Siamese Nation

Although nominally a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy , the most recent coup in established a de facto military dictatorship. Tai peoples migrated from southwestern China to mainland Southeast Asia from the 11th century; the oldest known mention of their presence in the region by the exonym Siamese dates to the 12th century.

European contact began in with a Portuguese diplomatic mission to Ayutthaya, one of the great powers in the region. Ayutthaya reached its peak during cosmopolitan Narai 's reign —88 , gradually declining thereafter until being ultimately destroyed in in a war with Burma. Taksin quickly reunified the fragmented territory and established the short-lived Thonburi Kingdom. He was succeeded in by Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke , the first monarch of the Chakri dynasty and founder of the Rattanakosin Kingdom , which lasted into the early 20th century.

Through the 18th and 19th centuries, Siam faced pressure from France and the United Kingdom, including forced concessions of territory, but nevertheless it remained the only Southeast Asian country to avoid direct Western rule. Following a bloodless revolution in , Siam became a constitutional monarchy and changed its official name to "Thailand".

In the late s, a military coup revived the monarchy's historically influential role in politics. Thailand became a major ally of the United States and played a key anti-communist role in the region. Apart from a brief period of parliamentary democracy in the mid s, Thailand has periodically alternated between democracy and military rule.

In the 21st century, Thailand endured a political crisis that culminated in two coups and the establishment of its current and 20th constitution by the military junta. Thailand is a unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy under a military junta. The country has always been called Mueang Thai by its citizens. By outsiders prior to , it was usually known by the exonym Siam Thai: The names Shan and A-hom seem to be variants of the same word.

The Chinese called this region Xian, which the Portuguese converted into Siam. The signature of King Mongkut r. While Thai people will often refer to their country using the polite form prathet Thai Thai: Ratcha Anachak Thai Thai: Etymologically, its components are: The Thai National Anthem Thai: The first line of the national anthem is: There is evidence of continued human habitation in present-day Thailand dated to 20, years before present. Khmer people established Khmer empire centered in Angkor in the 9th century.

Thai people are in Tai ethnic group , which were characterized by common linguistic roots. While there are many assumptions regarding the origin of Tai peoples, David K. After the decline of the Khmer Empire and Kingdom of Pagan in the early 13th century, various states thrived in their place.

The domains of Tai people existed from the northeast of present-day India to the north of present-day Laos and to the Malay peninsula. During the 13th century, Tai people have already settled in the core land of Dvaravati and Lavo Kingdom to Nakhon Si Thammarat in the south. There are, however, no records detailing the arrival of the Tais. He later crowned himself the first king of Sukhothai Kingdom in Mainstream Thai historians count Sukhothai as the first kingdom of Thai people. Sukhothai expanded furthest during the reign of Ram Khamhaeng — However, it was mostly a network of local lords who swore fealty to Sukhothai, not directly controlled by it.

He is believed to invent Thai script and Thai ceramics was an important export goods in his era. To the north, Mangrai who descended from a local ruler linage of Ngoenyang , founded the kingdom of Lan Na in , centered in Chiang Mai. He unified the surrounding area and his dynasty would rule the kingdom continuously for the next two centuries. He also created a network of alliance through political alliance to the east and north of Mekong. According to the most widely accepted version of its origin, Ayutthaya Kingdom rose from the earlier, nearby Lavo Kingdom and Suvarnabhumi with Uthong as its first king.

Ayutthaya was a patchwork of self-governing principalities and tributary provinces owing allegiance to the king of Ayutthaya under mandala system. Its initial expansion is through conquest and political marriage. Before the end of the 15th century, Ayutthaya invaded Khmer Empire twice and sacked its capital Angkor.

Ayutthaya then became a regional great power in place of Khmer Empire. Constant interference of Sukhothai effectively made it a vassal state of Ayutthaya and was finally incorporated in to the kingdom. Ayutthaya was interested in Malay peninsula but failed to conquer Malacca Sultanate which was supported by Chinese Ming Dynasty. European contact and trade started in the early 16th century, with the envoy of Portuguese duke Afonso de Albuquerque in , followed by the French, Dutch, and English. Multiple war with its ruling dynasty Taungoo Dynasty starting in the s in the reign of Tabinshwehti and Bayinnaung were ultimately ended with capture of the capital in Then was a period of brief vassalage to Burma until Naresuan proclaimed independence in Ayutthaya then seek to improve relations with European powers for many successive reigns.

