A unified Thai kingdom was established in the mid-14th century. Known as Siam until 1939, Thailand is the only Southeast Asian country never to have been taken over by a European power. A bloodless revolution in 1932 led to a constitutional monarchy. In alliance with Japan during World War II, Thailand became a US ally following the conflict. Thailand is currently facing armed violence in its five Muslim-majority southern provinces.
The country can be divided into four regions. To the north there are forested mountain ranges, which are the southernmost extension of the Himalayas. The rich valleys of the Rivers Ping, Yom, Wang and Nan support intensive agriculture and the forests produce teak and other valuable timbers. The forests provide a home for many hill tribes who live by the shifting cultivation of dry rice and opium poppies. In the northeast lies the Khorat Plateau, a region of poor soils sparsely vegetated with savanna woodlands where crops of rice and cassava are grown. The third region is the central plains – Thailand’s rice bowl – with vistas of rice fields, canals, rivers, and villages on stilts. The mountainous southern provinces on the Malay Peninsula are dominated by tropical rainforest. The hills produce tin ore and plantation rubber and the picturesque islands off the west and east coast have an ever-growing tourist industry.
Agriculture is still the main employer, although its economic importance is declining. Rice is the principal crop and Thailand is still one of the world’s leading exporters. Other crops include sugar, maize, rubber, manioc, pineapples and seafoods. Mineral resources include tin ore, lead, tungsten, lignite, gypsum, tantalum, fluorite and gemstones. Thailand is the world’s second largest producer of tungsten, and the third largest tin producer. Tourism is increasingly becoming the country’s greatest source of foreign exchange.
As with much of south east Asia, recent years have seen increasing development of urban based manufacturing of high-technology, along with large annual growth rates during the late 1980’s prior to the south east Asian economic downturn of 1997. |
