thai society has been influenced in recent years by its widely available multi-language press and media. There are numerous English, Thai and Chinese newspapers in circulation; most Thai popular magazines use English headlines as a chicChic , meaning 'stylish' or 'smart', is an element of fashion and the counterpart of posh.-Etymology:It is a French word, established in English since at least the 1870s...
glamor factor. Most large businesses in Bangkok operate in English as well as other languages. Thailand is the largest newspaper market in Southeast Asia with an estimated circulation of at least 13 million copies daily in 2003. Even upcountry, out of Bangkok, media flourishes. For example, according to Thailand's Public Relations Department Media Directory 2003-2004, the nineteen provinces of northeast Thailand themselves hosted 116 newspapers along with radio, TV and cable.
International rankings
| Organization |
Survey |
Ranking |
Heritage FoundationThe Heritage Foundation is an American think tank based in Washington, D.C.The foundation took a leading role in the conservative movement during the presidency of Ronald Reagan, whose policies drew significantly from Heritage's policy study Mandate for Leadership. Heritage has since continued to...
|
Indices of Economic Freedom The Index of Economic Freedom is a series of 10 economic measurements created by the Heritage Foundation and Wall Street Journal. Its stated objective is to measure the degree of economic freedom in the world's nations.- History :...
|
50 out of 157 |
A.T. KearneyA.T. Kearney is a global management consulting firm, focusing on strategic and operational CEO-agenda concerns. The stated mission of A.T. Kearney is to help the world’s leading corporations gain and sustain competitive advantage, and achieve profound, tangible results. Its slogan is: Ideas that last...
/Foreign Policy MagazineForeign Policy is a bimonthly American magazine founded in 1970 by Samuel P. Huntington and Warren Demian Manshel. Under the stewardship of editor-in-chief Moises Naim, Foreign Policy evolved from an academic quarterly in the 1990s to a bimonthly glossy, winning the 2009, 2007, and 2003 National...
|
Global Services Location Index 2009 |
4 out of 50 |
Reporters Without BordersReporters Without Borders, or RWB is a Paris-based international non-governmental organization that advocates freedom of the press. It was founded in 1985 by Robert Ménard, Rony Brauman and the journalist Jean-Claude Guillebaud...
|
Worldwide Press Freedom Index |
134 out of 169 |
| Transparency International Transparency International is an international non-governmental organization addressing corruption . This includes, but is not limited to, political corruption. It is widely known for producing its annual Corruptions Perceptions Index , a comparative listing of corruption worldwide. The...
|
Corruption Perceptions Index Since 1995, Transparency International has published an annual Corruption Perceptions Index ordering the countries of the world according to "the degree to which corruption is perceived to exist among public officials and politicians"...
|
84 out of 179 |
| United Nations Development Programme The United Nations Development Programme is the United Nations' global development network. The UNDP is an executive board within the United Nations General Assembly...
|
Human Development Index |
78 out of 177 |
| World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum is a Geneva-based non-profit foundation best known for its annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland which brings together top business leaders, international political leaders, selected intellectuals and journalists to discuss the most pressing issues facing the world...
|
Global Competitiveness Report The Global Competitiveness Report is a yearly report published by the World Economic Forum. The first report was released in 1979. The 2009-2010 report covers 133 major and emerging economies, down from 134 considered in the 2008-2009 report as Moldova was excluded due to lack of survey data...
(2008) |
34 out of 125 |
Sports
Thai boxing
Muay ThaiMuay Thai is a form of hard martial art practiced in large parts of the world, including Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries. The art is similar to others in Southeast Asia such as: pradal serey in Cambodia, lethwei in Myanmar, tomoi in Malaysia and Lao boxing in Laos...
(Thai: มวยไทย, RTGS: Muai Thai, , lit. "Thai Boxing") is a form of hard martial art practiced in large parts of the world, including Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries. The art is similar to others in Southeast Asia such as: Pradal Serey in Cambodia, Lethwei in Burma, Tomoi in Malaysia, and Muay Lao in Laos. Muay Thai has a long history in Thailand and is the country's national sport.
Traditional Muay ThaiMuay Thai is a form of hard martial art practiced in large parts of the world, including Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries. The art is similar to others in Southeast Asia such as: pradal serey in Cambodia, lethwei in Myanmar, tomoi in Malaysia and Lao boxing in Laos...
practiced today varies significantly from the ancient art Muay Boran and uses kicks, punches and knee and elbow strikes in a ring with gloves similar to those used in Western boxing and this has led to Thailand gaining medals at the Olympic Games in BoxingBoxing is a combat sport where two participants, generally of similar weight, fight each other with their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee and is typically engaged in during a series of one to three-minute intervals called rounds. There are three ways to win...
.
Rugby
Rugby is also a growing sport in Thailand with the Thailand national rugby union teamThe Thailand national rugby union team represents Thailand in international rugby union. Thailand have yet to make their debut at the Rugby World Cup, but have been playing in qualifying tournaments since the 1999 Rugby World Cup in Wales.
-History:...
rising to be ranked 61st in the world. Thailand became the first country in the world to host an international 80 kg welterweight rugby tournament in 2005. The national domestic Thailand Rugby Union (TRU) competition includes several universities and services teams such as Chulalongkorn UniversityChulalongkorn University is the oldest university in Thailand and has been long-time considered the country's most prestigious university. It now has eighteen faculties and a number of schools and institutes. Regarded as the best and most selective university of Thailand, it normally attracts top...
, Mahasarakham UniversityMahasarakham University is a public university located in the city of Maha Sarakham in the northeast region of Thailand. Currently, the university has two main campuses, one on the outskirts of Mahasarakham City and another at Kamrieng district about 8 kilometres away on the Kalasin road...
, Kasetsart UniversityKasetsart University is a public university in Thailand and is considered as one of the most prestigious universities in the country. It was also the first agricultural university and the third oldest university in Thailand...
, Prince of Songkla UniversityPrince of Songkla University was the first university in Southern Thailand, being established in 1967. Citation provided at the University website www.psu.ac.th/en/node/28 The name of the university was granted by His Majesty the King in honor to His Royal Highness Somdej Chao Fa Mahidol Adulyadej...
, Thammasat UniversityThammasat University is Thailand's second oldest university. Founded in 1934 as University of Moral and Political Sciences by Pridi Banomyong, a leader of Khana Ratsadon and one of Thailand's most prominent statesmen. It was transformed from an open university to the current form in 1960....
, Rangsit UniversityRangsit University is a private university located in Pathum Thani, Thailand. Rangsit University opened in 1986 as Rangsit College. In 1990 it was promoted to university status....
, the Thai Police, the Thai Army, the Thai Navy and the Royal Thai Air ForceThe Royal Thai Air Force or RTAF is the air force of the Kingdom of Thailand. As of 2008, the Commander of the Air Force is Itthaporn Subhawong.-History:...
. Local sports clubs which also compete in the TRU include the British Club of Bangkok, the Southerners Sports Club (Bangkok)The Southerners Sports Club is an informal, non-commercial Bangkok-based club of expats and Thais. The Southerners field teams in Bangkok's local rugby, netball, touch rugby and cricket competitions, and also tour to neighbouring countries for regional-based sports tournaments.The club aims to...
and the Royal Bangkok Sports Club.
Golf
Further information: Golf in ThailandGolf arrived in Thailand during the reign of King Rama V one hundred years ago. It was first played by nobles and other elitists of high society but over the past decade or so, the popularity of golf in Thailand has escalated, played both by local Thais and visiting foreign tourists and...
Thailand has been called the Golf Capital of Asia as it is a popular destination for golf. The country attracts a large number of golfers from Japan, Korea, Singapore, South Africa and Western countries who come to play golf in Thailand every year. The growing popularity of golf, especially among the middle classes and expats, is evident since there are more than 200 world-class golf courses nationwide, and some of them are chosen to host PGA and LPGA tournaments, such as Amata Spring Country ClubThe Amata Spring Country Club is a private golf and country club near to Bangkok, the capital of Thailand. It hosts two high profile golf tournaments which were introduced in 2006. The Royal Trophy is a team competition between Europe and Asia, and the Honda LPGA Thailand is the first LPGA Tour...
, Alpine Golf & Sports Club, Thai Country Club and Black Mountain Golf Club.
Other sports
Other sports in Thailand are slowly growing as the country develops its sporting infrastructure. The success in sports like weightliftingPowerlifting is a strength sport, consisting of three events: the squat, the bench press, and the deadlift.Powerlifting resembles the sport of olympic weightlifting, as both disciplines involve lifting weights in three attempts. It evolved from a sport known as 'odd lifts' which followed the same 3...
and TaekwondoTaekwondo is a Korean martial art and the national sport of South Korea. In Korean, tae means "to strike or break with foot"; kwon means "to strike or break with fist"; and do means "way," "method," or "art." Thus, "taekwondo" may be loosely translated as "the way of the foot and fist" or "the...
at the last two Summer Olympic GamesThe Summer Olympic Games or the Games of the Olympiad are an international multi-sport event, occurring every four years, organized by the International Olympic Committee. Medals are awarded in each event, with gold medals for first place, silver for second and bronze for third, a tradition that...
has demonstrated that boxingBoxing is a combat sport where two participants, generally of similar weight, fight each other with their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee and is typically engaged in during a series of one to three-minute intervals called rounds. There are three ways to win...
is no longer the only medal chance for Thailand.
See also
- Index of Thailand-related articles
- Thai Temple Art and Architecture
This article on Thai Temple Art and Architecture discusses Buddhist temples in Thailand.- Introduction :A typical Wat Thai has an enclosing wall that divides it from the secular world....
:Category:Thai Buddhist temples
- Buddhism in Thailand
Buddhism in Thailand is largely of the Theravada school. Nearly 95% of Thailand's population is Buddhist of the Theravada school, though Buddhism in this country has become integrated with folk beliefs as well as Chinese religions from the large Thai-Chinese population.Buddhist temples in Thailand...
:Category:Thai Buddhist temples outside of Thailand
- Tourism in Thailand
Tourism is a major economic factor in the Kingdom of Thailand, contributing an estimated 6.7% to Thailand's GDP in 2007.-Overview:The tourism industry in Thailand truly took off when US soldiers started to arrive in the 1960s for Rest and Recuperation during the Vietnam war period...
- Soccer in Thailand
External links
Government
General information
Travel
Other
The Kingdom of Thailand ({{pron-en|ˈtaɪlænd}}; {{lang-th|ราชอาณาจักรไทย}} Ratcha Anachak Thai, {{IPA-all|râːtɕʰa ʔaːnaːtɕɑ̀k tʰɑj|IPA|Th-pratheidthai raachaanaajakthai.ogg}}) is an independent country that lies in the heart of Southeast AsiaManila
Bangkok
Ho Chi Minh City
Kuala Lumpur
Singapore
Yangon
Bandung
Hanoi
Surabaya
Taichung
Kaohsiung
Medan|-|}...
.
It is bordered to the north by LaosLaos , officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and People's Republic of China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...
and Burma, to the east by Laos and CambodiaThe Kingdom of Cambodia , formerly known as Kampuchea , is a country in South East Asia with a population of over 14 million people. The kingdom's capital and largest city is Phnom Penh...
, to the south by the Gulf of ThailandThe Gulf of Thailand or Gulf of Siam is a shallow arm of the South China Sea.-Geography:The Gulf of Siam is bordered by Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam. The northern tip of the gulf is the Bay of Bangkok at the mouth of the Chao Phraya River. The gulf covers roughly 320,000 km²...
and MalaysiaMalaysia is a country in Southeast Asia that consists of thirteen states and three Federal Territories, with a total landmass of . The capital city is Kuala Lumpur, while Putrajaya is the seat of the federal government. The population stands at over 28 million inhabitants...
, and to the west by the Andaman SeaThe Andaman Sea is a body of water to the southeast of the Bay of Bengal, south of Myanmar, west of Thailand and east of the Andaman Islands; it is part of the Indian Ocean. It is roughly and wide , with an area of...
and Burma. Its maritime boundaries include VietnamVietnam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam , is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea to the east...
in the Gulf of ThailandThe Gulf of Thailand or Gulf of Siam is a shallow arm of the South China Sea.-Geography:The Gulf of Siam is bordered by Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam. The northern tip of the gulf is the Bay of Bangkok at the mouth of the Chao Phraya River. The gulf covers roughly 320,000 km²...
to the southeast and IndonesiaThe Republic of Indonesia is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia comprises 17,508 islands. With an estimated population of around 237 million people, it is the world's fourth most populous country, with the world's largest population of Muslims.Indonesia is a republic, with an...
and IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
in the Andaman SeaThe Andaman Sea is a body of water to the southeast of the Bay of Bengal, south of Myanmar, west of Thailand and east of the Andaman Islands; it is part of the Indian Ocean. It is roughly and wide , with an area of...
to the southwest. The capital and largest city of Thailand is BangkokBangkok is the capital, largest urban area and primary city of Thailand. Known in Thai as Krung Thep Mahanakhon , or กรุงเทพฯ Krung Thep for short, it was a small trading post at the mouth of the Chao Phraya River during the Ayutthaya Kingdom. It came to the forefront of Siam when it was given the...
. It is also the country's center of political, commercial, industrial and cultural activities.
Thailand is the world's 50th largest country in terms of total area (slightly smaller than YemenYemen , officially the Republic of Yemen is a country located on the Arabian Peninsula in Southwest Asia...
and slightly larger than SpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.
[The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...]
), with a surface area of approximately 513,000 km2 (198,000 sq mi), and the 21st most-populous country, with approximately 64 million people. About 75% of the population is ethnically ThaiThe Thai are the main ethnic group of Thailand and are part of the larger Tai ethnolinguistic peoples found in Thailand and adjacent countries in Southeast Asia as well as southern China. Their language is the Thai language, which is classified as part of the Kradai family of languages, and the...
, 14% is of ChineseThe Thai Chinese are an overseas Chinese community who live in Thailand. Official statistics show that six million people in 1987, or about 14% of Thailand's population claim to be of Chinese ethnicity. Extensive intermarriages with the Thais, especially in the past has resulted in many people who...
origin, and 3% is ethnically MalayThai Malays is a term used to refer to ethnic Malays in Thailand. Thailand hosts the third largest ethnic Malay population after Malaysia and Indonesia, and most Malays are concentrated in the Southern provinces of Narathiwat, Pattani, Yala, Songkhla and Satun.Ethnic Malays in Narathiwat, Pattani,...
; the rest belong to minority groups including MonsThe Mon are an ethnic group from Myanmar, living mostly in Mon State, Bago Division, Irrawaddy Delta of present-day Burma, and along the southern Thai-Myanmar border. One of the earliest peoples to reside in Southeast Asia, the Mon were responsible for the spread of Theravada Buddhism in...
, Khmers and various hill tribes. There are approximately 2.2 million legal and illegal migrants in Thailand. Thailand has also attracted a small number of expatriateAn expatriate is a person temporarily or permanently residing in a country and culture other than that of the person's upbringing or legal residence...
s from developed countries in the West. The country's official language is ThaiThai is the national and official language of Thailand and the mother tongue of the Thai people, Thailand's dominant ethnic group. Thai is a member of the Tai group of the Kradai language family. The Kradai languages are thought to have originated in what is now southern China, and are linked to...
.
Thailand is one of the most devoutly Buddhist countries in the world. The national religion is TheravadaTheravada Theravada Theravada (Pāli: थेरवाद theravāda (cf Sanskrit: स्थविरवाद sthaviravāda); literally, "the Teaching of the Elders" or "the Ancient Teaching", is the oldest surviving Buddhist school. It was founded in India...