The kingdom especially prospered during cosmopolitan Narai 's reign —88 where some European travelers regarded Ayutthaya as Asian great powers alongside China and India. However, overall relations remain stable with French missionaries still active in preaching Christianity. After that, there was a period of relative peace but the kingdom's influence gradually waned, partly because of bloody struggles over each succession, until the capital Ayutthaya was utterly destroyed in by Burma's new Alaungpaya dynasty.

Anarchy followed destruction of the former capital, with its territories split into five different factions, each controlled by a warlord. Taksin rose to power and proclaimed Thonburi as temporary capital in the same year. He also quickly subdued the other warlords. His forces engaged in wars with Burma, Laos, and Cambodia, which successfully drove the Burmese out of Lan Na in , captured Vientiane in and tried to install a pro-Thai king in Cambodia in the s. In his final years there was a coup which was caused by his supposedly "insanity," and eventually Taksin and his sons were executed by longtime companion General Chao Phraya Chakri future Rama I.

Did You Know?

Under Rama I , Rattanakosin successfully defended against Burmese attacks and put an end to Burmese invasion. He also created overlordship over large portions of Laos and Cambodia. In , John Crawfurd was sent on a mission to negotiate a new trade agreement with Siam — the first sign of an issue which was to dominate 19th-century Siamese politics.

Anouvong of Vientiane, who misunderstood that Britain was about to attack Bangkok, started the Lao rebellion in and was defeated. Vientiane was destroyed and a large number of Lao people was relocated to Khorat Plateau as the result. Bangkok also waged multiple wars with Vietnam , where Bangkok successfully regained influence over Cambodia. European pressure mounted and in , during Mongkut 's reign, a British mission led by Sir John Bowring , Governor of Hong Kong, led to the conclusion of Bowring Treaty , first of many unequal treaties with Western countries.

However, Thailand is the only Southeast Asian nation to never have been colonized by any Western power, [35] in part because Britain and France agreed in to make the Chao Phraya valley their buffer state. Western influence nevertheless led to many reforms in the 19th century. Chulalongkorn introduced the Monthon system, where centralized officials were sent to oversee the entire land, thus effectively ending the power of all local dynasties. There were also major concessions to France and Britain, most notably the loss of a large protectorate territory east of the Mekong composed of present-day Laos and Cambodia and the ceding of four Malay provinces to Britain in Anglo-Siamese Treaty of The bloodless revolution took place in carried out by the Khana Ratsadon group of military and civilian officials resulted in a transition of power, when King Prajadhipok was forced to grant the people of Siam their first constitution, thereby ending centuries of absolute monarchy.

His conflicting view with the government led to abdication. The government selected Ananda Mahidol to be the new king. Later that decade, the military wing of Khana Ratsadon came to dominate Siamese politics. Field Marshall Plaek Phibunsongkhram built fascism , and decreed cultural mandates which changed the name of the kingdom to "Thailand" and affected many aspects of daily life.

After France was conquered by Nazi Germany in June , Thailand took the opportunity to retake territories conceded to the French many decades earlier, which Thailand won the majority of the battles. The conflict came to an end with Japanese mediation. On December 7, , the Empire of Japan launched an invasion of Thailand , and fighting broke out shortly before Phibun ordered an armistice.

Japan was granted free passage, and on December 21, Thailand and Japan signed a military alliance with a secret protocol, wherein Tokyo agreed to help Thailand regain territories lost to the British and French. After the war, most Allied powers did not recognize Thailand's declaration of war. In June , young King Ananda was found dead under mysterious circumstances.

His younger brother Bhumibol Adulyadej succeeded the throne. He also revived the monarchy's role in politics. Military dictatorships at the time were supported by US government, and Thailand joined anti-communist measures in the region alongside the US, most notably participation in the Vietnam War between and The period brought about increasing modernisation and Westernisation. Internal conflict regarding economic difficulties which began in led to Thai popular uprising , an important event in Thai modern history. Constant unrest and instability, as well as fear of communist takeover after Fall of Saigon , made some ultra-right groups brand increasingly leftist students as communists.

