The Kingdom of Thailand is a country in Southeast Asia, bordering Laos and Cambodia to
the east, the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia to the south, and
the Andaman Sea and Myanmar to the west. Thailand was previously
known as Siam (Thai: ????; IPA: [sa'ja?m]), which was the country's
official name until May 11, 1949. The word Thai (???) means "freedom"
in the Thai language and is also the name of the majority Thai
ethnic group.
According to archeological evidence various indigenous cultures
have existed in Thailand from the time of the Ban Chiang culture(4420
BC-3400 BC) onwards, however due to its Geological location Thai
culture has always been greatly influenced by China and India.
The founding of the first Siamese/Thai State is traditionally
tied to the Buddhist kingdom of Sukhothai founded in 1238 by Pho
Khun Si Indrathit, following the decline and the fall of the Khmer
Empire in the 13th -15th century. A Century later the power of
Sukhothai was over shaddowed by the larger Siamese kingdom of
Ayutthaya, established in the mid-14th century. Following the
sack of Angkor itself in 1431 by the army of Ayuthaya, much of
the Khmer court and its Hindu customs were brought to Ayuthaya
which lead to the adoption of Khmer customs and rituals in to
the courtly culture of Siam. Following the fall of Ayuthaya in
1767, Thonburi was the capital of Thailand for a brief period
under King Taksin the Great, until a coup d'etat in 1782. The
current (Ratthanakhosin) era of Thai history began in 1782 following
the establishment of Bangkok as Capital of the Chakri dynasty
under King Rama I the Great.
Contact with various European powers began in the 16th century
but, despite continued pressure, Thailand is the only Southeast
Asian country never to have been taken over by a European power.
There are two main reasons for this. First, Thailand had a series
of very able rulers in the 1800s. Secondly, it was able to utilise
the rivalry and tension between the French and the British and
thus remained as a buffer state between parts of S.E.Asia that
were colonised by the two colonial powers. Western influence,
however, including the threat of force, led to many reforms in
the 19th century and major concessions to British mercantile interests.
This included the loss of the three southern provinces, which
later became Malaysia's three northern states.
A mostly bloodless revolution in 1932 led to a constitutional
monarchy. Known previously as Siam, the country first changed
its name to Thailand in 1939, and definitively in 1949 after reverting
to the old name post-World War II. During that conflict Thailand
was in a loose alliance with Japan; following its conclusion Thailand
became an ally of the United States. Thailand then saw a series
of military coups d'état, but progressed towards democracy
from the 1980s onward. In 1997, Thailand was hit with the Asian
financial crisis and the Thai baht was soon worth 56 baht to the
US Dollar compared to about 25 baht to the dollar before 1997.
Since then the baht has regained some strength and currently trades
around 36-38 baht to the dollar.
The official calendar in Thailand is based on Eastern version
of the Buddhist Era, which is 543 years ahead of the Gregorian
(western) calendar. For example, the year AD 2006 is equal to
the year 2549 BE in Thailand.
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Images of the well known and less travelled
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Real Estate Database for Thailand.
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