BuddhismBuddhism, as traditionally conceived, is a path of salvation attained through insight into the ultimate nature of reality. It encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha...
which is practiced by more than 94.7% of all Thais. Muslim:A Muslim , , is an adherent of the religion of Islam. The feminine form is Muslimah . Literally, the word means "one who submits ". Muslim is the participle of the same verb of which Islam is the infinitive. Muslims believe that there is only one God, translated in Arabic as Allah...
s make up 4.6% of the population and 0.7% belong to other religions. Culture and traditions in Thailand are significantly influenced by IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
, as are Burma, LaosLaos , officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and People's Republic of China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...
and CambodiaThe Kingdom of Cambodia , formerly known as Kampuchea , is a country in South East Asia with a population of over 14 million people. The kingdom's capital and largest city is Phnom Penh...
.
Thailand is a constitutional monarchyA constitutional monarchy is a form of government in which a monarch acts as head of state within the parameters of a written , unwritten or blended constitution...
with King Bhumibol Adulyadejclass="infobox vcard" style="font-size: 88%; text-align: left; width: 22em;"|-! colspan="2" style="background: #ffff00; color: #000000; font-size: 120%; text-align: center;" class="fn"|...
, the ninth king of the House of ChakriThe Chakri Dynasty The Chakri Dynasty (also known as the House of Chakri) The Chakri Dynasty (also known as the House of Chakri) ( is the current ruling royal house of the Kingdom of Thailand, the Head of the house is the King of Thailand. The Dynasty has ruled Thailand since the founding of the...
, as the ruling monarch. The king has reigned for more than sixty-three years, making him the longest reigning Thai monarchThe Monarchy of Thailand The Monarchy of Thailand (also referred to as the King of Thailand) The Monarchy of Thailand (also referred to as the King of Thailand) ( refers to the constitutional monarchy and monarch of the Kingdom of Thailand (formerly Siam). The King of Thailand is the head of state...
and the longest reigning current monarch in the world. The king is officially titled as the Head of State, the Head of the Armed Forces, an Upholder of the Buddhist religion, and the Defender of all faiths.
Thailand experienced rapid economic growth between 1985 and 1995 and today is a newly industrialized country with an emphasis on exports and a flourishing tourismTourism is a major economic factor in the Kingdom of Thailand, contributing an estimated 6.7% to Thailand's GDP in 2007.-Overview:The tourism industry in Thailand truly took off when US soldiers started to arrive in the 1960s for Rest and Recuperation during the Vietnam war period...
industry, thanks to various world-famous tourist destinationA tourist destination is a city, town, or other area that is dependent to a significant extent on the revenues accruing from tourism. It may contain one or more tourist attractions and possibly some "tourist traps."...
s such as PattayaPattaya is a city in Thailand, located on the east coast of the Gulf of Thailand, about 165 km southeast of Bangkok located within but not part of Amphoe Bang Lamung in the province of Chonburi....
, BangkokBangkok is the capital, largest urban area and primary city of Thailand. Known in Thai as Krung Thep Mahanakhon , or กรุงเทพฯ Krung Thep for short, it was a small trading post at the mouth of the Chao Phraya River during the Ayutthaya Kingdom. It came to the forefront of Siam when it was given the...
, and Phuket.
Etymology
The Country's official name was Siam ({{lang-th|สยาม}} {{RTGS|Sayam}}, {{IPA-all|saˈjaːm|pron}}{{fix|text=need tone}}) until June 23, 1939, when it was changed to Thailand. It was renamed Siam from 1945 to May 11, 1949, after which it was again renamed Thailand. Also spelled Siem, Syâm or Syâma, it has been identified with the SanskritSanskrit is a historical Indo-Aryan language, one of the liturgical languages of Hinduism and Buddhism, and one of the 22 official languages of India. It is also declared as a classical language by the government of India....
Śyâma (श्याम, meaning "dark" or "brown"). The names ShanThe Shan are a Tai ethnic group of Southeast Asia. The Shan live primarily in the Shan State of Burma , but also inhabit parts of Mandalay Division, Kachin State, and Kayin State, and in adjacent regions of China and Thailand...
and A-hom seem to be variants of the same word, and Śyâma is possibly not its origin but a learned and artificial distortion.
The word Thai (ไทย) is not, as commonly believed, derived from the word Tai (ไท) meaning "freedom" in the Thai languageThai is the national and official language of Thailand and the mother tongue of the Thai people, Thailand's dominant ethnic group. Thai is a member of the Tai group of the Kradai language family. The Kradai languages are thought to have originated in what is now southern China, and are linked to...
; it is, however, the name of an ethnic groupAn ethnic group is a group of humans whose members identify with each other, through a common heritage that is real or presumed.Ethnic identity is further marked by the researcher Seng Yang in the recognition from others of a group's distinctiveness and the recognition of common cultural,...
from the central plains (the Thai peopleThe Thai are the main ethnic group of Thailand and are part of the larger Tai ethnolinguistic peoples found in Thailand and adjacent countries in Southeast Asia as well as southern China. Their language is the Thai language, which is classified as part of the Kradai family of languages, and the...
).{{Fact|date=November 2007}} A famous Thai scholar argued that Tai (ไท) simply means "people" or "human being" since his investigation shows that in some rural areas the word "Tai" was used instead of the usual Thai word "khon" (คน) for people. The phrase "Land of the free" is derived from Thai pride in the fact that Thailand is the only country in Southeast Asia never colonized by a European power.
The Thai National Anthem ({{lang-th|เพลงชาติ}}) refers to the Thai nation as: prathet-thai (Thai: ประเทศไทย). The first line of the national anthem is: prathet thai ruam lueat neua chat chuea thai (Thai: ประเทศไทยรวมเลือดเนื้อชาติเชื้อไทย) and was translated in 1939 by Colonel Luang Saranuprabhandi as: “Thailand is the unity of Thai blood and body.”
While the Thai people will often refer to their country using the polite form prathet-thai (Thai: ประเทศไทย), they most commonly use the more colloquial word 'Mueang-Thai' (Thai: เมืองไทย) or simply Thai (Thai:ไทย); the word mueang (Thai: เมือง) meaning nation but most commonly used to refer to a city or town.
Ratcha Anachak Thai ({{lang-th|ราชอาณาจักรไทย}}) means "Kingdom of Thailand" or "Kingdom of Thai". Etymologically, its components are: -Ratcha- (from Sanskrit rajaRaja is the Hindustani term for a monarch, or princely ruler of the Kshatriya varna...
, meaning "king, royal, realm") ; -ana- (from PāliPali is a Middle Indo-Aryan language of India. It is best known as the language of the earliest extant Buddhist scriptures, as collected in the Pāi Canon or Tipitaka, and as the liturgical language of Theravada Buddhism....
{{unicode|āṇā}}, "authority, command, power", itself from Sanskrit {{unicode|ājñā}}, same meaning) -chak (from Sanskrit cakra or cakraṃ meaning "wheel", a symbol of power and rule).
History
{{Main|History of Thailand|People of Thailand}}
The region known as Thailand has been inhabited by humans since the PaleolithicThe Paleolithic or Palaeolithic Age, Era, or Period, or Old Stone Age, is a prehistoric era distinguished by the development of the first stone tools, and covers roughly 99% of human technological history...
period, about 10,000 years ago. Before the fall of the Khmer EmpireThe Khmer Empire was the third largest empire of South East Asia , based in what is now Cambodia. The empire, which seceded from the kingdom of Chenla, at times ruled over and/or vassalised parts of modern-day Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, and Malaysia...
in the 13th century, various states thrived there, such as the various Tai"Thai peoples" redirects here. For the subgroup of the Tai, see Thai peopleThe Tai "Chinese 泰" ethnicity refers collectively to the ethnic groups of southern China and Southeast Asia, stretching from Hainan to eastern India and from southern Sichuan to Laos, Thailand, and parts of Vietnam, which...
, Mon, KhmerThe Khmer people; ខ្មែរ ; are the predominant ethnic group in Cambodia, accounting for approximately 90% of the 14.8 million people in the country. They speak the Khmer language, which is part of the larger Mon-Khmer language family found throughout Southeast Asia...
and Malay kingdoms, as seen through the numerous archaeological sites and artifacts that are scattered throughout the Siamese landscape. Prior to the 12th century however, the first ThaiThe Thai are the main ethnic group of Thailand and are part of the larger Tai ethnolinguistic peoples found in Thailand and adjacent countries in Southeast Asia as well as southern China. Their language is the Thai language, which is classified as part of the Kradai family of languages, and the...
or Siamese state is traditionally considered to be the Buddhist kingdom of SukhothaiThe Sukhothai kingdom was an early kingdom in the area around the city Sukhothai, in north central Thailand. It was First Thai Empire. It existed from 1238 till 1438...
, which was founded in 1238.
Following the decline and fall of the Khmer empire in the 13th–14th century, the Buddhist TaiTai may refer to the*Tai ethnic groups*Tai languagesOther meanings include*Tai , a Chinese surname*Tai, Nigeria, a local government area in Rivers State, Nigeria*Mount Tai, in Shandong, China...
kingdoms of Sukhothai, LannaThe Kingdom of Lanna was a state in what is now northern Thailand from the 13th to 18th centuries. The cultural development of the people of Lanna, the Tai Yuan people, had begun long before as successive Tai Yuan kingdoms preceded Lanna...
and Lan Chang were on the ascension. However, a century later, Sukhothai's power was overshadowed by the new kingdom of AyutthayaAyutthaya was a Siamese kingdom that existed from 1351 to 1767 until it was invaded by the Burmese. Ayutthaya was friendly towards foreign traders, including the Chinese, Vietnamese , Indians, Japanese and Persians, and later the Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch and French, permitting them to set up...
, established in the mid-14th century in the lower Chao Phraya RiverThe Chao Phraya is a major river in Thailand, with its low alluvial river plain marking the mainland of the country. It runs through Bangkok, the capital of Thailand.-Etymology:...
, or Menam area. Ayutthaya's expansion centered along the Menam while in the northern valley Lanna Kingdom and other small Tai city-states ruled the area.
Thailand retained a tradition of trade with its neighboring states, from China to India, Persia and Arab lands. Ayutthaya became one of the most vibrant trade centers in Asia. European traders arrived in the 16th century, beginning with the PortugueseThe Portuguese people are the ethnic group or nation native to the country of Portugal, in the far west of the Iberian peninsula of south-west Europe...
, followed by the French, Dutch and English.
After the fall of the AyutthayaAyutthaya was a Siamese kingdom that existed from 1351 to 1767 until it was invaded by the Burmese. Ayutthaya was friendly towards foreign traders, including the Chinese, Vietnamese , Indians, Japanese and Persians, and later the Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch and French, permitting them to set up...
in 1767 to the Burmese, King TaksinTaksin was King of Siam Empire. He was greatly revered for his leadership in liberation of Siam from the Burmese occupation after the Fall of Ayutthaya in 1767 and unification of Siam under various warlords...
the Great moved the capital of Thailand to ThonburiThon Buri was capital of Thailand for a short time during the reign of King Taksin, after the previous capital Ayutthaya was sacked by the Burmese. It is located on the opposite bank of Chao Phraya River, or nowaday Royal Palaces...
for approximately 15 years. The current Rattanakosin era of Thai history began in 1782, following the establishment of BangkokBangkok is the capital, largest urban area and primary city of Thailand. Known in Thai as Krung Thep Mahanakhon , or กรุงเทพฯ Krung Thep for short, it was a small trading post at the mouth of the Chao Phraya River during the Ayutthaya Kingdom. It came to the forefront of Siam when it was given the...
as capital of the Chakri dynastyThe Chakri Dynasty The Chakri Dynasty (also known as the House of Chakri) The Chakri Dynasty (also known as the House of Chakri) ( is the current ruling royal house of the Kingdom of Thailand, the Head of the house is the King of Thailand. The Dynasty has ruled Thailand since the founding of the...
under King Rama I the Great. A quarter to a third of the population of some areas of Thailand were slaves.
Despite European pressure, Thailand is the only Southeast AsiaManila
Bangkok
Ho Chi Minh City
Kuala Lumpur
Singapore
Yangon
Bandung
Hanoi
Surabaya
Taichung
Kaohsiung
Medan|-|}...
n nation that has never been colonized. Two main reasons for this were that Thailand had a long succession of very able rulers in the 19th century, and that it was able to exploit the rivalry and tension between the French||-|French Indochina was part of the French colonial empire in southeast Asia. A federation of the three Vietnamese regions, Tonkin , Annam , and Cochinchina , as well as Cambodia, was formed in 1887. Laos was added in 1893 and Kouang-Tchéou-Wan in 1900...
and the BritishThe British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom, that had originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height it was...
. As a result, the country remained a buffer stateA buffer state is a country lying between two rival or potentially hostile greater powers, which by its sheer existence is thought to prevent conflict between them. Buffer states, when authentically independent, typically pursue a neutralist foreign policy, which distinguishes them from satellite...
between parts of Southeast AsiaManila
Bangkok
Ho Chi Minh City
Kuala Lumpur
Singapore
Yangon
Bandung
Hanoi
Surabaya
Taichung
Kaohsiung
Medan|-|}...
that were colonized by the two colonial powers. Despite this, Western influence led to many reforms in the 19th century and major concessions, most notably being the loss of a large territory on the east side of the MekongThe Mekong River is one of the world’s major rivers. It is the world's 10th-longest river and the 7th-longest in Asia. . Its estimated length is , and it drains an area of ....
to the French||-|French Indochina was part of the French colonial empire in southeast Asia. A federation of the three Vietnamese regions, Tonkin , Annam , and Cochinchina , as well as Cambodia, was formed in 1887. Laos was added in 1893 and Kouang-Tchéou-Wan in 1900...
and the step-by-step absorption by Britain of the Shan (Thai Yai) States (now in Burma){{Fact|date=June 2009}} and the Malay PeninsulaThe Malay Peninsula or Thai-Malay Peninsula is a major peninsula located in Southeast Asia, with its narrowest point at the Isthmus of Kra. The land mass runs approximately north-south and, at its teminus, is the most southern point of the Asian mainland...
. The losses initially included Penang and Tumasik and eventually culminated in the loss of four predominantly ethnic-Malay southern provinces, which later became MalaysiaMalaysia is a country in Southeast Asia that consists of thirteen states and three Federal Territories, with a total landmass of . The capital city is Kuala Lumpur, while Putrajaya is the seat of the federal government. The population stands at over 28 million inhabitants...
's four northern states, under the Anglo-Siamese Treaty of 1909The Anglo-Siamese Treaty of 1909 or Bangkok Treaty of 1909 was a treaty between the United Kingdom and Thailand signed on March 10 1909 in Bangkok....
.
In 1932, a bloodless revolutionThe Siamese Revolution of 1932 or the Siamese Coup d'état of 1932 was a crucial turning point in Thai history in the 20th century...
carried out by a small groupKhana Ratsadon , or the People's Party, frequently mistakenly written as Khana Rat , was a Siamese group and later a political party, which staged a bloodless coup in the reign of King Prajadhipok...
of military and civilian officials resulted in a transition of power, when King PrajadhipokPhra Bat Somdet Phra Poramintharamaha Prajadhipok Phra Pok Klao Chao Yu Hua , or Rama VII was the seventh monarch of Siam under the House of Chakri. He was the last absolute monarch and the first constitutional monarch of the country. His reign was a turbulent time for Siam due to huge political...
was forced to grant the people of Siam their first constitution, thereby ending centuries of absolutist monarchyAbsolute monarchy is a monarchical form of government where the king or queen has absolute power over all aspects of his/her subjects' lives. Although some religious authorities may be able to discourage the monarch from some acts and the sovereign is expected to act according to custom, in an...
.
