the local area
Thailand in brief
- Full Country Name: Kingdom of Thailand
- Head of State: King Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX)
- Prime Minister: Thaksin Shinawatra
- Area: 517, 000 sq. kms.
- Population: 65 million
- Capital: Bangkok (pop. 6 million)
- People: 75% Thai, 11% Chinese, 3.5% Malay, also Mon, Khmer, Phuan and Karen minorities
- Language: Thai
- Religion: 95% Buddhism, 4% Muslim
- Government: Democratic constitutional monarchy
Topography
The North is characterised by forested hills and deep river valleys; the South by tropical beaches and limestone formations producing cliffs and offshore islands; the Northeast by semi-arid plateaus; and the Central Plain by hugely fertileland water by the Chao Phraya River.
Coastline
Totals over 2,500 kilometres. The western shores are touched by the Andaman Sea, the east by the Gulf of Thailand. Dotting the coastline are hundreds of offshore islands, both populated and uninhabited.
Climate
Thailand enjoys a tropical climate with threa seasons; Summer (March-May, Rainy (June-Oct), and Winter (Nov-Feb). Temperatures vary 19-38 degree ceeisious.
Flora and fauna
Thailand has nearly 300 species of mammals and can claim one of of Asia's richest bird faunas (over 900 species sighted). It has over 60 national parks and over 30 wildlife preserves.
Thailand means "land of the free". And throughout its 800 year history, it can boast the distinction of being the only country in the Southeast Asia never to have been colonised. The Thais founded their kingdom on the southern part of China, which is Yunnan, Kwangsi and Canton today. A great number of people migrated south as far as the Chao Phraya Basin and settled down over the Central Plain under the sovereignty of the Khmer Empire, whose culture they probably accepted.
The Thais began to emerge as a dominant force in the region in the 13th century, gradually asserting independence from exsisting Khmer and Mon kingdoms. Called by its rulers "the dawn of happiness", this is often considered the golden era of Thai history, an ideal Thai state in a land of plenty governed by paternal and benevolent kings.
