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Thailand Geography & People

Area: total: 514,000 sq km

Land: 511,770 sq km

Water: 2,230 sq km

Natural resources: tin, rubber, natural gas, tungsten, tantalum, timber, lead, fish, gypsum, lignite, fluorite, arable land

Thailand is bordered by Burma in the West and North, Laos and Cambodia to the North and East, and Malaysia to the South. It was originally known as Siam, but the name was changed to Thailand in the 1930's. Thailand means "Land of the free".

The country is divided into six major regions:

• The mountainous North where you can enjoy jungle trekking, visit hill tribes, buy beautiful handicrafts and find temperate fruits such as strawberries and peaches

• The sprawling North-east plateau where the world's oldest Bronze Age civilization flourished some 5,000 years ago, and today the colorful E-Sarn people farm a wide variety of crops

• The Central plain, one of the world's most fertile rice and fruit-growing areas, as well as home to Bangkok and the ancient capital, Ayudhaya, which was sacked by the Burmese 200 years ago

• The Eastern coastal plain where you will find the popular beach resorts of Pattaya, Koh Chang and Koh Samet

• The Western mountains and valleys of Kanchanaburi where you can visit the infamous Bridge on the River Kwai, and further down the coast the quiet beach resort of Hua Hin

• And the peninsula South where you can visit Koh Samui (about 200 kms south of Hua Hin), the immensely popular up-market island resort, and further south Krabi and world famous Phuket island

Thailand covers about 510,000 square kilometers and has a population of about 80 million. Because Thailand has been a cultural crossroads for so long, many different types of people make up the Thai population. Chinese, Cambodians, Laotians, Burmese, Malays, Indians, and Europeans have all helped populate the country. As a result, the Thais are a very tolerant people. There is even a village on the Thonburi (western) side of the Chao Phraya river opposite Wat Po in Bangkok whose inhabitants are descended from Portuguese settlers from about 400 years ago.

North of Bangkok, at Koh Kret, Burmese settlers built an island in the middle of the Chao Phraya river about 200 years ago. They built a small chedi on the north east end which now leans precariously over. Legend has it that when the chedi falls down completely the islanders will return to live in Burma. However, this seems doubtful as they have made a beautiful home for themselves on the island. Weekend day trippers enjoy visiting to buy pottery made by the islanders.

Most people in Thailand are Buddhist, but Muslims, Christians and other religions are all integrated into Thai society.

Classical Thai costume

Northern hill tribe women, known as 'Galeang Khor Yao'

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