During World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the Empire of JapanThe Empire of Japan was a Japanese political entity that existed during the period from the...
demanded the right to move troops across Thailand to the Malayan frontier. Japan invaded the countryThe Japanese invasion of Thailand occurred on December 8, 1941.To invade Malaya and Burma the Japanese needed to make use of Thai ports, railways, and airfields. The Thai people, however, were fiercely proud of never having been colonised and were determined to maintain their independence, having...
and engaged the Thai army for six to eight hours before Plaek PibulsonggramField Marshal Luang Plaek Pibulsonggram was Prime Minister and military dictator of Thailand from 1938 to 1944 and 1948 to 1957.- Early life...
ordered an armistice. Shortly thereafter Japan was granted free passage, and on December 21, 1941, Thailand and Japan signed a military alliance with a secret protocol wherein Tokyo agreed to help Thailand regain territories lost to the British and French. Subsequently, Thailand undertook to 'assist' Japan in its war against the Allies, while at the same time maintaining an active anti-Japanese resistance movement known as the Seri Thai. After the war, Thailand emerged as an ally of the United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. As with many of the developing nations during the Cold WarThe Cold War was the continuing state of political conflict, military tension, and economic competition existing after World War II , primarily between the USSR and its satellite states, and the powers of the Western world, including the United States...
, Thailand then went through decades of political instability characterised by coups d'étatA coup d'état , or coup for short, is the sudden unconstitutional deposition of a legitimate government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another, either civil or military...
as one military regime replaced another, but eventually progressed towards a stable prosperity and democracyDemocracy is a system of government in which either the actual governing is carried out by the people governed , or the power to do so is granted by them...
in the 1980s.
In 1997, Thailand was hit by the Asian financial crisis, and the Thai baht for a short time peaked at 56 baht to the US dollar compared to about 25 baht to the dollar before 1997. Since then, the baht has regained most of its strength and as of August 2009 is valued at 34.01 baht to the US dollar.
The official calendarThe Thai solar calendar, Suriyakati was adopted by King Chulalongkorn in 1888 as the Siamese version of the Gregorian calendar. It is the official calendar in Thailand, though Thai lunar calendar dates continue in use...
in Thailand is based on the Eastern version of the Buddhist EraThe Buddhist calendar is used on mainland Southeast Asia in the countries of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Burma and Sri Lanka in several related forms. It is a lunisolar calendar having months that are alternately 29 and 30 days, with an intercalated day and a 30-day month added at regular intervals...
, which is 543 years ahead of the Gregorian (western) calendarThe Gregorian calendar is the internationally accepted civil calendar. It was first proposed by the Calabrian doctor Aloysius Lilius, and decreed by Pope Gregory XIII, after whom the calendar was named, on 24 February 1582 by the papal bull Inter gravissimas...
. For example, the year AD 2009 is 2552 BE in Thailand.
Southern Violence
{{See also|South Thailand insurgency}}
{{relevance|date=June 2009}}
{{POV-section|date=August 2008}}
Malay PeninsulaThe Malay Peninsula or Thai-Malay Peninsula is a major peninsula located in Southeast Asia, with its narrowest point at the Isthmus of Kra. The land mass runs approximately north-south and, at its teminus, is the most southern point of the Asian mainland...
was once known as Tanah Melayu (Malay Land). It extends from Singapore to the Isthmus of Kra bordering Burma, Thailand and Malay Land. Phuket is Bukit (hill) in Malay, "Satun" is "Setol" (a tropical fruit) was the Province of "Kedah" under the Malay Sultanate and Patani (Land of Farmers) was also part of the Malay Sultanate. In these areas people once spoke both English as well as Sam-sam, a local version of the Siamese language. The majority of residents were Muslims. Thailand pushed to dominate the peninsula as far as Malacca in the 1400s and held much of the peninsula for the next few centuries, including Tumasek (Singapore) some of the Andaman Islands and a colony on Java, but eventually failed when the British used force to guarantee their suzerainty over the sultanate.
All the states of the Malay Sultanate presented annual gifts to the Thai king in the form of a golden flowerThe bunga mas dan perak , often abbreviated to bunga mas, was a tribute sent every three years to the King of Siam from its vassal states in the Malay Peninsula - in particular, by Terengganu, Kelantan, Kedah and Pattani. The tribute consisted of two small trees made of gold and silver, plus costly...
, which understood the gesture to be tribute and an acknowledgement of vassalage. The British intervened in the Malay State and with the Anglo-Siamese TreatyThe Anglo-Siamese Treaty of 1909 or Bangkok Treaty of 1909 was a treaty between the United Kingdom and Thailand signed on March 10 1909 in Bangkok....
tried to build a railway from the south to Bangkok, Thailand relinquished sovereignty over what are now the northern Malay provinces of Kedah, Pelis, Kelantan and Terengganu to the British. Satun and Pattani provinces were given to Thailand.
The Malay peninsula provinces were infiltrated by the Japanese in 1654, during World War I, and by the Malayan Communist PartyThe Malayan Communist Party , also known as the Communist Party of Malaya was founded in 1930. Illegal from the outset, it advocated an end to British colonial rule, and was active in forming trade unions.-Formation:...
(CPM) from 1942 to 2008, when they decided to sue for peace with the Malaysian and Thai governments after the CPM lost its support from Vietnam and China subsequent to the Cultural RevolutionThe Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution was a period of widespread social and political upheaval in the People’s Republic of China between 1966 and 1976, resulting in nation-wide chaos and economic disarray.It was launched by Mao Zedong, the chairman of the Communist Party of China, on May 16,...
.
Recent insurgent uprisings may be a continuation of separatist fighting which started after World War II with Sukarno's support for the PULO, and the intensification since the U.S. initiation of the War on Terror may be related. Most victims since the uprisings have been Buddhist and Muslim bystanders.
Politics and government
{{Main|Politics of Thailand|Constitutions of Thailand|Government of Thailand}}
History
Since the political reform of the absolute monarchyAbsolute monarchy is a monarchical form of government where the king or queen has absolute power over all aspects of his/her subjects' lives. Although some religious authorities may be able to discourage the monarch from some acts and the sovereign is expected to act according to custom, in an...
in 1932, Thailand has had 17 constitutions and charters. Throughout this time, the form of government has ranged from military dictatorship to electoral democracy, but all governments have acknowledged a hereditary monarch as the head of state.
1997 to 2006
{{See also|1997 Constitution of Thailand}}
The 1997 Constitution was the first constitution to be drafted by popularly elected Constitutional Drafting Assembly, and was popularly called the "People's Constitution".
The 1997 Constitution created a bicameral legislature consisting of a 500-seat House of Representatives (สภาผู้แทนราษฎร, sapha phutaen ratsadon) and a 200-seat SenateA senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a legislature or parliament. There have been many such bodies in history, since senate means the assembly of the eldest and wiser members of the society and ruling class...
(วุฒิสภา, wuthisapha). For the first time in Thai history, both houses were directly electedAn election is a formal decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy since the 17th century. Elections may fill offices in the legislature, sometimes in the executive and...
. Many human rightsHuman rights refer to the "basic rights and freedoms to which all humans are entitled." Examples of rights and freedoms which have come to be commonly thought of as human rights include civil and political rights, such as the right to life and liberty, freedom of expression, and equality before the...
are explicitly acknowledged, and measures were established to increase the stability of elected governments. The House was elected by the first-past-the-post system, where only one candidate with a simple majority could be elected in one constituency. The Senate was elected based on the province system, where one province can return more than one senator depending on its population size. Members of the House of Representatives served four-year terms, while senators served six-year terms. The 1997 People's Constitution also promoted human rights more than any other constitutions.
The court system (ศาล, saan) included a constitutional courtThe Constitutional Court of Thailand is an independent Thai court originally established under the 1997 Constitution with jurisdiction over the constitutionality of parliamentary acts, royal decrees, draft legislation, as well as the appointment and removal of public officials and issues regarding...
with jurisdiction over the constitutionality of parliamentary acts, royal decrees, and political matters.
The January 2001 general electionGeneral elections were held in Thailand on January 6, 2001. 500 seats in the House of Representatives were at stake...
, the first election under the 1997 Constitution, was called the most open, corruption-free election in Thai history. The subsequent government was the first in Thai history to complete a 4-year term. The 2005 electionGeneral elections were held in Thailand on 6 February, 2005. With a turnout of 60.7 percent, the Thai Rak Thai Party of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra won a landslide victory. Out of 500 seats in the House of Representatives, Thaksin's party won 374 seats, with its former coalition partner, the...
had the highest voter turnout in Thai history.. Despite efforts to clean up the system, vote buying and electoral violence remained problems of electoral quality in 2005. The PollWatch Foundation, Thailand's most prominent election watchdog, declared that vote buying in this election, specifically in the North and the Northeast, was more serious than in the 2001 election. The organization also accused the government of violating the election law by abusing state power in presenting new projects in a bid to seek votes.
2006 coup d'état
{{See also|2006 Thai coup d'état}}
Without meeting much resistance, a military juntaA military junta is a government led by a committee of military leaders. The term derives from the Spanish junta meaning committee, specifically a board of directors...
overthrew the interim government of Thaksin ShinawatraThaksin Shinawatra is a Thai businessman who was Prime Minister of Thailand from 2001 to 2006, when he was deposed in a military coup and convicted in absentia for a conflict of interest. He was born in Chiang Mai Province, Thailand and started his career in the police...
on 19 September 2006. The juntaA military dictatorship is a form of government wherein the political power resides with the military. It is similar but not identical to a stratocracy, a state ruled directly by the military....
abrogated the constitution, dissolved Parliament and the Constitutional Court, detained and later removed several members of the government, declared martial lawMartial law is the system of rules that takes effect when the military takes control of the normal administration of justice.Martial law is sometimes imposed during wars or occupations in the absence of any other civil government. Examples of this form of military rule include Germany and Japan...
, and appointed one of the king's Privy Counselors, General Surayud ChulanontGeneral Surayud Chulanont is a Thai political figure. He was the Prime Minister of Thailand and head of Thailand's Interim Government between 2006 and 2008...
, as the Prime Minister. The junta later wrote a highly abbreviated interim constitutionThe 2006 Interim Charter of Thailand was drafted by the Council for Democratic Reform after it seized power from the government of Thaksin Shinawatra in the 2006 Thailand coup...
and appointed a panel to draft a permanent constitution. The junta also appointed a 250-member legislature, called by some critics a "chamber of generals" while others claimed that it lacks representatives from the poor majority. In this interim constitution draft, the head of the junta was allowed to remove the prime minister at any time. The legislature was not allowed to hold a vote of confidence against the cabinet and the public was not allowed to file comments on bills. This interim constitution was later surpassed by the permanent constitutionA Permanent Constitution for the Kingdom of Thailand was drafted by a committee established by the military junta that abrogated the previous 1997 Constitution. On August 19, 2007, a referendum was held in which 59.3% of the voters voted in favor of the constitution...
on 24 August 2007.
Martial law was partially revoked in January 2007. The ban on political activities was lifted in July 2007, following the 30 May dissolution of the Thai Rak ThaiThai Rak Thai was a political party in Thailand that was officially banned on May 30, 2007, by the Constitutional Court of Thailand. From 2001 to 2006, it was the ruling party under Prime Minister and its founder Thaksin Shinawatra...
party. The new constitution has been approved by a referendum on 19 August, which led to a return to democratic elections on 23 December 2007The 2007 Thai general elections were held on 23 December. This was the first legislative election after the Council for National Security, a military junta, had overthrown Thailand's elected government and abrogated the constitution on September 19, 2006. The junta had canceled general elections...
.
Political Crisis
{{See also|2008–2009 Thai political crisis}}
The People's Power Party (Thailand)The People's Power Party was a Thai political party founded on November 9, 1998 by Police Lieutenant Colonel Garn Tienkaew. The party leaders were Somchai Wongsawat , the Party Secretary General was Surapong Suebwonglee and the Party Spokesperson was Kuthep Saikrajarng...
, led by Samak SundaravejSamak Sundaravej . He was the Prime Minister of Thailand and Minister of Defense in 2008, as well as the leader of the People's Power Party in 2008...
formed a government with five smaller parties. Following several court rulings against him in a variety of scandals, and surviving a vote of no confidence, and protesters blockading government buildings and airports, in September 2008, Sundaravej was found guilty of conflict of interest by the Constitutional Court of ThailandThe Constitutional Court of Thailand is an independent Thai court originally established under the 1997 Constitution with jurisdiction over the constitutionality of parliamentary acts, royal decrees, draft legislation, as well as the appointment and removal of public officials and issues regarding...
(due to being a host in cooking TV program), and thus, ended his term in office. He was replaced by PPP member Somchai WongsawatSomchai Wongsawat is a Thai politician, as well as former executive member of the People's Power Party whose political rights have been revoked by the Constitutional Court for five years....
. As of October 2008, Wongsawat was unable to gain access to his offices, which were occupied by protesters from the People's Alliance for DemocracyThe People's Alliance for Democracy also called the National Liberation Alliance - กลุ่มพันธมิตรกู้ชาติ or the Yellow Shirts - เสื้อเหลือง - was originally a coalition of protesters against Thaksin Shinawatra, the former Prime Minister of Thailand who was freely elected by the people...
. On December 2, 2008, Thailand's Constitutional Court found the ruling Peoples Power Party guilty of electoral fraud, which led to the dissolution of the party according to the law. After defections from smaller parties the opposition Democrats PartyThe Democrat Party is Thailand's oldest political party, represented as the core coalition member in the six-party coalition government since December 15, 2008. The party upholds a centre-right, royalist, socially conservative, and economically liberal position...
was able to form a government, a first for the party since 2001. The leader of the Democrat party, and former leader of the opposition, Abhisit VejjajivaAbhisit Vejjajiva is the 27th and current Prime Minister of Thailand. He has been the leader of the Democrat Party since February 2005....
was appointed and sworn-in as the 27th Prime MinisterThe Prime Minister of Thailand is the head of government of Thailand. The Prime Minister is also the chairman of the Cabinet of Thailand. The post has been in existence since the Revolution of 1932, when the country became a constitutional monarchy....
, together with the new cabinet on 17 December 2008.
Thailand remains an active member of the regional Association of South-East Asian Nations.
Military
{{Main|Royal Thai Armed Forces}}
The Royal Thai Armed Forces ({{lang-th|กองทัพไทย: Kongthap Thai)}} is the name of the militaryA military is an organization authorized by its nation to use force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. As an adjective the term "military" is also used to refer to any property or aspect of a military...
of the Kingdom of Thailand. It consists of the following branches:
- Royal Thai Army
The Royal Thai Army The Royal Thai Army The Royal Thai Army ( is the army of Thailand responsible for protecting its sovereignty. It is the oldest and largest branch of the Royal Thai Armed Forces...
(กองทัพบกไทย)
- Royal Thai Navy
The Royal Thai Navy is the navy of Thailand and part of the Royal Thai Armed Forces, it was established in the late 1800s. Admiral Prince Abhakara Kiartiwongse is "The Father of Royal Thai Navy". Similar to the organizational structure of the United States, the Royal Thai Navy includes the Naval...
(กองทัพเรือไทย, ราชนาวีไทย)
- Royal Thai Marine Corps
The Royal Thai Marine Corps The Royal Thai Marine Corps The Royal Thai Marine Corps ( are the marines of the Royal Thai Navy, the corps was founded in 1932 when the first battalion was formed with the assistance of the USMC. It expanded to a regiment in 1940 and was in action against communist...
(นาวิกโยธินไทย)
- Royal Thai Air Force
The Royal Thai Air Force or RTAF is the air force of the Kingdom of Thailand. As of 2008, the Commander of the Air Force is Itthaporn Subhawong.-History:...
(กองทัพอากาศไทย)
- Other Paramilitary
A paramilitary is a force whose function and organization are similar to those of a professional military force, but which is not regarded as having the same status...
Forces
Today the Royal Thai Armed Forces comprises about 1,025,640 personnel. The Head of the Thai Armed ForcesThe Monarchy of Thailand The Monarchy of Thailand (also referred to as the King of Thailand) The Monarchy of Thailand (also referred to as the King of Thailand) ( refers to the constitutional monarchy and monarch of the Kingdom of Thailand (formerly Siam). The King of Thailand is the head of state...