This culminated in Thammasat University massacre in October Another coup in the following year installed a more moderate government, which offered amnesty to communist fighters in The Party abandoned the insurgency by Thailand had its first elected Prime Minister in Suchinda Kraprayoon , who was the coup leader in and said he would not seek to become Prime Minister, was nominated as one by majority coalition government after the general election.

This caused a popular demonstration in Bangkok, which ended with a military crackdown. Bhumibol intervened in the event and Suchinda then resigned. The Asian financial crisis originated in Thailand and forced the country to take an IMF loan with unpopular provisions. The populist Thai Rak Thai party, led by prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra , governed from until The Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami hit the country, mostly in the south.

After the general election of , the populist Pheu Thai Party won a majority and Yingluck Shinawatra , Thaksin's younger sister, became Prime Minister. The referendum and adoption of Thailand's current constitution happened under the junta's rule. In Bhumibol, the longest reigning Thai king, died, and his son Vajiralongkorn ascended the throne. Prior to , all legislative powers were vested in the monarch. This had been the case since the foundation of the Sukhothai Kingdom in the 12th century as the king was seen as a "Dharmaraja" or "king who rules in accordance with Dharma ", the Buddhist law of righteousness.

Modern absolute monarchy was established by Chulalongkorn when he transformed the decentralized protectorate system into a unitary state. On 24 June , Khana Ratsadon People's Party carried out a bloodless revolution which ended the absolute rule. The politics of Thailand is conducted within the framework of a constitutional monarchy , whereby the Prime Minister is the head of government and a hereditary monarch is head of state.

The judiciary is supposed to be independent of the executive and the legislative branches, although judicial rulings are suspected of being based on political considerations rather than on existing law. Thailand has had 20 constitutions and charters since , including the latest and current Constitution. Throughout this time, the form of government has ranged from military dictatorship to electoral democracy, but all governments have acknowledged a hereditary monarch as the head of state.

The legislative according to Constitution was the bicameral National Assembly composed of the Senate , the member upper house , and House of Representatives , the member lower house. Since coup, it was replaced by a rubber stamp , unicameral National Legislative Assembly. Under the constitution the king is given very little power, but remains a figurehead and symbol of the Thai nation. As the head of state , however, he is given some powers and has a role to play in the workings of government. According to the constitution, the king is head of the armed forces.

He is required to be Buddhist as well as the defender of all faiths in the country. The king also retained some traditional powers such as the power to appoint his heirs, the power to grant pardons, and the royal assent. The king is aided in his duties by the Privy Council of Thailand. Since the s, two political parties dominated Thai general elections: The political parties which support Thaksin Shinawatra won the most representatives every general election since It is slightly smaller than Yemen and slightly larger than Spain.

Thailand comprises several distinct geographic regions, partly corresponding to the provincial groups. The centre of the country is dominated by the predominantly flat Chao Phraya river valley, which runs into the Gulf of Thailand. Politically, there are six geographical regions which differ from the others in population, basic resources, natural features, and level of social and economic development.

The diversity of the regions is the most pronounced attribute of Thailand's physical setting. Industrial scale production of crops use both rivers and their tributaries. It contributes to the tourism sector owing to its clear shallow waters along the coasts in the southern region and the Kra Isthmus. The eastern shore of the Gulf of Thailand is an industrial centre of Thailand with the kingdom's premier deepwater port in Sattahip and its busiest commercial port, Laem Chabang. The Andaman Sea is a precious natural resource as it hosts the most popular and luxurious resorts in Asia. Phuket , Krabi , Ranong , Phang Nga and Trang , and their islands, all lay along the coasts of the Andaman Sea and, despite the tsunami , they remain a tourist magnet for visitors from around the world.

Plans have resurfaced for a canal which would connect the Andaman Sea to the Gulf of Thailand, analogous to the Suez and the Panama Canals. The idea has been greeted positively by Thai politicians as it would cut fees charged by the Ports of Singapore , improve ties with China and India, lower shipping times, and eliminate pirate attacks in the Strait of Malacca , and support the Thai government's policy of being the logistical hub for Southeast Asia.

