Thailand

Location:

Southeastern Asia, bordering the Andaman Sea and the Gulf of Thailand, southeast of Burma

Border Countries:

Burma 1,800 km, Cambodia 803 km, Laos 1,754 km, Malaysia 506 km

Terrain:

central plain; Khorat Plateau in the east; mountains elsewhere

Geography:

controls only land route from Asia to Malaysia and Singapore

Capital:

Bangkok

About Thailand

A unified Thai kingdom was established in the mid-14th century. Known as Siam until 1939, Thailand is the only Southeast Asian country never to have been taken over by a European power. A bloodless revolution in 1932 led to a constitutional monarchy. In alliance with Japan during World War II, Thailand became a US ally following the conflict. Thailand is currently facing separatist violence in its southern ethnic Malay-Muslim provinces.

Population:

65493296

Language:

Thai, English (secondary language of the elite), ethnic and regional dialects

Religion:

Buddhist 94.6%, Muslim 4.6%, Christian 0.7%, other 0.1% (2000 census)

Phone Service:

high quality system, especially in urban areas like Bangkok

Currency:

baht (THB)

Climate:

tropical; rainy, warm, cloudy southwest monsoon (mid-May to September); dry, cool northeast monsoon (November to mid-March); southern isthmus always hot and humid

Natural Hazards:

land subsidence in Bangkok area resulting from the depletion of the water table; droughts