(จอมทัพไทย: Chomthap Thai) is His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX), however this position is only nominal. The Armed Forces is managed by the Ministry of Defence of ThailandThe Ministry of Defence of the Kingdom Thailand , is a Cabinet level government department of the Kingdom of Thailand. The Ministry controls and manage the Royal Thai Armed Forces, as well as maintaining national security, territorial integrity and national defence...
, which is headed by the Minister of Defence (a member of the Cabinet of ThailandThe Cabinet of Thailand or the Council of Ministers of Thailand The Cabinet of Thailand or the Council of Ministers of Thailand The Cabinet of Thailand or the Council of Ministers of Thailand ( is a body composed of thirty-five of the most senior members of the government of the Kingdom of...
) and commanded by the Royal Thai Armed Forces HeadquartersThe Royal Thai Armed Forces Headquarters The Royal Thai Armed Forces Headquarters The Royal Thai Armed Forces Headquarters ( or the RTARF HQ, is the joint headquarters of the Royal Thai Armed Forces, which is made up of the Royal Thai Army, the Royal Thai Navy and the Royal Thai Air Force. Formerly...
, which in turn is headed by the Chief of Defence Forces of Thailand.
According to the Constitution of the KingdomA Permanent Constitution for the Kingdom of Thailand was drafted by a committee established by the military junta that abrogated the previous 1997 Constitution. On August 19, 2007, a referendum was held in which 59.3% of the voters voted in favor of the constitution...
, serving in the Armed Forces is a duty of all Thai citizens. However only males over the age of 21, who have not gone through reserve training are subjected to a random draft. Those chosen randomly are subjected to twenty-four months fulltime service, while volunteers are subjected to eighteen months service, depending on their education.
The Royal Thai Armed Forces DayPublic holidays in Thailand are regulated by the government, and most are observed by both the public and private sectors. There are usually sixteen public holidays in a year, but more may be declared by the cabinet. Since 1996, if a holiday falls on a weekend, the following workday is observed as...
is celebrated on January 18th to commemorate the victory of King Naresuan the Great in battle against the Crown Prince of BurmaThe Taungoo dynasty was one of the most powerful post-Bagan Burmese kingdoms, over which seven kings reigned for a period of 155 years....
in 1593.
Education
{{Main|Education in Thailand}}
Thailand enjoys a high level of literacy, and education is provided by a well-organized school system of kindergartens, primary, lower secondary and upper secondary schools, numerous vocational colleges, and universities. The private sector of education is well developed and significantly contributes to the overall provision of education which the government would not be able to meet through the public establishments.
Education is compulsory up to and including grade 9, and the government provides free education through to grade 12.
Thailand has never been colonized, and its teaching relies heavily on rote rather than on student-centred methodology. Education in a modern sense is therefore relatively recent and still needs to overcome some major cultural hurdles to ensure further development and improvement to its standards.
The establishment of reliable and coherent curricula for its primary and secondary schools is subject to such rapid changes that schools and their teachers are not always sure what they are supposed to be teaching, and authors and publishers of textbooks are unable to write and print new editions quickly enough to keep up with the volatile situation. The issue concerning university entrance has therefore also been in constant upheaval for a number of years. Nevertheless, education has seen its greatest progress in the years since 2001. Most of the present generation of students are computer literate, and knowledge of English is on the increase at least in quantity if not in quality.
There has been concern in recent years regarding the low IQ scores of many Thai youth. A study in the NationA nation is a body of people who share a real or imagined common history, culture, language or ethnic origin. The development and conceptualization of the nation is closely related to the development of modern industrial states and nationalist movements in Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries,...
newspaper reported that the "Department of Health and the Department of Mental Health will (make) an effort to combat low intelligence, after it found the average IQ level among many youths was lower than 80." In 2006, the Vice Minister for Education Watchara Phanchet reported that "the average intelligence quotient (IQ) of Thai children, somewhere between 87 and 88 points, remains in the "low average" category when ranked internationally. Further, with the exception of the well-educated wealthy class, the level of English speaking remains quite low.
Administrative divisions
{{Main|Subdivisions of Thailand}}
Thailand is divided into 75 provincesThailand is divided into 75 provinces , which are geographically grouped into 6 regions. The capital Bangkok is not a province but a special administrative area and is included as the 76th province since it is administered at the same level as the other 75 provinces. The name of the provinces are...
(จังหวัด, changwat), which are gathered into 5 groups of provinces by location. There are also 2 special governed districts: the capital BangkokBangkok is the capital, largest urban area and primary city of Thailand. Known in Thai as Krung Thep Mahanakhon , or กรุงเทพฯ Krung Thep for short, it was a small trading post at the mouth of the Chao Phraya River during the Ayutthaya Kingdom. It came to the forefront of Siam when it was given the...
(Krung Thep Maha Nakhon) and PattayaPattaya is a city in Thailand, located on the east coast of the Gulf of Thailand, about 165 km southeast of Bangkok located within but not part of Amphoe Bang Lamung in the province of Chonburi....
, of which Bangkok is at provincial level and thus often counted as a 76th province.
Each province is divided into districtsAn amphoe is the second level administrative subdivision of Thailand. Usually translated as district, amphoe make up the provinces. Amphoe are further subdivided into tambon....
and the districts are further divided into sub-districts (tambons). As of 2006 there are 877 districts (อำเภอ, amphoe) and the 50 districts of Bangkok (เขต, khet). Some parts of the provinces bordering Bangkok are also referred to as Greater BangkokThe Bangkok Metropolitan Area , also known as Greater Bangkok, is the urban conglomeration of Bangkok, Thailand, which includes 5 adjacent provinces....
(ปริมณฑล, pari monthon). These provinces include NonthaburiNonthaburi is one of the central provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya, Pathum Thani, Bangkok and Nakhon Pathom.-Geography:...
, Pathum ThaniPathum Thani is one of the central provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Ayutthaya, Saraburi, Nakhon Nayok, Chachoengsao, Bangkok and Nonthaburi....
, Samut PrakanSamut Prakan is one of the central provinces of Thailand.Neighboring provinces are in the west and north Bangkok and Chachoengsao to the east....
, Nakhon PathomNakhon Pathom is one of the central provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Suphan Buri, Ayutthaya, Nonthaburi, Bangkok, Samut Sakhon, Ratchaburi and Kanchanaburi....
and Samut SakhonSamut Sakhon is one of the central provinces of Thailand.Neighboring provinces are Samut Songkhram, Ratchaburi, Nakhon Pathom and Bangkok.- Etymology :...
. The name of each province's capital city (เมือง, mueang) is the same as that of the province. For example, the capital of Chiang Mai province (changwat Chiang Mai) is Mueang Chiang Mai or Chiang Mai. The 76 provincesThailand is divided into 75 provinces , which are geographically grouped into 6 regions. The capital Bangkok is not a province but a special administrative area and is included as the 76th province since it is administered at the same level as the other 75 provinces. The name of the provinces are...
are as follows:
Central
- Ang Thong
Ang Thong is one of the central provinces of Thailand. The name means "golden bowl" which refer to Angthong as a central for prosperusness as it has a lot of rice fields....
- Bangkok (Krung Thep Maha Nakhon)
Bangkok is the capital, largest urban area and primary city of Thailand. Known in Thai as Krung Thep Mahanakhon , or กรุงเทพฯ Krung Thep for short, it was a small trading post at the mouth of the Chao Phraya River during the Ayutthaya Kingdom. It came to the forefront of Siam when it was given the...
, Special Governed District of
- Chai Nat
Chainat is one of the central provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Nakhon Sawan, Sing Buri, Suphan Buri and Uthai Thani....
- Kanchanaburi
Kanchanaburi is the largest of the central provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Tak, Uthai Thani, Suphan Buri, Nakhon Pathom and Ratchaburi...
- Lopburi
Lop Buri is one of the central provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Phetchabun, Chaiyaphum, Nakhon Ratchasima, Saraburi, Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya, Ang Thong, Sing Buri and Nakhon Sawan.-Geography:...
- Nakhon Nayok
Nakhon Nayok is one of the central provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Saraburi, Nakhon Ratchasima, Prachinburi, Chachoengsao and Pathum Thani....
- Nakhon Pathom
Nakhon Pathom is one of the central provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Suphan Buri, Ayutthaya, Nonthaburi, Bangkok, Samut Sakhon, Ratchaburi and Kanchanaburi....
- Nonthaburi
Nonthaburi is one of the central provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya, Pathum Thani, Bangkok and Nakhon Pathom.-Geography:...
- Pathum Thani
Pathum Thani is one of the central provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Ayutthaya, Saraburi, Nakhon Nayok, Chachoengsao, Bangkok and Nonthaburi....
- Phetchaburi
Phetchaburi is one of the central provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Ratchaburi, Samut Songkhram and Prachuap Khiri Khan...
- Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya
Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya is one of the central provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Ang Thong, Lop Buri, Saraburi, Pathum Thani, Nonthaburi, Nakhon Pathom and Suphan Buri....
- Prachuap Khiri Khan
Prachuap Khiri Khan is one of the central provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Phetchaburi in the north and Chumphon in the south...
- Ratchaburi
Ratchaburi is one of the central provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Kanchanaburi, Nakhon Pathom,Samut Sakhon, Samut Songkhram and Phetchaburi...
- Samut Prakan
Samut Prakan is one of the central provinces of Thailand.Neighboring provinces are in the west and north Bangkok and Chachoengsao to the east....
- Samut Sakhon
Samut Sakhon is one of the central provinces of Thailand.Neighboring provinces are Samut Songkhram, Ratchaburi, Nakhon Pathom and Bangkok.- Etymology :...
- Samut Songkhram
Samut Songkhram is one of the central provinces of Thailand.Neighboring provinces are Phetchaburi, Ratchaburi and Samut Sakhon. Local people call Samut Songkhram Mae Klong. The province is the smallest of all Thai provinces areawise...
- Saraburi
Saraburi is one of the central provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Lopburi, Nakhon Ratchasima, Nakhon Nayok, Pathum Thani and Ayutthaya. Saraburi has been an important town since ancient times...
- Sing Buri
Sing Buri is one of the central provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Nakhon Sawan, Lop Buri, Ang Thong, Suphan Buri and Chai Nat....
- Suphan Buri
Suphan Buri is one of the central provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Uthai Thani, Chai Nat, Sing Buri, Ang Thong, Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya, Nakhon Pathom and Kanchanaburi.- Etymology :...
East
- Chachoengsao
Chachoengsao is a province of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Prachin Buri, Sa Kaeo, Chanthaburi, Chon Buri, Samut Prakan, Bangkok, Pathum Thani and Nakhon Nayok...
- Chanthaburi
Chanthaburi is a province of Thailand. It is located in the east of Thailand, at the border to Battambang and Pailin of Cambodia and the shore to the Gulf of Thailand...
- Chonburi
Chonburi is a province of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Chachoengsao, Chanthaburi and Rayong. To the west is the Gulf of Thailand. The eastern seaboard is heavily industrialized and underpinned by shipping, transportation, tourism, and manufacturing industries, and second to only Bangkok...
- Prachinburi
Prachin Buri is a province of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Nakhon Ratchasima, Sa Kaeo, Chachoengsao and Nakhon Nayok.-Geography:...
- Rayong
Rayong province is a province of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Chon Buri and Chanthaburi. To the south is the Gulf of Thailand.-History:...
- Sa Kaeo
Sa Kaeo is a province of Thailand.It is located in the east of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Chanthaburi, Chachoengsao, Prachin Buri, Nakhon Ratchasima and Buri Ram...
- Trat
Trat is a province of Thailand. It is located in the east of Thailand, and has borders with Chanthaburi Province to the northwest, Cambodia to the east, and the Gulf of Thailand to the south....
North
- Chiang Mai
Chiang Mai is the second-largest province of Thailand, located in the north of the country. Neighboring provinces are Chiang Rai, Lampang, Lamphun, Tak, and Mae Hong Son...
- Chiang Rai
Chiang Rai is the northernmost province of Thailand. Neighbouring provinces are Phayao, Lampang and Chiang Mai. In the north it borders Shan State of Myanmar and Bokeo of Laos.-Geography:...
- Kamphaeng Phet
Kamphaeng Phet is one of the provinces of Thailand, located in the north of the country. Neighboring provinces are Sukhothai, Phitsanulok, Phichit, Nakhon Sawan and Tak.- Etymology :...
- Lampang
Lampang is one of the northern provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Chiang Rai, Phayao, Phrae, Sukhothai, Tak, Lamphun and Chiang Mai. The old name of Lampang is Khelang Nakhon.-Geography:...
- Lamphun
Lamphun is one of the northern provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Chiang Mai, Lampang and Tak.-Geography:Lamphun is located in the river valley of the Ping River, surrounded by mountain chains....
- Mae Hong Son
Mae Hong Son is one of the northern provinces of Thailand, and at the same time the westernmost. Neighboring provinces are Shan State of Myanmar, Chiang Mai and Tak. To the west it borders Kayin State and Kayah State of Myanmar again...
- Nakhon Sawan
Nakhon Sawan is one of the provinces of Thailand. Neighboring Provinces are Kamphaeng Phet, Phichit, Phetchabun, Lop Buri, Sing Buri, Chai Nat, Uthai Thani and Tak.- Etymology :...
- Nan
Nan is one of the northern provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Uttaradit, Phrae and Phayao. To the north and east it borders Xaignabouli of Laos.-Geography:...
- Phayao
Phayao is one of the northern provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Nan, Phrae, Lampang and Chiang Rai. In the north-east it borders Xaignabouli of Laos.- Geography :...
- Phetchabun
Phetchabun is one of the northern provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Loei, Khon Kaen, Chaiyaphum, Lopburi, Nakhon Sawan, Phichit and Phitsanulok.- Geography :...
- Phichit
Phichit is one of the provinces of Thailand, located in the north of the country. Neighboring provinces are Phitsanulok, Phetchabun, Nakhon Sawan and Kamphaeng Phet.- Geography :...
- Phitsanulok
Phitsanulok is one of the provinces of Thailand, located in the North of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Loei, Phetchabun, Phichit, Kamphaeng Phet, Sukhothai, Uttaradit. In the north-east it also has a short border with Xaignabouli of Laos.-Etymology:The first element Phitsanu is a cognate...
- Phrae
Phrae is one of the northern provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Phayao, Nan, Uttaradit, Sukhothai and Lampang.-Geography:Phrae is located in the valley of the river Yom.-History:...
- Sukhothai
Sukhothai is one of the northern provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Phrae, Uttaradit, Phitsanulok, Kamphaeng Phet, Tak and Lampang...
- Tak
Tak is one of the northern provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Mae Hong Son, Chiang Mai, Lamphun, Lampang, Sukhothai, Kamphaeng Phet, Nakhon Sawan, Uthai Thani and Kanchanaburi...
- Uthai Thani
Uthai Thani is one of the provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Nakhon Sawan, Chai Nat, Suphan Buri, Kanchanaburi and Tak.-Geography:...
- Uttaradit
Uttaradit is one of the northern provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Phitsanulok, Sukhothai, Phrae and Nan...
Northeast (Isan)
- Amnat Charoen
Amnat Charoen is one of the north-eastern provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Ubon Ratchathani, Yasothon and Mukdahan. To the east it borders Salavan of Laos.-Geography:...
- Buri Ram
- Chaiyaphum
Chaiyaphum is one of the north-eastern provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Khon Kaen, Nakhon Ratchasima, Lopburi and Phetchabun.- Etymology :...
- Kalasin
Kalasin is one of the provinces of Thailand, located in the North-East of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Sakon Nakhon, Mukdahan, Roi Et, Maha Sarakham, Khon Kaen and Udon Thani.-Geography:...
- Khon Kaen
Khon Kaen is the second-largest of the north-eastern provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Nongbua Lamphu, Udon Thani, Kalasin, Maha Sarakham, Buriram, Nakhon Ratchasima, Chaiyaphum, Phetchabun and Loei.-Geography:Khon Kaen is located in the heart of the Khorat Plateau...