The canal, it is claimed, would improve economic conditions in the south of Thailand, which relies heavily on tourism income, and it would also change the structure of the Thai economy by making it an Asia logistical hub. Thailand's climate is influenced by monsoon winds that have a seasonal character the southwest and northeast monsoon. Thailand is divided into three seasons. Due to its inland nature and latitude, the north, northeast, central and eastern parts of Thailand experience a long period of warm weather. Thailand has a mediocre but improving performance in the global Environmental Performance Index EPI with an overall ranking of 91 out of countries in This is also a mediocre rank in the Asia Pacific region specifically, but ahead of countries like Indonesia and China.

The environmental areas where Thailand performs worst i. Thailand performs best i. The elephant is Thailand's national symbol. Although there were , domesticated elephants in Thailand in , the population of elephants has dropped to an estimated 2, There are now more elephants in captivity than in the wild, and environmental activists claim that elephants in captivity are often mistreated.

Poaching of protected species remains a major problem. Hunters have decimated the populations of tigers , leopards , and other large cats for their valuable pelts. Many animals including tigers, bears, crocodiles , and king cobras are farmed or hunted for their meat, which is considered a delicacy, and for their supposed medicinal properties. Although such trade is illegal, the famous Bangkok market Chatuchak is still known for the sale of endangered species. The practice of keeping wild animals as pets threatens several species.

Baby animals are typically captured and sold, which often requires killing the mother. Once in captivity and out of their natural habitat, many pets die or fail to reproduce. Affected populations include the Asiatic black bear , Malayan sun bear , white-handed lar , pileated gibbon and binturong. There are also two specially-governed districts: Bangkok is at provincial level and thus often counted as a province. Each province is divided into districts and the districts are further divided into sub-districts tambons.

Thai provinces are administrated by regions. The regions that Thailand uses to divide the provinces is the four-region division system. It divides the country into the four regions: Each region has its own different historical background, culture, language and people. In contrast to the administrative divisions of the Provinces of Thailand , Thailand is a Unitary state , the provincial Governors, district chiefs, and district clerks are appointed by the central government.

The regions themselves do not have an administrative character, but are used for geographical , statistical , geological , meteorological or touristic purposes. Thailand controlled the Malay Peninsula as far south as Malacca in the 15th century and held much of the peninsula, including Temasek Singapore , some of the Andaman Islands , and a colony on Java , but eventually contracted when the British used force to guarantee their suzerainty over the sultanate.

Mostly the northern states of the Malay Sultanate presented annual gifts to the Thai king in the form of a golden flower —a gesture of tribute and an acknowledgement of vassalage. Thailand relinquished sovereignty over what are now the northern Malay provinces of Kedah , Perlis , Kelantan , and Terengganu to the British. Satun and Pattani Provinces were given to Thailand. Most victims since the uprisings have been Buddhist and Muslim bystanders. Thailand participates fully in international and regional organisations.

Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Brunei, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, and Vietnam, whose foreign and economic ministers hold annual meetings. Regional co-operation is progressing in economic, trade, banking, political, and cultural matters.

In Thailand attended the inaugural East Asia Summit. In recent years, Thailand has taken an increasingly active role on the international stage. When East Timor gained independence from Indonesia, Thailand, for the first time in its history, contributed troops to the international peacekeeping effort. Its troops remain there today as part of a UN peacekeeping force.

Thailand has contributed troops to reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq. The latter especially was criticised, with claims that uncompetitive Thai industries could be wiped out. Thaksin also announced that Thailand would forsake foreign aid, and work with donor countries to assist in the development of neighbours in the Greater Mekong Sub-region.

More controversially, he established close, friendly ties with the Burmese dictatorship. Thailand joined the US-led invasion of Iraq, sending a strong humanitarian contingent. Two Thai soldiers died in Iraq in an insurgent attack. In April , fighting broke out between Thai and Cambodian troops on territory immediately adjacent to the year-old ruins of Cambodia's Preah Vihear Hindu temple near the border. The Cambodian government claimed its army had killed at least four Thais and captured 10 more, although the Thai government denied that any Thai soldiers were killed or injured.

