Thailand in general

Thailand, from Muang Tai meaning "the country is freed," sooner Siam, is a monarchy in Southeast Asia. The country bordering Laos and Cambodia in the east, Myanmar (Burma) in the west and Malaysia in the South.

History

The modern kingdom of Thailand was formed on the basis of the earlier kingdom of Ayutthaya, which in turn formed around 1350. Thailand was known as Siam until 1939, when the kingdom was renamed Thailand. Then returned Monday to call the kingdom of Siam between 1945 and 1948.

Published in 1948 regained the kingdom the name Thailand. Siam was the only kingdom in the area not conquered and colonized by European powers. A constitutional monarchy began in 1932 after a peaceful revolution.

Geography

Thailand is a tropical country with many natural resources. In the north of Thailand consists of mountains and fertile plains, in the east of the mountain and plateau country, south of the low mountains and forest and in the central part of the fertile leravlagringar from the river Chao Phraya.

The Thai flora and fauna consists of a considerable diversity of plants and animals. The highest point is Doi Inthanon with 2 565 meters above sea level.

Climate

Weather in Thailand is influenced largely by the monsoon, the wind system that controls the seasonal variation. With regional variations can be somewhat simplified divided into the rainy season (July to October), cold period (novemder to February) and summer (March to June).

In general, rainfall similar to that in Sweden, again with regional variations. One major difference, however, precipitation falls. Large amounts of rainfall for a short period followed by rapid uppklarnande weather.

Politics

Thailand is a constitutional monarchy. Thailand is a member of the regional ASEAN and the UN, APEC, IMF, WHO, WTO and ILO.

King is the chief patron of thai Buddhism and an important symbol of national identity and samhållning. The current monarch is popular and respected as a moral authority. The government is headed in the current situation (February 2009) of a coalition government under the leadership of the Democrats.

Under the old Constitution, and under the new draft from August 2007, the Thai Parliament, National Assembly, organized in a bicameral system consisting of the House of Representatives with 500 seats and the Senate with 200 seats.

The representatives of both chambers are elected by popular vote. House of Representatives are elected by wards (one representative per district) and senators elected by the provinces. The candidates for the House of Representatives are elected for four years, while senators are elected for six years. The judicial system has three levels, the highest is högrätten. The judges are elected directly by the king.

Economy

During the decade from 1985 to 1995, Thailand experienced the world's highest economic growth, averaging an increase of 9 percent per year. Growing speculation against the Thai currency, baht, the country in an economic crisis in 1997, which caused major weaknesses in the financial sector. Baht fell dramatically in the course and collapse in its turn to a major financial crisis in the entire Asian region.

It stabilized the economy in 1999, mainly due to a strong export business, which experienced a 20 percent in 2000. Growth in 2003 and 2004 reached over 6 percent per year. In 2000, Thailand had a per capita GDP of 1 954 USD.

Its natural assets include, inter alia, timber, lead, zinc, natural gas, rubber, tin and sapphires. The industry includes electronics, automobiles and textiles. Forestry, mostly teak logging, was previously an important source of income, but in 1998 it was banned because teak stock declined significantly higher rate than the newly planted.

Tourism accounts for around 5 per cent of Thailand's GDP. Major export products are fish and seafood, computers, electrical appliances, other lighter industrial and clothing. GDP is made up to 40 percent of the industry, to 10.5 percent of agriculture and 49.5 percent of service and other (2000).

Currency baht is divided into 100 satin.

Demographics

The religious allegiance looks like this:

  • Buddhists: 95 percent
  • Muslims: 3.8 percent
  • Christians: 0.5 percent
  • Hindus: 0.1 percent
  • Other: 0.6 percent

Expectancy at birth is 69.95 years for men and 74.68 years for women (2006). Proportion of HIV is 1.5 percent (2003).

The 65 million inhabitants in Thailand consists of about 80 percent ethnic Thais, 10 percent Chinese, 4 percent Malaysians and 6 percent other. Most are peasants living in small rural villages.

Parts of the above text is subject to and is published in accordance with the GNU Free Documentation License.

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