- Loei
Loei is one of the most sparsely populated provinces of Thailand, located in the North-East of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Nong Khai, Udon Thani, Nongbua Lamphu, Khon Kaen, Phetchabun, Phitsanulok...
- Maha Sarakham
Maha Sarakham is one of the provinces of Thailand, located in the northeastern region of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Kalasin, Roi Et, Surin, Buriram and Khon Kaen....
- Mukdahan
Mukdahan is one of the north-eastern provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Amnat Charoen, Yasothon, Roi Et, Kalasin, Sakon Nakhon and Nakhon Phanom. To the east it borders the Mekong River, across which lies Savannakhet Province of Laos.-Geography:The province is located in the...
- Nakhon Phanom
Nakhon Phanom is one of the north-eastern provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Mukdahan, Sakon Nakhon and Nong Khai. To the north-east it borders Khammouan of Laos.-Geography:...
- Nakhon Ratchasima
Nakhon Ratchasima , often shortened to Korat or Khorat , is one of the north-eastern provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Chaiyaphum, Khon Kaen, Buriram, Sa Kaeo, Prachinburi, Nakhon Nayok, Saraburi, Lopburi.The capital of the province is The City of Nakhon Ratchasima located in...
- Nong Bua Lamphu
Nong Bua Lamphu is one of the north-eastern provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Udon Thani, Khon Kaen and Loei.-History:...
- Nong Khai
Nong Khai is the northernmost of the north-eastern provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Nakhon Phanom, Sakon Nakhon, Udon Thani and Loei...
- Roi Et
Roi Et is one of the provinces of Thailand, located in the North-East of Thailand. Neighboring Provinces are Kalasin, Mukdahan, Yasothon, Sisaket, Surin and Maha Sarakham....
- Sakon Nakhon
Sakon Nakhon is one of the north-eastern provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Nong Khai, Nakhon Phanom, Mukdahan, Kalasin and Udon Thani...
- Si Sa Ket
Sisaket , is one of the north-eastern provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Surin, Roi Et, Yasothon and Ubon Ratchathani. To the south it borders Oddar Meancheay and Preah Vihear of Cambodia.-Geography:...
- Surin
Surin is one of the north-eastern provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Buriram, Maha Sarakham, Roi Et and Sisaket. To the south it borders Oddar Meancheay of Cambodia.- Etymology :...
- Ubon Ratchathani
Ubon Ratchathani is one of the north-eastern provinces of Thailand, and the country's easternmost. Ubon is about 600 km away from Bangkok. Neighboring Provinces are Sisaket, Yasothon and Amnat Charoen...
- Udon Thani
Udon Thani is one of the north-eastern provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Nong Khai, Sakon Nakhon, Kalasin, Khon Kaen, Nong Bua Lamphu and Loei.- Geography :...
- Yasothon
Yasothon is one of the provinces of Thailand, located in the North-East of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Mukdahan, Amnat Charoen, Ubon Ratchathani, Sisaket and Roi Et.-Geography:...
South
- Chumphon
Chumphon is one of the southern provinces of Thailand, at the shore of the Gulf of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Prachuap Khiri Khan, Surat Thani and Ranong. To the west it also borders Myanmar.-Geography:...
- Krabi
Krabi is one of the southern provinces of Thailand, at the shore of the Andaman Sea.Neighboring provinces are Phang Nga, Surat Thani, Nakhon Si Thammarat and Trang. The Phuket province to the west is also neighboring, but without any land boundary...
- Nakhon Si Thammarat
Nakhon Si Thammarat is one of the southern provinces of Thailand, at the eastern shore of the Gulf of Thailand...
- Narathiwat
Narathiwat is one of the southern provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Yala and Pattani. To the south it borders the Malaysian state of Kelantan.-Geography:...
- Pattani
Pattani is one of the southern provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Narathiwat, Yala and Songkhla.-Geography:...
- Phang Nga
Phang Nga is one of the southern provinces of Thailand, on the shore to the Andaman Sea. Neighboring provinces are Ranong, Surat Thani and Krabi. To the south is the Phuket province, but without land boundary to Phang Nga.-Geography:The province is located on the west side of the Malay...
- Phatthalung
Phatthalung is one of the southern provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Nakhon Si Thammarat, Songkhla, Satun and Trang.-Geography:...
- Phuket
Phuket is one of the southern provinces of Thailand...
- Ranong
Ranong is one of the southern provinces of Thailand, on the coast of the Andaman Sea. It is the province with the fewest citizens. Neighboring provinces are Chumphon, Surat Thani and Phang Nga...
- Satun
Satun is one of the southern provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Trang, Phatthalung and Songkhla...
- Songkhla
Songkhla is the one of the southern provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Satun, Phatthalung, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Pattani and Yala. To the south it borders Kedah and Perlis of Malaysia....
- Surat Thani
Surat Thani is the largest of the southern provinces of Thailand, on the eastern shore of the Gulf of Thailand. Surat Thani means City of Good People, the title given to the city by King Vajiravudh ....
- Trang
Trang is the one of the southern provinces of Thailand, at the western shore of the Malay Peninsula to the Andaman Sea. Neighboring provinces are Krabi, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Phatthalung and Satun.Trang used to be a port involved in foreign trade. It was the first city where rubber was planted...
- Yala
Yala is the southernmost province of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Songkhla, Pattani and Narathiwat. Yala is the only land-locked province in the south of Thailand. The southern part borders Kedah and Perak of Malaysia. This city has once been one of the most beautiful city in Thailand and...
BangkokBangkok is the capital, largest urban area and primary city of Thailand. Known in Thai as Krung Thep Mahanakhon , or กรุงเทพฯ Krung Thep for short, it was a small trading post at the mouth of the Chao Phraya River during the Ayutthaya Kingdom. It came to the forefront of Siam when it was given the...
Pattaya BeachPattaya is a city in Thailand, located on the east coast of the Gulf of Thailand, about 165 km southeast of Bangkok located within but not part of Amphoe Bang Lamung in the province of Chonburi....
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| Rank |
Metropolitan area |
Population |
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Chiang MaiChiang Mai , also sometimes written as "Chiengmai" or "Chiangmai", is the largest and most culturally significant city in northern Thailand, and is the capital of Chiang Mai Province. It is located some north of Bangkok, among some of the highest mountains in the country...
Hatyai
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| 1 |
BangkokThe Bangkok Metropolitan Area , also known as Greater Bangkok, is the urban conglomeration of Bangkok, Thailand, which includes 5 adjacent provinces....
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11,971,000 |
| 2 |
Pattaya-Chon Buri Pattaya-Chonburi metropolitan area is a conurbanation in Chonburi Province of Thailand. It comprises Pattaya City, 7 town municipalities, and 23 township municipalities in 6 districts with 1,003,839 registered inhabitants as of 2009...
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1,003,839 |
| 3 |
Chiang Mai The Chiang Mai Metropolitan Area is the urban sprawl of the twin cities of city of Chiang Mai and town of Lamphun. It has an area of around 2,905.13 km² in 2 Province, 2,302.88 km² in Chiang Mai and 602.25 km² in Lamphun. There are 970,479 inhabitants in the metropolitan area. The population...
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960,906 |
| 4 |
Hat Yai-Songkhla The Greater Hatyai-Songkhla Metropolitan Area is an urban corridor in Southern Thailand's Songkhla Province between two cities--Hat Yai, the commercial center of the province and the region, and Songkhla, the provincial capital. Located 30 km apart, the twin cities are complementary to each other....
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801,747 |
| 5 |
Nakhon RatchasimaThe Nakhon Ratchasima Metropolitan Area is the urban sprawl of the city of Nakhon Ratchasima. It covers in Mueang Nakhon Ratchasima district , parts of Kham Thale So district , and parts of Sung Noen district with 767.98 km² of land...
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439,546 |
Communications
{{main|Telecommunications in Thailand}}
- Telephone: Thailand has about 7,024,000 base telephones, and about 51,377,000 numbers for GSM/3G
International Mobile Telecommunications-2000 , better known as 3G or 3rd Generation, is a family of standards for mobile telecommunications defined by the International Telecommunication Union, which includes GSM EDGE, UMTS, and CDMA2000 as well as DECT and WiMAX...
- Radio: AM 238 stations, FM 351 stations
- Television: 6 stations with 111 network stations. There are about 15,190,000 cable subscribers.
- Satellite: 4 satellites
Geography
{{Main|Geography of Thailand}}
Totaling {{convert|513120|km2}}, Thailand is the world's 50th largest country in land mass, while it is the world's 20th largest country in terms of population. It is comparable in population to countries such as FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
and the United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
, and is similar in land size to France and California in the United States; it is just over twice the size of the entire United Kingdom, and 1.4 times the size of Germany. The local climateClimate encompasses the statistics of temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind, rainfall, atmospheric particle count and numerous other meteorological elements in a given region over long periods of time...
is tropical and characterized by monsoonA pennis is traditionally defined as a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by seasonal changes in precipitation, but now is used to describe seasonal changes atmospheric circulation and precipitation The major monsoon systems of the world consist of the African and Asia-Australian monsoons...
s. There is a rainy, warm, and cloudy southwest monsoon from mid-May to September, as well as a dry, cool northeast monsoon from November to mid-March. The southern isthmus is always hot and humid.
Thailand is home to several distinct geographic regions, partly corresponding to the provincial groups. The north of the country is mountainous, with the highest point being Doi InthanonDoi Inthanon is the highest mountain in Thailand. The mountain was also known in the past as Doi Luang or Doi Ang Ka, meaning the crow's pond top. Near the mountain's base was a pond where many crows gathered...
at 2,565 metres above sea level (8,415 ft). The northeast, IsanIsan is the northeast region of Thailand. It is located on the Khorat Plateau, bordered by the Mekong River to the north and east, by Cambodia to the southeast and the Prachinburi mountains south of Nakhon Ratchasima...
, consists of the Khorat PlateauThe Khorat Plateau also Korat Plateau, is a plateau in the northeastern region of Thailand, also called Isan. It is named after the biggest city in the area, Nakhon Ratchasima, which is often called shortly Khorat....
, bordered to the east by the MekongThe Mekong River is one of the world’s major rivers. It is the world's 10th-longest river and the 7th-longest in Asia. . Its estimated length is , and it drains an area of ....
River. The centre of the country is dominated by the predominantly flat Chao Phraya river valley, which runs into the Gulf of ThailandThe Gulf of Thailand or Gulf of Siam is a shallow arm of the South China Sea.-Geography:The Gulf of Siam is bordered by Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam. The northern tip of the gulf is the Bay of Bangkok at the mouth of the Chao Phraya River. The gulf covers roughly 320,000 km²...
. The south consists of the narrow Kra IsthmusThe Kra Isthmus is the narrow land bridge which connects the Malay Peninsula with the mainland of Asia.-Geography:The east part of the landbridge belongs to Thailand, while the west part belongs to the Tanintharyi division of Myanmar...
that widens into the Malay PeninsulaThe Malay Peninsula or Thai-Malay Peninsula is a major peninsula located in Southeast Asia, with its narrowest point at the Isthmus of Kra. The land mass runs approximately north-south and, at its teminus, is the most southern point of the Asian mainland...
. Politically, there are six geographical regions which differ from the others in population, basic resources, natural features, and level of social and economic development. The diversity of the regions is the most pronounced attribute of Thailand's physical setting.
The Chao Phraya and the Mekong River are the sustainable resource of rural Thailand. Industrial scale production of crops use both rivers and their tributaries. The Gulf of ThailandThe Gulf of Thailand or Gulf of Siam is a shallow arm of the South China Sea.-Geography:The Gulf of Siam is bordered by Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam. The northern tip of the gulf is the Bay of Bangkok at the mouth of the Chao Phraya River. The gulf covers roughly 320,000 km²...
covers 320,000 km² and is fed by the Chao Phraya, Mae Klong, Bang Pakong and TapiThere are two rivers named Tapi*Tapti River , in the state of Gujarat, India*Tapi River, Thailand , in Surat Thani Province, Southern Thailand...
Rivers. It contributes to the tourism sector owing to its clear shallow waters along the coasts in the Southern Region and the Kra Isthmus. The Gulf of Thailand is also an industrial center of Thailand with the kingdom's main port in Sattahip along with being the entry gates for Bangkok's Inland SeaportThe Port Authority of Thailand is a state corporation of Thailand, responsible for the regulation and governance of the ports of Thailand, primarily the ports of Laem Chabang and Bangkok, the country's two largest ports. PAT operates Thai ports in conjunction with public companies including...
. The Andaman SeaThe Andaman Sea is a body of water to the southeast of the Bay of Bengal, south of Myanmar, west of Thailand and east of the Andaman Islands; it is part of the Indian Ocean. It is roughly and wide , with an area of...
is regarded as Thailand's most precious natural resource as it hosts the most popular and luxurious resorts in Asia. Phuket, KrabiKrabi is a town on the west coast of southern Thailand at the mouth of the Krabi River into the Andaman Sea. As of 2005 the town has a population of 24,986. The town is the capital of Krabi Province and Krabi district. Tourism has become the most important feature of Krabi today...
, RanongRanong is a town in southern Thailand, capital of the Ranong Province and the Mueang Ranong district. The town covers completely the area of the tambon Khao Niwet . As of 2005 it has a population of 16,163, and has town status .The town is located at the estuary of the Pak Chan River, opposite...
, Phang NgaPhang Nga is a town in southern Thailand, capital of the Phang Nga Province. The town covers the whole tambon Thai Chang of Mueang Phang Nga district. As of 2005 it has a population of 9,559 and covers an area of 6.75 km²....
and TrangTrang is the capital of Trang Province, Thailand. The city has a population of 59,637 and covers the whole tambon Thap Thiang of Mueang Trang district....
and their lush islands all lay along the coasts of the Andaman Sea and despite the 2004 Tsunami, they continue to be and ever more so, the playground of the rich and elite of AsiaAsia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.6% of the earth's total surface area and with approximately 4 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population.Asia is traditionally defined as part of the...
and the world.
Plans have resurfaced of a logistical connection of the two bodies of water which would be coined the Thai CanalThe Thai Canal refers to a plan for a large canal that would cut through southern Thailand to enable improved transportation in the region, like the Panama Canal and Suez Canal.-History:...
, analogous to the SuezThe Suez Canal is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. Opened on November 1869, it allows water transportation between Europe and Asia without navigating around Africa...
and the Panama CanalThe Panama Canal is a ship canal which joins the Caribbean Sea to the Pacific ocean. One of the largest and most difficult engineering projects ever undertaken, it had an enormous impact on shipping between the two oceans, replacing the long and treacherous route via the Drake Passage and Cape Horn...
. Such an idea has been greeted with positive accounts by Thai politicians as it would cut fees charged by the Ports of SingaporeThe Port of Singapore refers to the collective facilities and terminals that conduct maritime trade handling functions in Singapore's harbours and which handle Singapore's shipping...
, improve ties with ChinaChina is a cultural region, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
and IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
, lower shipping times and increase ship safety owing to pirate fears in the Strait of Melaka and, support the Thai government's policy of being the logistical hub for Southeast Asia. The ports would improve economic conditions in the south of Thailand, which relies heavily on tourism income, and it would also change the structure of the Thai economy moving it closer to a services center of Asia. The canal would be a major engineering project and has expected costs of 20–30 billion dollars.
Economy
{{Main|Economy of Thailand}}
Thailand is an emerging economyThe term emerging markets is used to describe a nation's social or business activity in the process of rapid growth and industrialization. Currently, there are approximately 28 emerging markets in the world, with the economies of India and China considered to be by far the two largest...
and considered as a Newly Industrialized Country. After enjoying the world's highest growth rate from 1985 to 1996 – averaging 9.4% annually – increased pressure on Thailand's currency, the bahtThe baht is the currency of Thailand. It is subdivided into 100 satang . The issuance of currency is the responsibility of the Bank of Thailand.-History:...
