THAILAND (formerly SIAM). – A state in South-East Asia, comprising part of Indochina and the Malay Peninsula between Burma, the Federation of Malaya and French Indochina. It covers 513,447 sq. km. and has no fewer than 18.5 million inhabitants (density 36 per sq. km.), of whom only 4.3% are foreigners, mostly Chinese.
I. GEOGRAPHY
The country has a varied structure and appearance, with a long, narrow mountain range in the south and, in the north, highlands and mountains surrounding a broad alluvial plain watered by the Menam, which represents the most economically developed and most populous part. Rice is the staple crop, and its abundant production (97% of cultivated land) is partly destined for export. Other crops include tobacco, cotton, sugar cane, sesame, pepper, etc. The forests covering the mountain slopes contain the valuable teak, which is also widely exported, together with tin, which is extracted from the peninsular region (tungsten is in decline; lead, molybdenum and diamonds are produced in moderate quantities). Livestock is considerable, but for religious reasons is limited to working animals.The capital, Bangkok (or Krungthep, the City of Angels), on the left bank of the Menam, is a large urban agglomeration with over a million inhabitants including suburbs; all other inhabited centres are much smaller.
Thailand is a constitutional monarchy with a two-chamber parliament, one chamber elected and the other appointed by the king.
GIUSEPPE CARACI
II. HISTORY
The Menam valley, the heart of Thailand, was originally inhabited by the Austro-Asiatic Mon people, who soon came under the civilising influence of India. Politically, the region remained under the suzerainty of the Kingdom of Fu-nan in the Mekong valley from the 1st to the 6th century. On the ruins of this foreign domination arose the Mon kingdom of Dvaravati. In the 9th and 10th centuries the Khmers became the dominant population, and in the first half of the 11th century the country became a province of the Khmer Empire of Cambodia. The Mongol conquests in China in the 13th century contributed to accelerating the slow(1) State boundaries; 2) ecclesiastical circumscription boundaries; 3) railways.
(237)