LAND & PEOPLE

Thailand was known as Siam until 1939, when it was changed to Muang Thai or Prathet Thai, which both mean "Land of the Free." After the Second World War it reverted to Siam for a short period, but became Thailand again in 1949.

It is roughly the size of France and shaped like a tall tree leaning to the right. Thai school children are taught to describe the shape of their country as an elephant's head with a long dangling trunk. It is bordered to the west and northwest by Burma (Myanmar), to the northeast by Laos, to the east by Cambodia, and to the south by Malaysia, the Gulf of Thailand, and on the southeastern coast by the Andaman Sea.

THE REGIONS OF THAILAND

The Central Plain

This is a huge and mostly flat alluvial plain on which Bangkok stands and where a large proportion of Thailand's rice crop is grown. The hub of the plain is Bangkok, with the twin city of Thonburi across the Chao Phraya River (together they are known as Metropolitan Bangkok).

Metropolitan Bangkok is an enormous, sprawling city of approximately 10 million that has expanded rapidly. The other cities are minnows in comparison. Like many other Third World cities, it is a magnet for the rural poor, and there are extremes of wealth and poverty. It suffers from pollution and gridlocked traffic, but public transportation has improved.

Other important centers are Kanchanaburi, Nakorn Pathom, Rayong, Samut Songkhram, and Phetchaburi, and the resorts of Pattaya and Bang Saen. The population of the central plain minus Bangkok is 14 million.

The North

This is the most scenic part of Thailand, full of mountains and hills. Chiang Mai, Phrae, Sukhothai, and Lampang are the main towns, and the region is home to various hill tribes that are ethnically and culturally different from the Thais. The northern dialect differs in some respects from the Thai spoken in the central plains, and is akin to that spoken in the Shan states of Burma. In former times most of this area formed the early Thai Kingdom of Lanna. Population: 13 million.

The Northeast

The Korat plateau is generally regarded as the poorest part of Thailand, and it has less rainfall than other parts of the country. The chief towns are Khon Kaen, Udon Thani (Korat), Nong Khai, Roi Et, and Ubon. The Mekhong River forms a natural border with Laos, and the northeastern Isarn Thai dialect is similar to Lao. Population: 23 million.

Peninsular or Southern Thailand

This region stretches down from Phetchaburi to the Malaysian border and is only twenty-five miles wide at its narrowest point. It is characterized by lush vegetation and toward the south there are tin and rubber plantations. There are a number of holiday islands off the coast, such as Ko Samui and Phuket. Ranong, Surat Thani, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Songkhla, and the railway junction of Had Yai are the important towns. Population: 10 million.

CLIMATE AND SEASONS

Thailand has a tropical climate with three main seasons: the hot season (March to May), the rainy season (June to September), and the cool season (October to February). "Cool" and "rainy" are relative terms. The average temperature in Bangkok in December is 77°F (25°C), but it usually feels much hotter because of high humidity, and there are plenty of fine days in the rainy season.

The climate varies according to location. In the mountains of the north the nights can be cold in December and January. In October severe flooding is likely to occur all over Thailand, especially in Bangkok. Areas close to the sea often suffer from high levels of humidity.

Peninsular Thailand has less sharply differentiated seasons. The southwestern coast and hills experience the full force of the southwestern monsoon between May and October, while on the eastern side most rain falls between October and December.

THE PEOPLE

Although there is some ethnic diversity in Thailand, the proportions of which are debatable, over 99 percent of Thai residents have Thai citizenship and most of them identify closely with the country of their birth.

The Thais

The Thai people are believed to have originated in the Altai mountain region of northern Mongolia 5,000 years ago. They emigrated westward to the Yellow River and later to the mouth of the Huang Ho River and the Chinese province of Szechuan. Attacks by the Tatars and Chinese drove them further south, and by the first century CE they were living in the Yunnan Valley of south central China. In the seventh century CE they began to move southward, settling in what is now Laos and northern Thailand, and gradually absorbed the indigenous Mon and Khmer inhabitants.

The Chinese

Much of the commercial life of the country is in the hands of the Chinese, some of whom have been here since the eighteenth century, have intermarried with Thais, and have adopted Thai ways. There were also waves of Chinese immigrants in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, a minority of whom still practice their own traditions (such as Confucianism). They account for between 11 and 14 percent of the population.

The Malays

This is the third-largest ethnic group. They practice Islam, speak Malay and Thai, and most live in the four southern provinces of Narathiwat, Pattani, Yala, and Satun. Some have settled in Bangkok and other cities.

The Khmer

Together with the Mon these were the original inhabitants of Thailand who were later almost entirely assimilated by the Thais. However, Khmer (Cambodian) is spoken in the areas bordering Cambodia, and you may meet Cambodians who fled their country during the upheavals of the 1970s and '80s and did not return.

The Mon

The Mon have been almost completely assimilated by the Thais, but a few Mon-speaking communities remain in the central plain and some of the provinces.

The Indians

In the towns and cities you will find a number of Indian shopkeepers, often involved in tailoring and the textile trade. Indians are also employed as guards and night watchmen. Thai criminals are afraid of them because of their dark skins.

The Hill Tribes

There are a number of different peoples (including the Akha, Meo, Karen, Lawa, Lisu, and Hmong) who live mainly in the hills to the north and west. They are thought to number approximately 750,000, and each tribe has its own distinctive customs and languages.

A BRIEF HISTORY

The Early Kingdoms

In the seventh century CE the Thais began to move south into what is now Laos and northern Thailand, areas populated by the Khmers and the Mon. There was some conflict with the Khmers but the Mon kingdoms, known as Dvaravati, were more readily assimilated. The first substantial Thai kingdoms to be founded were those of Lanna, or Lannathai, under King Mengrai...