, in 1997, the year in which the economy contracted by 1.9% led to a crisis that uncovered financial sector weaknesses and forced the Chavalit YongchaiyudhGeneral Chavalit Yongchaiyudh is a Thai politician and general who started his political career as Defence Minister, Deputy Prime Minister during the term of Chatichai Choonhavan from 1988 to 1991, as Minister of Interior from 1992 to 1994 and again Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence...
administration to float the currency, however, Prime Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh was forced to resign after his cabinet came under fire for its slow response to the crisis. The baht was pegged at 25 to the US dollar from 1978 to 1997, however, the baht reached its lowest point of 56 to the US dollar in January 1998 and the economy contracted by 10.8% that year. This collapse prompted the Asian financial crisis.
Thailand's economy started to recover in 1999, expanding 4.2% and 4.4% in 2000, thanks largely to strong exports. Growth (2.2%) was dampened by the softening of the global economy in 2001, but picked up in the subsequent years owing to strong growth in Asia, a relatively weak baht encouraging exports and increasing domestic spending as a result of several mega projects and incentives of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, known as ThaksinomicsThaksinomics is a term used to refer to the economic set of policies of Thaksin Shinawatra, Prime Minister of Thailand from 2001-2006. There has been considerable controversy over the role Thaksinomics has played in Thailand's recovery from the 1997 Asian financial crisis...
. Growth in 2002, 2003 and 2004 was 5–7% annually. Growth in 2005, 2006 and 2007 hovered around 4–5%. Due both to the weakening of the US dollar and an increasingly strong Thai currency, by March 2008, the dollar was hovering around the 33 baht mark.
Thailand exports an increasing value of over $105 billion worth of goods and services annually. Major exports include Thai rice, textiles and footwear, fishery products, rubber, jewelry, automobiles, computers and electrical appliances. Thailand is the world’s no.1 exporter of rice, exporting more than 6.5 million tons of milled rice annually. Rice is the most important crop in the country. Thailand has the highest percentage of arable land, 27.25%, of any nation in the Greater Mekong Subregion. About 55% of the available land area is used for rice production.
Substantial industries include electric appliances, components, computer parts and automobiles, while tourism in ThailandTourism is a major economic factor in the Kingdom of Thailand, contributing an estimated 6.7% to Thailand's GDP in 2007.-Overview:The tourism industry in Thailand truly took off when US soldiers started to arrive in the 1960s for Rest and Recuperation during the Vietnam war period...
makes up about 6% of the economy. Prostitution in ThailandProstitution in Thailand is illegal , but in practice it is tolerated and regulated.Since the Vietnam War, Thailand has gained international notoriety among travelers from many countries as a sex tourism destination....
and sex tourism also form a de facto part of the economy. Cultural milieu combined with poverty and the lure of easy money have caused prostitutionProstitution is the act or practice of engaging in sex acts for hire. In most cultures, prostitution is viewed by many as a deviant profession, either illegal or socially discouraged...
and sex tourism in particular to flourish in Thailand. One estimate published in 2003 placed the trade at US$The United States dollar is the unit of currency of the United States. The U.S. dollar is normally abbreviated as the dollar sign, $, or as USD or US$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies and from others that use the $ symbol. It is divided into 100 cents .The U.S...
4.3 billion per year or about three percent of the Thai economy. According to research by Chulalongkorn UniversityChulalongkorn University is the oldest university in Thailand and has been long-time considered the country's most prestigious university. It now has eighteen faculties and a number of schools and institutes. Regarded as the best and most selective university of Thailand, it normally attracts top...
on the Thai illegal economy, prostitution in Thailand in the period between 1993 and 1995, made up around 2.7% of the GDP. It is believed that at least 10% of tourist dollars are spent on the sex trade.
Thailand uses the metric system but traditional units of measurement and imperial measure (feet, inches) are still much in use, particularly for agriculture and building materials. Years are numbered as B.E. (Buddhist EraThe Thai solar calendar, Suriyakati was adopted by King Chulalongkorn in 1888 as the Siamese version of the Gregorian calendar. It is the official calendar in Thailand, though Thai lunar calendar dates continue in use...
) in education, the civil service, government, and on contracts and newspaper datelines; in banking, however, and increasingly in industry and commerce, standard Western year (Christian or Common Era) counting prevails.
Language
The official language of Thailand is the Thai languageThai is the national and official language of Thailand and the mother tongue of the Thai people, Thailand's dominant ethnic group. Thai is a member of the Tai group of the Kradai language family. The Kradai languages are thought to have originated in what is now southern China, and are linked to...
, a Kradai language closely related to LaoLao or Laotian is a tonal language of the Kradai language family. It is the official language of Laos, and also spoken in the northeast of Thailand, where it is usually referred to as the Isan language. Being the primary language of the Lao people, Lao is also an important second language for...
, ShanShan is related to the Thai language and is called Tai-Yai, or Tai Long in the Tai languages. It is spoken in Northeast Burma, that is to say, in the Shan States of Burma, and in pockets in Northern Thailand...
in Burma, and numerous smaller languages spoken in an arc from HainanHainan is the smallest province of the People's Republic of China . Although the province comprises some two hundred islands scattered among three archipelagos off the southern coast, all but three percent of its land mass is on Hainan Island , from which the province takes its name...
and YunnanYunnan is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the far southwest of the country spanning approximately 394,000 square kilometers . The capital of the province is Kunming...
south to the Malaysian border. It is the principal language of education and government and spoken throughout the country. The standard is based on the dialect of the central Thai people, and it is written in the Thai alphabetThe Thai alphabet is used to write the Thai language and other minority languages in Thailand. It has forty-four consonants , fifteen vowel symbols that combine into at least twenty-eight vowel forms, and four tone marks .The character set is an abugida, a writing system in which each consonant may...
, an abugidaAn abugida , also called an alphasyllabary, is a segmental writing system which is based on consonants, and in which vowel notation is obligatory but secondary. This contrasts with an alphabet proper, in which vowels have status equal to consonants, and with an abjad, in which vowel marking is...
script that evolved from the Khmer scriptThe Khmer script is used to write the Khmer language which is the official language of Cambodia. It is often considered to be the longest alphabet in the world....
. Several other dialects exist, and coincide with the regional designations. Southern ThaiSouthern Thai or Dambro is a Tai language spoken in the 14 changwat of Southern Thailand as well as by small communities in the northernmost Malaysian states...
is spoken in the southern provinces, and Northern ThaiThe Northern Thai language or Kham Mueang or Lanna is the language of the Thai Yuan people of Lannathai, Thailand. It is a Tai language, closely related to Thai and Lao...
is spoken in the provinces that were formally part of the independent kingdom of Lannathai.
Thailand is also host to several other minority languages, the largest of which is the LaoLao or Laotian is a tonal language of the Kradai language family. It is the official language of Laos, and also spoken in the northeast of Thailand, where it is usually referred to as the Isan language. Being the primary language of the Lao people, Lao is also an important second language for...
dialect of IsanIsan is the principal language of the Isan region of Thailand, which lies in the country's northeast...
spoken in the northeastern provinces. Although sometimes considered a Thai dialect, it is a Lao dialect, and the region in where it is traditionally spoken was historically part of the Lao kingdom of Lan XangThe Lao kingdom of Lan Xang or Lan Ch'ang was established in 1354 by Fa Ngum....
. In the far south, Yawi, a dialect of Malay, is the primary language of the Malay Muslims. Chinese dialects are also spoken by the large Chinese population, Teochew being the dialect best represented.
Numerous tribal languages are also spoken, including those belonging to the Mon-Khmer family, such as MonThe Mon language is an Austroasiatic language spoken by the Mon, who live in Burma and Thailand. Mon, unlike most languages in the Southeast Asian region, is not tonal. Mon is spoken by less than a million people today. In recent years, usage of Mon has declined rapidly, especially among the...
, KhmerKhmer , or Cambodian, is the language of the Khmer people and the official language of Cambodia. It is the second most widely spoken Austroasiatic language , with speakers in the tens of millions. Khmer has been considerably influenced by Sanskrit and Pali, especially in the royal and religious...
, VietVietnamese , formerly known under French colonization as Annamese , is the national and official language of Vietnam...
, MlabriMlabri is a language spoken by the Mlabri people in the border area between Thailand and Laos.It is usually classified as a Khmuic language, a subgroup of the Austro-Asiatic languages. Linguist Jørgen Rischel has studied the language and described its peculiarities in several works...
; Austronesian family, such as ChamCham is the language of the Cham people of Southeast Asia, and formerly the language of the kingdom of Champa in central Vietnam. A member of the Malayo-Polynesian branch of the Austronesian family, it is spoken by 100,000 people in Vietnam and up to 220,000 people in Cambodia . There are also...
, Moken, and Orang AsliThe Aslian languages are the languages of the Orang Asli, the aboriginal inhabitants of Malaya and peninsular Thailand, and a branch of the Mon-Khmer languages, in the Austro-Asiatic language family.-Classification:...
, Sino-TibetanThe Sino-Tibetan languages form a language family composed of, at least, the Chinese and the Tibeto-Burman languages, including some 250 languages of East Asia, Southeast Asia and parts of South Asia...
family such as Lawa, AkhanAkha is the language spoken by the Akha people. It is sometimes considered a dialect of the Hani language spoken in China, although most speakers live in eastern Myanmar.-External links:*...
, and KarenThe Karen languages are tonal languages spoken by some three million Karen people. They are of unclear affiliation within the Tibeto-Burman languages. The Karen languages are written using the Burmese script. The three main branches are Sgaw, Pwo, and Pa'o. Karenni and Kayan are related to the...
; and other Tai languagesThe Tai languages are a subgroup of the Kradai language family. The Tai languages include the most widely spoken of the Tai-Kadai languages, including standard Thai, the national language of Thailand, Lao or Laotian, the national language of Laos, Myanmar's Shan language, and Zhuang, a major...
such as NyawThe Nyaw or Tai Nyaw are an ethnic group of Thailand and Laos, scattered throughout the provinces of Isan such as Nong Khai, Sakon Nakhon, Nakhon Phanom, and parts of areas of Bolikhamxai and Khammouan provinces of Laos...
, Phu ThaiPhu Thai , also known as Phuu Thai, is the language of the Phutai people. It is a closely related language to the Tai Dam, Tai Don, as well as the Isan and the Lao languages, having only few vocabulary, tonal and pronunciation differences.-Speakers:Speakers of the Phu Thai language in Thailand...
, and SaekSaek is a Tai language spoken in several villages in Laos, and in at least three villages in Nakhon Phanom Province in northeast Thailand, just across the Mekong river. It is spoken by the Saek people....
. HmongHmong or Mong is the common name for a group of dialects of the West Hmongic branch of the Hmong-Mien/Miao-Yao language family spoken by the Hmong people of Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangxi, northern Vietnam, Thailand, and Laos...
is a member of the Hmong-Mien languagesThe Hmong-Mien or Miao-Yao languages are a small language family of southern China and Southeast Asia. They are spoken in mountainous areas of southern China, including Guizhou, Hunan, Yunnan, Sichuan, Guangxi, and Hubei provinces, where its speakers have been relegated to being "hill people,"...
, which is now regarded as a language family of its own.
English is a mandatory school subject, but the number of fluent speakers remains very low, especially outside the cities.
Religion
{{Main|Religion in Thailand}}
According to the last census (2000) 94.7% of the total population are Buddhists of the TheravadaTheravada Theravada Theravada (Pāli: थेरवाद theravāda (cf Sanskrit: स्थविरवाद sthaviravāda); literally, "the Teaching of the Elders" or "the Ancient Teaching", is the oldest surviving Buddhist school. It was founded in India...
tradition. MuslimsIslam, while a minority faith in Thailand, is quickly growing, with the 2005 statistics from National Statistic Office of Thailand estimating approximately 2.2 million, or equivalent to 4.5% of the population of 49.5 million , are Muslims Most Thai Muslims belong to the Sunni sect.-Demographics:A...
are the second largest religious group in Thailand at 4.6%. Thailand's southernmost provinces – PattaniPattani may refer to* Pattani Province, in southern Thailand* Pattani , in southern Thailand* Pattani , which includes the above province** Pattani Kingdom, a former semi-independent kingdom...
, Yala-Asia:* Yala National Park, Sri Lanka* Yala is the dry season in Sri Lanka. Its counterpart is Maha, the wet season.* Yala Province, Thailand*Yala, Thailand, its administrative capital...
, NarathiwatNarathiwat is a town in southern Thailand, capital of the Narathiwat Province....
and part of SongkhlaSongkhla is a city in the Songkhla Province of southern Thailand, near the border with Malaysia. As of 2006 it had a population of 75,048...
ChumphonChumphon is a town in southern Thailand, capital of the Chumphon Province and the Mueang Chumphon district. The city is located about 463 kilometers away from Bangkok...
have dominant Muslim populations, consisting of both ethnic Thai and Malay. The southern tip of Thailand is mostly ethnically Malay, and most Malays are Sunni Muslims. ChristiansChristianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented by the revelations in the New Testament....
represent 0.5% of the population. A tiny but influential community of Sikhs in ThailandThai Sikhs are Sikhs of the Guru who have upheld the Nishaan Sahib, the Sikh flag in Thailand.- Introduction :The first Indian to arrive in Thailand was Mr Kirpa Ram Madan from India in 1880's. He was granted audience with the king of Thailand chulalongkorn. The records are available in Gurudwara...
and some Hindus also live in the country's cities, and are heavily engaged in retail commerce. There is also a small Jewish community in Thailand, dating back to the 17th century. Since 2001, Muslim activists have rallied against the central government because of alleged corruption and ethnic bias among officials.
Culture
{{Main|Culture of Thailand}}
The culture of Thailand incorporates a great deal of influence from India, China, Cambodia, and the rest of Southeast Asia. Thailand's national religion Theravada Buddhism is central to modern Thai identity and belief. In practice, Thai BuddhismBuddhism in Thailand is largely of the Theravada school. Nearly 95% of Thailand's population is Buddhist of the Theravada school, though Buddhism in this country has become integrated with folk beliefs as well as Chinese religions from the large Thai-Chinese population.Buddhist temples in Thailand...
has evolved over time to include many regional beliefs originating from Hinduism, animism as well as ancestor worship. In areas in the southernmost parts of Thailand, IslamIslam Islam Islam ( al-’islām,
[There are ten pronunciations of Islam in English, differing in whether the first or second syllable has the stress, whether the s is or , and whether the a is pronounced as in father, as in cat, or (when the stress is on the i) as in the a of sofa...]
is prevalent. Several different ethnic groups, many of which are marginalized, populate Thailand. Some of these groups overlap into Burma, LaosLaos , officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and People's Republic of China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...
, CambodiaThe Kingdom of Cambodia , formerly known as Kampuchea , is a country in South East Asia with a population of over 14 million people. The kingdom's capital and largest city is Phnom Penh...
, and MalaysiaMalaysia is a country in Southeast Asia that consists of thirteen states and three Federal Territories, with a total landmass of . The capital city is Kuala Lumpur, while Putrajaya is the seat of the federal government. The population stands at over 28 million inhabitants...
and have mediated change between their traditional local culture, national Thai and global cultural influences. Overseas ChineseOverseas Chinese are people of Chinese birth or descent who live outside the territories administered by the rival governments of the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China...
also form a significant part of Thai society, particularly in and around Bangkok. Their successful integration into Thai society has allowed for this group to hold positions of economic and political power.
After World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, American missionaries sought to win ChristianA Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic, religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, who Christians believe was the Messiah prophesied in the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible, and the Son of God.The term "Christian" is also used adjectivally to...
converts in Thailand. Harold ReevesHarold Philmon Reeves was an American clergyman in Texas who served as the first missionary to Thailand from the Southern Baptist Convention. Reeves and his wife, the former Rose Lengefeld, established two congregations and an English-language ministry now known as the Baptist Student Center in...