Two Cambodian and three Thai soldiers were killed. Both armies blamed the other for firing first and denied entering the other's territory. Kong Thap Thai constitute the military of the Kingdom of Thailand. It also incorporates various paramilitary forces. The Thai Armed Forces have a combined manpower of , active duty personnel and another , active reserve personnel. The armed forces are managed by the Ministry of Defence of Thailand , which is headed by the Minister of Defence a member of the cabinet of Thailand and commanded by the Royal Thai Armed Forces Headquarters , which in turn is headed by the Chief of Defence Forces of Thailand.

According to the constitution, serving in the armed forces is a duty of all Thai citizens. The candidates are subjected to varying lengths of training, from six months to two years of full-time service, depending on their education, whether they have partially completed the reserve training course, and whether they volunteered prior to the draft date usually 1 April every year. A person who completed one year out of three will only have to serve full-time for one year. Those who completed two years of reserve training will only have to do six months of full-time training, while those who complete three years or more of reserve training will be exempted entirely.

Royal Thai Armed Forces Day is celebrated on 18 January, commemorating the victory of Naresuan of the Ayutthaya Kingdom in battle against the crown prince of the Taungoo Dynasty in In the literacy rate was The private sector of education is well developed and significantly contributes to the overall provision of education which the government would not be able to meet with public establishments.

Education is compulsory up to and including age 14, with the government providing free education through to age Teaching relies heavily on rote learning rather than on student-centred methodology. The establishment of reliable and coherent curricula for its primary and secondary schools is subject to such rapid changes that schools and their teachers are not always sure what they are supposed to be teaching, and authors and publishers of textbooks are unable to write and print new editions quickly enough to keep up with the volatility.

Issues concerning university entrance has been in constant upheaval for a number of years. Nevertheless, Thai education has seen its greatest progress in the years since Most of the present generation of students are computer literate. Thailand was ranked 54th out of 56 countries globally for English proficiency, the second-lowest in Asia. Students in ethnic minority areas score consistently lower in standardised national and international tests.

Extensive nationwide IQ tests were administered to 72, Thai students from December to January The average IQ was found to be IQ levels were found to be inconsistent throughout the country, with the lowest average of The Ministry of Public Health blames the discrepancies on iodine deficiency and steps are being taken to require that iodine be added to table salt, a practice common in many Western countries. In , the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology announced that 27, schools would receive classroom-level access to high-speed internet. The National Science and Technology Development Agency is an agency of the government of Thailand which supports research in science and technology and its application in the Thai economy.

It provides users with regularly scheduled light. In Bangkok, there are very many free public Wi-Fi Internet hotspots. The Internet is censored by the Thai government, making some sites unreachable. Thailand is an emerging economy and is considered a newly industrialised country. Thailand ranks midway in the wealth spread in Southeast Asia as it is the 4th richest nation according to GDP per capita, after Singapore, Brunei, and Malaysia.

Navigation menu

Thailand functions as an anchor economy for the neighbouring developing economies of Laos, Myanmar, and Cambodia. In the third quarter of , the unemployment rate in Thailand stood at 0. Thailand experienced the world's highest economic growth rate from to — averaging In increased pressure on the baht , a year in which the economy contracted by 1.

Prime Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh was forced to resign after his cabinet came under fire for its slow response to the economic crisis. The baht was pegged at 25 to the US dollar from to The baht reached its lowest point of 56 to the US dollar in January and the economy contracted by Thailand's economy started to recover in , expanding 4.

Due both to the weakening of the US dollar and an increasingly strong Thai currency, by March the dollar was hovering around the 33 baht mark. Political uncertainty was identified as the primary cause of a decline in investor and consumer confidence.

• 52 Bible Lessons for Students.
• Pensamientos de Sandino 4 (Cuadernos Sandinistas) (Spanish Edition).
• III Wishes.
• Market Microstructure in Emerging and Developed Markets (Robert W. Kolb Series).
• Siam (disambiguation) - Wikipedia.

