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Researched by Rachel E.
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Location
Thailand is in the heart of Southeast Asia. Its neighboring countries are
Cambodia, China, Burma, Malaysia, and Laos. Bodies of water in the vicinity
of Thailand are the South China Sea, Gulf of Thailand, and the Andaman
Sea. Thailand is 510,000sq. Kilometers in size: about the same size
as France. There are 49,500,000 people in Thailand. Thailand‘s
largest city and capital is Bangkok. It is close to the equator.
Religion
Most of the people in Thailand are Buddhist. A prince was born around Nepal and India. His name was Siddhartha. Two groups of prophets told the king that his son would become a great religious leader or a very powerful king with a large empire. The other group told the king his son would become an important religious leader. The prince traveled around his father’s empire. He saw people suffering. The prince wanted to find out why people suffered. He fasted and meditated to find the answers. He found out the people would be born, grow old, and die; The cycle of life. If a person does good thing after life will be good and you can reach Nirvana, a state of divine wisdom.
Thailand has no Halloween, Christmas, or St. Patrick’s day. Instead they have festivals of all kinds including family day.
Government
The Thai government does not have a president but a king of royal blood like Rama the 2nd. Only a king of that family can be a king or Queen. The Thai people elect the other government leaders. A Thai person can vote when they turn 18. The government is a type of a democracy.
Climate
Thailand has a very hot and dry climate around April and a rainy climate around May and August. Because of the countries length it has a very diverse climate. It can freeze in the north and rain for five continuous months in the south.
Symbols
Thailand has at least 3 symbols they are the elephant, flag, and the Emblem. The flag is red, white, and blue.
The Thai national Emblem was adopted in 1910 and it shows a picture of the Garuda, a bird-like creature of Southeast Asia mythology.
The flag colors represent the blood that was lost in war (red), the purity of the people (white), and the blue that represents the religion.
The Elephant is the national animal because there are so many in Thailand. Before the cars came popular with Bangkok one could see Elephants everywhere.
People
Thai people are generally dark haired and brown eyed and some may have dark skin but some Thai people don’t. Most people in Thailand are all Thai but about 20000 English tourists come every year.
Most of the people in Thailand are Thai or other. Few people are not. Some people say that an English person in a Thai market will be treated the same way that a Thai person would. Other people say that an English person in Bangkok wouldn’t stand a chance. Thai people are typically peaceful. The country is known as the land of the smiles.
History/ Kings
The country was once called Siam. The first capital of Siam was in the north Succoth. In 1782 Bankok was founded as the nation’s capital by king Rama the1st. The first people known to live there lived in the hills and mountainsides of Ayutthaya. Then it had a war and everything burned.
Thailand has had many wars with Burma. They have had palaces around Bangkok but most are burned
. Kings of Sukhothia were not as powerful as Ramkhamhaeg the great. Latter Sukhothia’s prince took over and became king. His later known name was king Ramathibodi. He founded a new palace in 1350 it was located South of Sukhothia on Chao Phraya, Tha Chin, and Pasak, the three rivers, right where Bangkok is today. Ayutthaya was the new capital in Thailand it was built on the three rivers. It was in power for 417 years.
Unit of money is a baht. Approximately 45 baht to a dollar.
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