About Thailand

Geography The kingdom of Thailand lies in the heart of Southeast Asia, making it a natural gateway to Indochina, Myanmar and Southern China. The country covers the area of 511,771 sq km which is divided into 76 provinces. Thailand has maximum dimensions of about 2,500 kilometers north to south and 1,250 kilometers east to west, with a coastline of approximately 1,840 kilometers on the Gulf of Thailand and 865 kilometers along the Indian Ocean. Thailand is divided into four natural regions: (1) the North, (2) the Central Plain, or Chao Phraya River Basin, (3) the Northeast, or the Korat Plateau, and (4) the South, or Southern Peninsula. Thailand is a tropical country with some rain and cloudy sky in the monsoon during Mid May to September and cool breeze during November to March. The rest of the year is hot and humid.

Economy

Thailand has a well-developed infrastructure, a free-enterprise economy, and welcomes foreign investment. Thailand's industries are tourism, textiles and garments, agricultural processing, beverages, tobacco, cement, manufacturing such as jewelry, electric appliances and components, automotive parts, assembly plants of 1 ton pick-ups, computers and parts, integrated circuits, furniture, plastics, world's second-largest tungsten producer, and third-largest tin producer. Thailand has an abundant natural resources namely tin, rubber, natural gas, tungsten, tantalum, timber, lead, fish, gypsum, lignite, fluorite and arable.

Society

Thais are well known for their friendliness and hospitality. A large majority of over 65 million citizens of Thailand are ethic Thai, along with strong communities whose ethnic origins lie in China, India and elsewhere. About 7 million people reside in the capital city of Bangkok. The population includes ethnic Chinese, Malays, Cambodians, Vietnamese, Indians, and others.

Buddhism, the national religion, is the professed faith of 95 percent of the population. Islam, Christianity, Hinduism and others are embraced by the rest of the population. There is absolute religious freedom. The King of Thailand, under the constitution and in practice, is patron of all major religious embraced by the people.

The official national language, spoken by almost 100 percent of the population, is Thai. It is a tonal language, uninflected, and predominantly monosyllabic. More polysyllabic words in the vocabulary have been borrowed, mainly from Khmer, Pali or Sanskrit. Dialects are spoken in rural areas. Other languages are Chinese and Malay. English, a mandatory subject in public schools, is widely spoken and understood, particularly in Bangkok and other major cities.

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