, for instance, in 1952 became the first missionary to Thailand sent by the Southern Baptist ConventionThe Southern Baptist Convention is a United States-based, mostly conservative Christian denomination. It is the world's largest Baptist denomination and the largest Protestant body in the US with over 16 million members and more than 42,000 churches.The word Southern in Southern Baptist Convention...
.
Like most Asian cultures, respect towards ancestors is an essential part of Thai spiritual practice. Thais have a strong sense of hospitality and generosity, but also a strong sense of social hierarchy. Seniority is an important concept in Thai culture. Elders have by tradition ruled in family decisions or ceremonies. Older siblings have duties to younger ones.
{{Life in Thailand}}
The traditional Thai greeting, the waiThe Thai greeting referred to as the wai or in Lao as kub consists of a slight bow, with the palms pressed together in a prayer-like fashion. It is very similar to the Indian Añjali Mudrā/namasté and the Cambodian sampeah...
, is generally offered first by the younger of the two people meeting, with their hands pressed together, fingertips pointing upwards as the head is bowed to touch their face to the hands, usually coinciding with the spoken word "Sawasdee khrap" for male speakers, and "Sawasdee ka" for females. The elder then is to respond afterwards in the same way. Social status and position, such as in government, will also have an influence on who performs the waiThe Thai greeting referred to as the wai or in Lao as kub consists of a slight bow, with the palms pressed together in a prayer-like fashion. It is very similar to the Indian Añjali Mudrā/namasté and the Cambodian sampeah...
first. For example, although one may be considerably older than a provincial governor, when meeting it is usually the visitor who pays respect first. When children leave to go to school, they are taught to wai to their parents to represent their respect for them. They do the same when they come back. The wai is a sign of respect and reverence for another, similar to the namasteNamaste, Namaskara or Namaskaram is a common spoken greeting or salutation in South Asia...
greeting of India and Nepal.
Muay ThaiMuay Thai is a form of hard martial art practiced in large parts of the world, including Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries. The art is similar to others in Southeast Asia such as: pradal serey in Cambodia, lethwei in Myanmar, tomoi in Malaysia and Lao boxing in Laos...
, or Thai boxing, is the national sport in Thailand and its native martial art call "Muay". In the past "Muay" was taught to royal soldiers for combat on battlefield if unarmed. After they retired from the army, these soldiers often became Buddhist monks and stayed at the temples. Most of the Thai people's lives are closely tied to Buddhism and templesThis article on Thai Temple Art and Architecture discusses Buddhist temples in Thailand.- Introduction :A typical Wat Thai has an enclosing wall that divides it from the secular world....
; they often send their sons to be educated with the monks. ”Muay” is also one of the subjects taught in the temples.
Muay Thai achieved popularity all over the world in the 1990s. The feature film Fight or Flight, which won "Best Foreign Documentary" at the Long Island Film Festival, documented a westerners journey in the Muay Thai circuit in Thailand Fight or Flight official movie website. Although similar martial arts styles exist in other southeast Asian countries, few enjoy the recognition that Muay Thai has received with its full-contact rules allowing strikes including elbows, throws and knees. This is due to Thailand's economic standing in the world while other nation such as CambodiaThe Kingdom of Cambodia , formerly known as Kampuchea , is a country in South East Asia with a population of over 14 million people. The kingdom's capital and largest city is Phnom Penh...
, LaosLaos , officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and People's Republic of China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...
and Burma are listed as the world's Least Developed CountriesLeast Developed Countries are countries which according to the United Nations exhibit the lowest indicators of socioeconomic development, with the lowest Human Development Index ratings of all countries in the world...
by the UN. Association football, however, has possibly overtaken Muay Thai's position as most widely viewed and liked sport in contemporary Thai society and it is not uncommon to see Thais cheering their favourite English Premier League teams on television and walking around in replica kits. Another widely enjoyed pastime, and once a competitive sport, is kite flying.
Taboos in Thailand include touching someone's head or pointing with the feet, as the head is considered the most sacred and the foot the dirtiest part of the body. Stepping over someone, or over food, is considered insulting. However, some traditional taboos in Thai culture, as in many other Asian cultures, have lost their meaning and are less of an integrating force in a globalized Thai culture.
Books and other documents are the most revered of secular objects. One should not slide a book across a table or place it on the floor.{{Fact|date=February 2009}}
Thai cuisineThai cuisine refers to typical foods, beverages, and cooking styles common to the country of Thailand in Southeast Asia. Thai Cuisine is well-known for being hot and spicy and for its balance of five fundamental flavors in each dish or the overall meal - hot , sour, sweet, salty, and bitter...
blends five fundamental tastes: sweet, spicy, sour, bitter and salty. Some common ingredients used in Thai cuisine include garlic, chillies, lime juice, lemon grass, and fish sauce. The staple food in Thailand is rice, particularly jasmine variety riceJasmine rice , sometimes known as Thai fragrant rice, is a long-grain variety of rice that has a nutty aroma and a subtle pandan-like flavor caused by 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline....
(also known as Hom Mali rice) which is included in almost every meal. Thailand is the world's largest exporter of rice, and Thais domestically consume over 100 kg of milled rice per person per year. Over 5000 varieties of rice from Thailand are preserved in the rice gene bank of the International Rice Research InstituteThe International Rice Research Institute is an autonomous, non-profit, agricultural research and training organization with offices in more than ten nations. The Institute’s main goal is to find sustainable ways to improve the well being of present and future generations of poor rice farmers and...
(IRRI), based in the Philippines. The king of Thailand is the official patron of IRRI.
Thai society has been influenced in recent years by its widely available multi-language press and media. There are numerous English, Thai and Chinese newspapers in circulation; most Thai popular magazines use English headlines as a chicChic , meaning 'stylish' or 'smart', is an element of fashion and the counterpart of posh.-Etymology:It is a French word, established in English since at least the 1870s...
glamor factor. Most large businesses in Bangkok operate in English as well as other languages. Thailand is the largest newspaper market in Southeast Asia with an estimated circulation of at least 13 million copies daily in 2003. Even upcountry, out of Bangkok, media flourishes. For example, according to Thailand's Public Relations Department Media Directory 2003-2004, the nineteen provinces of northeast Thailand themselves hosted 116 newspapers along with radio, TV and cable.
International rankings
{{main|International rankings of Thailand}}
| Organization |
Survey |
Ranking |
Heritage FoundationThe Heritage Foundation is an American think tank based in Washington, D.C.The foundation took a leading role in the conservative movement during the presidency of Ronald Reagan, whose policies drew significantly from Heritage's policy study Mandate for Leadership. Heritage has since continued to...
|
Indices of Economic Freedom The Index of Economic Freedom is a series of 10 economic measurements created by the Heritage Foundation and Wall Street Journal. Its stated objective is to measure the degree of economic freedom in the world's nations.- History :...
|
50 out of 157 |
A.T. KearneyA.T. Kearney is a global management consulting firm, focusing on strategic and operational CEO-agenda concerns. The stated mission of A.T. Kearney is to help the world’s leading corporations gain and sustain competitive advantage, and achieve profound, tangible results. Its slogan is: Ideas that last...
/Foreign Policy MagazineForeign Policy is a bimonthly American magazine founded in 1970 by Samuel P. Huntington and Warren Demian Manshel. Under the stewardship of editor-in-chief Moises Naim, Foreign Policy evolved from an academic quarterly in the 1990s to a bimonthly glossy, winning the 2009, 2007, and 2003 National...
|
Global Services Location Index 2009 |
4 out of 50 |
Reporters Without BordersReporters Without Borders, or RWB is a Paris-based international non-governmental organization that advocates freedom of the press. It was founded in 1985 by Robert Ménard, Rony Brauman and the journalist Jean-Claude Guillebaud...
|
Worldwide Press Freedom Index |
134 out of 169 |
| Transparency International Transparency International is an international non-governmental organization addressing corruption . This includes, but is not limited to, political corruption. It is widely known for producing its annual Corruptions Perceptions Index , a comparative listing of corruption worldwide. The...
|
Corruption Perceptions Index Since 1995, Transparency International has published an annual Corruption Perceptions Index ordering the countries of the world according to "the degree to which corruption is perceived to exist among public officials and politicians"...
|
84 out of 179 |
| United Nations Development Programme The United Nations Development Programme is the United Nations' global development network. The UNDP is an executive board within the United Nations General Assembly...
|
Human Development Index |
78 out of 177 |
| World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum is a Geneva-based non-profit foundation best known for its annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland which brings together top business leaders, international political leaders, selected intellectuals and journalists to discuss the most pressing issues facing the world...
|
Global Competitiveness Report The Global Competitiveness Report is a yearly report published by the World Economic Forum. The first report was released in 1979. The 2009-2010 report covers 133 major and emerging economies, down from 134 considered in the 2008-2009 report as Moldova was excluded due to lack of survey data...
(2008) |
34 out of 125 |
Sports
{{Main| Thailand at the Olympics|Thai national football team|Thailand national beach soccer team}}
Thai boxing
Muay ThaiMuay Thai is a form of hard martial art practiced in large parts of the world, including Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries. The art is similar to others in Southeast Asia such as: pradal serey in Cambodia, lethwei in Myanmar, tomoi in Malaysia and Lao boxing in Laos...
(Thai: มวยไทย, RTGS: Muai Thai, {{IPA2|muɛj tʰɑj}}, lit. "Thai Boxing") is a form of hard martial art practiced in large parts of the world, including Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries. The art is similar to others in Southeast Asia such as: Pradal Serey in Cambodia, Lethwei in Burma, Tomoi in Malaysia, and Muay Lao in Laos. Muay Thai has a long history in Thailand and is the country's national sport.
Traditional Muay ThaiMuay Thai is a form of hard martial art practiced in large parts of the world, including Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries. The art is similar to others in Southeast Asia such as: pradal serey in Cambodia, lethwei in Myanmar, tomoi in Malaysia and Lao boxing in Laos...
practiced today varies significantly from the ancient art Muay Boran and uses kicks, punches and knee and elbow strikes in a ring with gloves similar to those used in Western boxing and this has led to Thailand gaining medals at the Olympic Games in BoxingBoxing is a combat sport where two participants, generally of similar weight, fight each other with their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee and is typically engaged in during a series of one to three-minute intervals called rounds. There are three ways to win...
.
Rugby
Rugby is also a growing sport in Thailand with the Thailand national rugby union teamThe Thailand national rugby union team represents Thailand in international rugby union. Thailand have yet to make their debut at the Rugby World Cup, but have been playing in qualifying tournaments since the 1999 Rugby World Cup in Wales.
-History:...
rising to be ranked 61st in the world. Thailand became the first country in the world to host an international 80 kg welterweight rugby tournament in 2005. The national domestic Thailand Rugby Union (TRU) competition includes several universities and services teams such as Chulalongkorn UniversityChulalongkorn University is the oldest university in Thailand and has been long-time considered the country's most prestigious university. It now has eighteen faculties and a number of schools and institutes. Regarded as the best and most selective university of Thailand, it normally attracts top...
, Mahasarakham UniversityMahasarakham University is a public university located in the city of Maha Sarakham in the northeast region of Thailand. Currently, the university has two main campuses, one on the outskirts of Mahasarakham City and another at Kamrieng district about 8 kilometres away on the Kalasin road...
, Kasetsart UniversityKasetsart University is a public university in Thailand and is considered as one of the most prestigious universities in the country. It was also the first agricultural university and the third oldest university in Thailand...
, Prince of Songkla UniversityPrince of Songkla University was the first university in Southern Thailand, being established in 1967. Citation provided at the University website www.psu.ac.th/en/node/28 The name of the university was granted by His Majesty the King in honor to His Royal Highness Somdej Chao Fa Mahidol Adulyadej...
, Thammasat UniversityThammasat University is Thailand's second oldest university. Founded in 1934 as University of Moral and Political Sciences by Pridi Banomyong, a leader of Khana Ratsadon and one of Thailand's most prominent statesmen. It was transformed from an open university to the current form in 1960....
, Rangsit UniversityRangsit University is a private university located in Pathum Thani, Thailand. Rangsit University opened in 1986 as Rangsit College. In 1990 it was promoted to university status....
, the Thai Police, the Thai Army, the Thai Navy and the Royal Thai Air ForceThe Royal Thai Air Force or RTAF is the air force of the Kingdom of Thailand. As of 2008, the Commander of the Air Force is Itthaporn Subhawong.-History:...
. Local sports clubs which also compete in the TRU include the British Club of Bangkok, the Southerners Sports Club (Bangkok)The Southerners Sports Club is an informal, non-commercial Bangkok-based club of expats and Thais. The Southerners field teams in Bangkok's local rugby, netball, touch rugby and cricket competitions, and also tour to neighbouring countries for regional-based sports tournaments.The club aims to...
and the Royal Bangkok Sports Club.
Golf
Further information: Golf in ThailandGolf arrived in Thailand during the reign of King Rama V one hundred years ago. It was first played by nobles and other elitists of high society but over the past decade or so, the popularity of golf in Thailand has escalated, played both by local Thais and visiting foreign tourists and...
Thailand has been called the Golf Capital of Asia as it is a popular destination for golf. The country attracts a large number of golfers from Japan, Korea, Singapore, South Africa and Western countries who come to play golf in Thailand every year. The growing popularity of golf, especially among the middle classes and expats, is evident since there are more than 200 world-class golf courses nationwide, and some of them are chosen to host PGA and LPGA tournaments, such as Amata Spring Country ClubThe Amata Spring Country Club is a private golf and country club near to Bangkok, the capital of Thailand. It hosts two high profile golf tournaments which were introduced in 2006. The Royal Trophy is a team competition between Europe and Asia, and the Honda LPGA Thailand is the first LPGA Tour...
, Alpine Golf & Sports Club, Thai Country Club and Black Mountain Golf Club.
Other sports
Other sports in Thailand are slowly growing as the country develops its sporting infrastructure. The success in sports like weightliftingPowerlifting is a strength sport, consisting of three events: the squat, the bench press, and the deadlift.Powerlifting resembles the sport of olympic weightlifting, as both disciplines involve lifting weights in three attempts. It evolved from a sport known as 'odd lifts' which followed the same 3...
and TaekwondoTaekwondo is a Korean martial art and the national sport of South Korea. In Korean, tae means "to strike or break with foot"; kwon means "to strike or break with fist"; and do means "way," "method," or "art." Thus, "taekwondo" may be loosely translated as "the way of the foot and fist" or "the...
at the last two Summer Olympic GamesThe Summer Olympic Games or the Games of the Olympiad are an international multi-sport event, occurring every four years, organized by the International Olympic Committee. Medals are awarded in each event, with gold medals for first place, silver for second and bronze for third, a tradition that...
has demonstrated that boxingBoxing is a combat sport where two participants, generally of similar weight, fight each other with their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee and is typically engaged in during a series of one to three-minute intervals called rounds. There are three ways to win...
is no longer the only medal chance for Thailand.
See also
{{Portal|Thailand|Thailand portal by Melanochromis.jpg|80|120}}
{{Portal|Geography|Terrestrial_globe.svg}}
{{Main|Outline of Thailand}}
- Index of Thailand-related articles
- Thai Temple Art and Architecture
This article on Thai Temple Art and Architecture discusses Buddhist temples in Thailand.- Introduction :A typical Wat Thai has an enclosing wall that divides it from the secular world....
:Category:Thai Buddhist temples
- Buddhism in Thailand
Buddhism in Thailand is largely of the Theravada school. Nearly 95% of Thailand's population is Buddhist of the Theravada school, though Buddhism in this country has become integrated with folk beliefs as well as Chinese religions from the large Thai-Chinese population.Buddhist temples in Thailand...
