<text><span class="style42"></span><span class="style12">THAILAND</span><span class="style14"></span><span class="style42">Official name:</span><span class="style13"> Prathet Thai (Kingdom of Thailand)</span><span class="style42">Member of: </span><span class="style13">UN, ASEAN, Apec</span><span class="style42">Area: </span><span class="style13">513115 km2 (198115 sq mi)</span><span class="style42">Population: </span><span class="style13">57830000 (1993 est)</span><span class="style42">Capital: </span><span class="style13">Bangkok 5876000 (including suburbs; 1990 census)</span><span class="style42">Other major cities:</span><span class="style13"> Nakhon Ratchasima (Khorat) 278000, Songkhla 243000 (1990 census)</span><span class="style42">Language: </span><span class="style13">Thai (official)</span><span class="style42">Religions: </span><span class="style13">Buddhism (95%), Sunni Islam (4%)</span><span class="style42">GOVERNMENT</span><span class="style13">Thailand is a constitutional monarchy. The National Assembly comprises a non-political Senate whose 270 members are appointed and a 360-member House of Representatives elected by universal adult suffrage for four years. The King appoints a Prime Minister who commands a majority in the House. The PM appoints a Cabinet of Ministers responsible to the House.</span><span class="style42">GEOGRAPHY</span><span class="style13">Central Thailand is a densely populated fertile plain. The mountainous north rises to Doi Inthanon at 2595 m (8514 ft). The infertile Khorat Plateau occupies the northeast, while the mountainous Isthmus of Kra joins southern Thailand to Malaysia. </span><span class="style42">Principal river: </span><span class="style13">Mekong 4350 km (2702 mi). </span><span class="style42">Climate: </span><span class="style13">Thailand has a subtropical climate with heavy monsoon rains from June to October, a cool season from October to March and a hot season from March to June.</span><span class="style42">ECONOMY</span><span class="style13">Agriculture involves over two thirds of the labor force, mainly growing rice (a major export), tapioca and rubber. Tin and natural gas are the main natural resources. Manufacturing ΓÇô based on cheap labor ΓÇô is expanding and includes textiles, clothes, electrical and electronic engineering. Thailand achieved high economic growth rates throughout the 1980s and early 1990s. Tourism is a major foreign-currency earner. </span><span class="style42">Currency: </span><span class="style13">Baht.</span><span class="style42">HISTORY</span><span class="style13">Before 1939 Thailand was known as Siam. The Thais originated in Yunnan (China) and moved south after the Mongol destruction of their kingdom, Nanchao (1253). The Thais seized the Khmer (Cambodian) city Sukhotai, making it the center of a new kingdom. After 1350 ΓÇô based on the city of Ayutthaya ΓÇô Thai rulers consolidated their hold on south Siam and the Malay peninsula. Centuries of warfare with Burma, Laos and Cambodia did not prevent Siam from becoming the most powerful state in Southeast Asia, and the adroit diplomacy of its rulers enabled it to remain free of European colonization. Rama I (reigned 1782ΓÇô1809), founder of the present dynasty, moved the capital to Bangkok. His successors were forced to cede their claims over neighboring lands to Britain and France.A constitutional monarchy was established by a bloodless coup (1932), whose Westernized leaders (Pibul Songgram and Pridi Phanomyang) struggled for political dominance for the next quarter of a century. During World War II Thailand was forced into an alliance with Japan. Since then Thailand has made a decisive commitment to the US political camp, which has brought major benefits in military and technical aid. Despite continuing army interventions in politics, Thailand has prospered. However, the stability of the country was compromised by the wars in Vietnam and by the continuing Cambodian conflict (until 1991), as Cambodian refugees and guerrillas remained in Thai border regions. </span></text>
