The old name of Thailand is Siam, which lies in the center of Indo-China Peninsula between China and India. All the people in Thailand worship Buddhism. Since more than fifty years ago, it has been a center for religions, cultures and many races in Southeast Asia. The total area of Thailand is 514,000 square kilometers，similar to area of France. The population is about 60,000,000. On the north of Thailand is Burma; northeast is Laos; east is Cambodia; and on the south is Malaysia. The shape of Thailand is just like an elephant's head, and the maximum distant between east and west is 780 kilometers, while the narrowest place is only 10.6 kilometers. From north to south the maximum distant is 1648 kilometers. In Thailand, mountains and plateaus mostly are flat and low, the topography high in north and low in south. The highest peak is Doi Inthanon (Inthanon Mount) at the elevation of about 2595 meters. Menam River originates from the north mountainous region, flowing from north to south, and the total length is 1200 kilometers, with the drainage area of 150,000 square kilometers. It flows into the Thai bay. Menam River is the important irrigation water supply and the shipping line for central agricultural area. Its main branches include Nan River，Maenam Yom，Maeping，Busser River and so on.
Mekong River is the natural boundary river of Thailand and Laos. In the boundaries of Thailand its main branch is the Mongolian river. The main mountain range is TanenTaunggyi Range, including Tanen Mountain, Bilauktaung Mountain, Kundan Mountain，Dongpayefei Mountain, Shanganpeng Mountain and so on. The main islands include Phuket, Samyi, Pangan and Qiang Island.
Climate
Thailand enjoys a tropical climate. In the east, mountains in Laos and Vietnam prevent the mainland winter monsoon from entering. Therefore, in December the lowest temperature is only slightly lower than 20 °C, and the winter is not cold. In the west, Bilauktaung Mountain also makes the monsoon from the Indian Ocean difficult to enter. The rainfall in most areas is not as much as that of Burma, and in some areas it is even insufficient. But there is no mountain in its south coast, so there is more monsoon rain, which is a precipitation characteristic better than neighbor areas. Thailand has obvious division between dry season and rainy season. From December to the March of next year, this period is the dry season, while from May to October is the rainy season, and from April to November, that is transitional months. During March and April, the temperature in daytime rises to 35°C, and falls at night below 25°C .It is the hottest time in a year.
Natural Resources
1. Agriculture: Thailand's agricultural population is the main part of its working population. In its export products, agricultural products are also the main part. Agriculture is vital for Thailand, but arable land only occupies 20% of the total land. Among the arable land, rice paddy takes 11.7%, which is also the most prominent characteristic of Thai agriculture. The tropical natural environment and the fertile central plain are the natural grounds for Thailand to become an agricultural country. Main rice areas are as follows: a. central plain and delta area b. Chiangmai valley c. Meng River of the northeast and its branch drainage areas d. the drainage plain in the east coast of south peninsula. The above areas are also the most densely populated areas in Thailand. Except rice, other crops grow in the higher place of central plain, Nakhon Ratchasima plateau, north Thailand mountain areas and some peninsula areas not suitable for rice paddies. These crops grow in different areas according to their own growth characteristics, including corn, tobacco, cotton, tea, sugar cane, coconut tree, and rubber etc..
2. Forestry: 60% of the area in Thailand is forest. As a result of the tropical monsoon climate, there is dry season. Most forest is fallen leaf monsoon forest. Teak is the most valuable tree in the forest, which mainly distributes in the north Thailand, while bamboo widely distributes in Kanchanaburi in the west. In dry season, forests often catch big fire, leaving some gap places between forests. Compared with those of Malaysia and Indonesia these gap places are more spacious. But in south Thailand and mountain pitch regions, tropical rain forests come into being because of abundant rains, extremely dense, and majority not exploited.
3. Mining industry: The major mineral ore in Thailand is tin ore. At the present time, the principal fields lie in the south. As for the coal, there aren’t good coal mines. Most of the coal is lignite, and the output is not many. Moreover, in Thai-Burmese border areas, oil has been discovered, but most of them is of poor quality, so only few is exploited.
4. Other resources: In the tropical forests of South Thailand there are various kinds of animals and plants: iris kingfisher, long tail small parrot, flying squirrel, gibbon, dozens of kinds of different snakes, several hundred kinds of butterflies, as well as near thousand kinds of orchids and so on. Besides, there are also numerous fruits; some are wild, and some are cultivated by man. There are nearly 30 different kinds of bananas and plantain, as well as coconut, durian, Lai mho, mango, pawpaw, mangosteen, rambutan, and longan etc..
Race
Thai is south Mongolia race of the yellow race (similar to south China and Southeast Asia), originating from south China's Thai, who approximately composes 90% of the entire Thai population. Other people in Thailand include Chinese, Malay, Indian, Vietnamese, and Miao national minority, Meng and so on. Generally speaking, the average height of
Thai is short compared with Chinese, and the skin color is darker (darker toward the south).They are thinner, and for both male and female, few are fat (mainly due to hot climate and bad appetite). Compared with Chinese, their face outline is deeper.
Religion
Considering the Thai history, she can always contain various religions and belief. Although 92% people believe in the Hinayana Buddhism, 6% Moslems are also respected. In addition, other minor religions as Hinduism, Sikhism and Christianity and so on are also tolerated.