:Category:Thai Buddhist temples outside of Thailand
- Tourism in Thailand
Tourism is a major economic factor in the Kingdom of Thailand, contributing an estimated 6.7% to Thailand's GDP in 2007.-Overview:The tourism industry in Thailand truly took off when US soldiers started to arrive in the 1960s for Rest and Recuperation during the Vietnam war period...
- Soccer in Thailand
External links
{{sisterlinks|Thailand}}
Government
General information
Travel
Other
The Kingdom of Thailand ({{pron-en|ˈtaɪlænd}}; {{lang-th|ราชอาณาจักรไทย}} Ratcha Anachak Thai, {{IPA-all|râːtɕʰa ʔaːnaːtɕɑ̀k tʰɑj|IPA|Th-pratheidthai raachaanaajakthai.ogg}}) is an independent country that lies in the heart of Southeast AsiaManila
Bangkok
Ho Chi Minh City
Kuala Lumpur
Singapore
Yangon
Bandung
Hanoi
Surabaya
Taichung
Kaohsiung
Medan|-|}...
.
It is bordered to the north by LaosLaos , officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and People's Republic of China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...
and Burma, to the east by Laos and CambodiaThe Kingdom of Cambodia , formerly known as Kampuchea , is a country in South East Asia with a population of over 14 million people. The kingdom's capital and largest city is Phnom Penh...
, to the south by the Gulf of ThailandThe Gulf of Thailand or Gulf of Siam is a shallow arm of the South China Sea.-Geography:The Gulf of Siam is bordered by Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam. The northern tip of the gulf is the Bay of Bangkok at the mouth of the Chao Phraya River. The gulf covers roughly 320,000 km²...
and MalaysiaMalaysia is a country in Southeast Asia that consists of thirteen states and three Federal Territories, with a total landmass of . The capital city is Kuala Lumpur, while Putrajaya is the seat of the federal government. The population stands at over 28 million inhabitants...
, and to the west by the Andaman SeaThe Andaman Sea is a body of water to the southeast of the Bay of Bengal, south of Myanmar, west of Thailand and east of the Andaman Islands; it is part of the Indian Ocean. It is roughly and wide , with an area of...
and Burma. Its maritime boundaries include VietnamVietnam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam , is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea to the east...
in the Gulf of ThailandThe Gulf of Thailand or Gulf of Siam is a shallow arm of the South China Sea.-Geography:The Gulf of Siam is bordered by Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam. The northern tip of the gulf is the Bay of Bangkok at the mouth of the Chao Phraya River. The gulf covers roughly 320,000 km²...
to the southeast and IndonesiaThe Republic of Indonesia is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia comprises 17,508 islands. With an estimated population of around 237 million people, it is the world's fourth most populous country, with the world's largest population of Muslims.Indonesia is a republic, with an...
and IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
in the Andaman SeaThe Andaman Sea is a body of water to the southeast of the Bay of Bengal, south of Myanmar, west of Thailand and east of the Andaman Islands; it is part of the Indian Ocean. It is roughly and wide , with an area of...
to the southwest. The capital and largest city of Thailand is BangkokBangkok is the capital, largest urban area and primary city of Thailand. Known in Thai as Krung Thep Mahanakhon , or กรุงเทพฯ Krung Thep for short, it was a small trading post at the mouth of the Chao Phraya River during the Ayutthaya Kingdom. It came to the forefront of Siam when it was given the...
. It is also the country's center of political, commercial, industrial and cultural activities.
Thailand is the world's 50th largest country in terms of total area (slightly smaller than YemenYemen , officially the Republic of Yemen is a country located on the Arabian Peninsula in Southwest Asia...
and slightly larger than SpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.
[The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...]
), with a surface area of approximately 513,000 km2 (198,000 sq mi), and the 21st most-populous country, with approximately 64 million people. About 75% of the population is ethnically ThaiThe Thai are the main ethnic group of Thailand and are part of the larger Tai ethnolinguistic peoples found in Thailand and adjacent countries in Southeast Asia as well as southern China. Their language is the Thai language, which is classified as part of the Kradai family of languages, and the...
, 14% is of ChineseThe Thai Chinese are an overseas Chinese community who live in Thailand. Official statistics show that six million people in 1987, or about 14% of Thailand's population claim to be of Chinese ethnicity. Extensive intermarriages with the Thais, especially in the past has resulted in many people who...
origin, and 3% is ethnically MalayThai Malays is a term used to refer to ethnic Malays in Thailand. Thailand hosts the third largest ethnic Malay population after Malaysia and Indonesia, and most Malays are concentrated in the Southern provinces of Narathiwat, Pattani, Yala, Songkhla and Satun.Ethnic Malays in Narathiwat, Pattani,...
; the rest belong to minority groups including MonsThe Mon are an ethnic group from Myanmar, living mostly in Mon State, Bago Division, Irrawaddy Delta of present-day Burma, and along the southern Thai-Myanmar border. One of the earliest peoples to reside in Southeast Asia, the Mon were responsible for the spread of Theravada Buddhism in...
, Khmers and various hill tribes. There are approximately 2.2 million legal and illegal migrants in Thailand. Thailand has also attracted a small number of expatriateAn expatriate is a person temporarily or permanently residing in a country and culture other than that of the person's upbringing or legal residence...
s from developed countries in the West. The country's official language is ThaiThai is the national and official language of Thailand and the mother tongue of the Thai people, Thailand's dominant ethnic group. Thai is a member of the Tai group of the Kradai language family. The Kradai languages are thought to have originated in what is now southern China, and are linked to...
.
Thailand is one of the most devoutly Buddhist countries in the world. The national religion is TheravadaTheravada Theravada Theravada (Pāli: थेरवाद theravāda (cf Sanskrit: स्थविरवाद sthaviravāda); literally, "the Teaching of the Elders" or "the Ancient Teaching", is the oldest surviving Buddhist school. It was founded in India...
BuddhismBuddhism, as traditionally conceived, is a path of salvation attained through insight into the ultimate nature of reality. It encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha...
which is practiced by more than 94.7% of all Thais. Muslim:A Muslim , , is an adherent of the religion of Islam. The feminine form is Muslimah . Literally, the word means "one who submits ". Muslim is the participle of the same verb of which Islam is the infinitive. Muslims believe that there is only one God, translated in Arabic as Allah...
s make up 4.6% of the population and 0.7% belong to other religions. Culture and traditions in Thailand are significantly influenced by IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
, as are Burma, LaosLaos , officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and People's Republic of China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...
and CambodiaThe Kingdom of Cambodia , formerly known as Kampuchea , is a country in South East Asia with a population of over 14 million people. The kingdom's capital and largest city is Phnom Penh...
.
Thailand is a constitutional monarchyA constitutional monarchy is a form of government in which a monarch acts as head of state within the parameters of a written , unwritten or blended constitution...
with King Bhumibol Adulyadejclass="infobox vcard" style="font-size: 88%; text-align: left; width: 22em;"|-! colspan="2" style="background: #ffff00; color: #000000; font-size: 120%; text-align: center;" class="fn"|...
, the ninth king of the House of ChakriThe Chakri Dynasty The Chakri Dynasty (also known as the House of Chakri) The Chakri Dynasty (also known as the House of Chakri) ( is the current ruling royal house of the Kingdom of Thailand, the Head of the house is the King of Thailand. The Dynasty has ruled Thailand since the founding of the...
, as the ruling monarch. The king has reigned for more than sixty-three years, making him the longest reigning Thai monarchThe Monarchy of Thailand The Monarchy of Thailand (also referred to as the King of Thailand) The Monarchy of Thailand (also referred to as the King of Thailand) ( refers to the constitutional monarchy and monarch of the Kingdom of Thailand (formerly Siam). The King of Thailand is the head of state...
and the longest reigning current monarch in the world. The king is officially titled as the Head of State, the Head of the Armed Forces, an Upholder of the Buddhist religion, and the Defender of all faiths.
Thailand experienced rapid economic growth between 1985 and 1995 and today is a newly industrialized country with an emphasis on exports and a flourishing tourismTourism is a major economic factor in the Kingdom of Thailand, contributing an estimated 6.7% to Thailand's GDP in 2007.-Overview:The tourism industry in Thailand truly took off when US soldiers started to arrive in the 1960s for Rest and Recuperation during the Vietnam war period...
industry, thanks to various world-famous tourist destinationA tourist destination is a city, town, or other area that is dependent to a significant extent on the revenues accruing from tourism. It may contain one or more tourist attractions and possibly some "tourist traps."...
s such as PattayaPattaya is a city in Thailand, located on the east coast of the Gulf of Thailand, about 165 km southeast of Bangkok located within but not part of Amphoe Bang Lamung in the province of Chonburi....
, BangkokBangkok is the capital, largest urban area and primary city of Thailand. Known in Thai as Krung Thep Mahanakhon , or กรุงเทพฯ Krung Thep for short, it was a small trading post at the mouth of the Chao Phraya River during the Ayutthaya Kingdom. It came to the forefront of Siam when it was given the...
, and Phuket.
Etymology
The Country's official name was Siam ({{lang-th|สยาม}} {{RTGS|Sayam}}, {{IPA-all|saˈjaːm|pron}}{{fix|text=need tone}}) until June 23, 1939, when it was changed to Thailand. It was renamed Siam from 1945 to May 11, 1949, after which it was again renamed Thailand. Also spelled Siem, Syâm or Syâma, it has been identified with the SanskritSanskrit is a historical Indo-Aryan language, one of the liturgical languages of Hinduism and Buddhism, and one of the 22 official languages of India. It is also declared as a classical language by the government of India....
Śyâma (श्याम, meaning "dark" or "brown"). The names ShanThe Shan are a Tai ethnic group of Southeast Asia. The Shan live primarily in the Shan State of Burma , but also inhabit parts of Mandalay Division, Kachin State, and Kayin State, and in adjacent regions of China and Thailand...
and A-hom seem to be variants of the same word, and Śyâma is possibly not its origin but a learned and artificial distortion.
The word Thai (ไทย) is not, as commonly believed, derived from the word Tai (ไท) meaning "freedom" in the Thai languageThai is the national and official language of Thailand and the mother tongue of the Thai people, Thailand's dominant ethnic group. Thai is a member of the Tai group of the Kradai language family. The Kradai languages are thought to have originated in what is now southern China, and are linked to...
; it is, however, the name of an ethnic groupAn ethnic group is a group of humans whose members identify with each other, through a common heritage that is real or presumed.Ethnic identity is further marked by the researcher Seng Yang in the recognition from others of a group's distinctiveness and the recognition of common cultural,...
from the central plains (the Thai peopleThe Thai are the main ethnic group of Thailand and are part of the larger Tai ethnolinguistic peoples found in Thailand and adjacent countries in Southeast Asia as well as southern China. Their language is the Thai language, which is classified as part of the Kradai family of languages, and the...
).{{Fact|date=November 2007}} A famous Thai scholar argued that Tai (ไท) simply means "people" or "human being" since his investigation shows that in some rural areas the word "Tai" was used instead of the usual Thai word "khon" (คน) for people. The phrase "Land of the free" is derived from Thai pride in the fact that Thailand is the only country in Southeast Asia never colonized by a European power.
The Thai National Anthem ({{lang-th|เพลงชาติ}}) refers to the Thai nation as: prathet-thai (Thai: ประเทศไทย). The first line of the national anthem is: prathet thai ruam lueat neua chat chuea thai (Thai: ประเทศไทยรวมเลือดเนื้อชาติเชื้อไทย) and was translated in 1939 by Colonel Luang Saranuprabhandi as: “Thailand is the unity of Thai blood and body.”
While the Thai people will often refer to their country using the polite form prathet-thai (Thai: ประเทศไทย), they most commonly use the more colloquial word 'Mueang-Thai' (Thai: เมืองไทย) or simply Thai (Thai:ไทย); the word mueang (Thai: เมือง) meaning nation but most commonly used to refer to a city or town.
Ratcha Anachak Thai ({{lang-th|ราชอาณาจักรไทย}}) means "Kingdom of Thailand" or "Kingdom of Thai". Etymologically, its components are: -Ratcha- (from Sanskrit rajaRaja is the Hindustani term for a monarch, or princely ruler of the Kshatriya varna...
, meaning "king, royal, realm") ; -ana- (from PāliPali is a Middle Indo-Aryan language of India. It is best known as the language of the earliest extant Buddhist scriptures, as collected in the Pāi Canon or Tipitaka, and as the liturgical language of Theravada Buddhism....
{{unicode|āṇā}}, "authority, command, power", itself from Sanskrit {{unicode|ājñā}}, same meaning) -chak (from Sanskrit cakra or cakraṃ meaning "wheel", a symbol of power and rule).
History
{{Main|History of Thailand|People of Thailand}}
The region known as Thailand has been inhabited by humans since the PaleolithicThe Paleolithic or Palaeolithic Age, Era, or Period, or Old Stone Age, is a prehistoric era distinguished by the development of the first stone tools, and covers roughly 99% of human technological history...
period, about 10,000 years ago. Before the fall of the Khmer EmpireThe Khmer Empire was the third largest empire of South East Asia , based in what is now Cambodia. The empire, which seceded from the kingdom of Chenla, at times ruled over and/or vassalised parts of modern-day Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, and Malaysia...
in the 13th century, various states thrived there, such as the various Tai"Thai peoples" redirects here. For the subgroup of the Tai, see Thai peopleThe Tai "Chinese 泰" ethnicity refers collectively to the ethnic groups of southern China and Southeast Asia, stretching from Hainan to eastern India and from southern Sichuan to Laos, Thailand, and parts of Vietnam, which...
, Mon, KhmerThe Khmer people; ខ្មែរ ; are the predominant ethnic group in Cambodia, accounting for approximately 90% of the 14.8 million people in the country. They speak the Khmer language, which is part of the larger Mon-Khmer language family found throughout Southeast Asia...
and Malay kingdoms, as seen through the numerous archaeological sites and artifacts that are scattered throughout the Siamese landscape. Prior to the 12th century however, the first ThaiThe Thai are the main ethnic group of Thailand and are part of the larger Tai ethnolinguistic peoples found in Thailand and adjacent countries in Southeast Asia as well as southern China. Their language is the Thai language, which is classified as part of the Kradai family of languages, and the...
or Siamese state is traditionally considered to be the Buddhist kingdom of SukhothaiThe Sukhothai kingdom was an early kingdom in the area around the city Sukhothai, in north central Thailand. It was First Thai Empire. It existed from 1238 till 1438...
, which was founded in 1238.
Following the decline and fall of the Khmer empire in the 13th–14th century, the Buddhist TaiTai may refer to the*Tai ethnic groups*Tai languagesOther meanings include*Tai , a Chinese surname*Tai, Nigeria, a local government area in Rivers State, Nigeria*Mount Tai, in Shandong, China...
kingdoms of Sukhothai, LannaThe Kingdom of Lanna was a state in what is now northern Thailand from the 13th to 18th centuries. The cultural development of the people of Lanna, the Tai Yuan people, had begun long before as successive Tai Yuan kingdoms preceded Lanna...
and Lan Chang were on the ascension. However, a century later, Sukhothai's power was overshadowed by the new kingdom of AyutthayaAyutthaya was a Siamese kingdom that existed from 1351 to 1767 until it was invaded by the Burmese. Ayutthaya was friendly towards foreign traders, including the Chinese, Vietnamese , Indians, Japanese and Persians, and later the Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch and French, permitting them to set up...
, established in the mid-14th century in the lower Chao Phraya RiverThe Chao Phraya is a major river in Thailand, with its low alluvial river plain marking the mainland of the country. It runs through Bangkok, the capital of Thailand.-Etymology:...
, or Menam area. Ayutthaya's expansion centered along the Menam while in the northern valley Lanna Kingdom and other small Tai city-states ruled the area.
Thailand retained a tradition of trade with its neighboring states, from China to India, Persia and Arab lands. Ayutthaya became one of the most vibrant trade centers in Asia. European traders arrived in the 16th century, beginning with the Portuguese