The IMF predicted that the Thai economy would rebound strongly from the low 0. Following the Thai military coup of 22 May , the AFP global news agency published an article that claimed that the nation was on the verge of recession. The article focused on the departure of nearly , Cambodians from Thailand due to fears of an immigration clampdown, but concluded with information on the Thai economy's contraction of 2. In , Credit Suisse reported that Thailand was the world's third most unequal country, behind Russia and India. The economy of Thailand is heavily export-dependent, with exports accounting for more than two-thirds of gross domestic product GDP.

Substantial industries include electric appliances, components, computer components, and vehicles. Thailand's recovery from the — Asian financial crisis depended mainly on exports, among various other factors.

Thai people

As of [update] , the Thai automotive industry was the largest in Southeast Asia and the 9th largest in the world. Most of the vehicles built in Thailand are developed and licensed by foreign producers, mainly Japanese and South Korean. Rail transport in Bangkok includes long-distance services, and some daily commuter trains running from and to the outskirts of the city during the rush hour, but passenger numbers have remained low. There are also three rapid transit rail systems in the capital. As of , Thailand had airports with 63 paved runways, in addition to 6 heliports.

The busiest airport in the county is Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport. As of [update] Thailand has 37 million registered vehicles, 20 million of them motorbikes. A number of undivided two-lane highways have been converted into divided four-lane highways. Other forms of road transport includes tuk-tuks , taxis—as of November , Thailand has 80, registered taxis nationwide [] —vans minibus , motorbike taxis, and songthaews.

There are 4, public vans operating on routes from Bangkok to the provinces alone. They are classed as Category 2 public transport vehicles routes within kilometres. Until , most operated from a Bangkok terminus at Victory Monument. They are being moved from there to the Department of Land Transport's three Bangkok bus terminals. Thailand was the most visited country in Southeast Asia in , according to the World Tourism Organisation. Estimates of tourism receipts directly contributing to the Thai GDP of 12 trillion baht range from 9 percent 1 trillion baht to 16 percent.

In , this was supplemented by a "Discover Thainess" campaign. Asian tourists primarily visit Thailand for Bangkok and the historical, natural, and cultural sights in its vicinity. Western tourists not only visit Bangkok and surroundings, but in addition many travel to the southern beaches and islands. The north is the chief destination for trekking and adventure travel with its diverse ethnic minority groups and forested mountains. The region hosting the fewest tourists is Isan in the northeast. To accommodate foreign visitors, the Thai government established a separate tourism police with offices in the major tourist areas and its own central emergency telephone number.

Thailand's attractions include diving , sandy beaches, hundreds of tropical islands , nightlife, archaeological sites, museums, hill tribes , flora and bird life, palaces, Buddhist temples and several World Heritage sites. Many tourists follow courses during their stay in Thailand. Popular are classes in Thai cooking, Buddhism and traditional Thai massage. Many localities in Thailand also have their own festivals. Thai cuisine has become famous worldwide with its enthusiastic use of fresh herbs and spices. Bangkok shopping malls offer a variety of international and local brands.

Towards the north of the city, and easily reached by skytrain or underground , is the Chatuchak Weekend Market. It is possibly the largest market in the world, selling everything from household items to live, and sometimes endangered, animals. The night markets in the Silom area and on Khaosan Road are mainly tourist-oriented, selling items such as T-shirts, handicrafts, counterfeit watches and sunglasses. In the vicinity of Bangkok one can find several floating markets such as the one in Damnoen Saduak. It attracts many locals as well as foreigners.

The "Night Bazaar" is Chiang Mai's more tourist-oriented market, sprawling over several city blocks just east of the old city walls towards the river. Prostitution in Thailand and sex tourism also form a de facto part of the economy. Campaigns promote Thailand as exotic to attract tourists. Thailand is at the forefront of the growing practice of sex-reassignment surgery SRS. Statistic taken from , illustrated the country's medical tourism industry attracting over 2. Forty-nine per cent of Thailand's labour force is employed in agriculture.

Agriculture has been experiencing a transition from labour-intensive and transitional methods to a more industrialised and competitive sector. Thailand produces roughly one-third of the oil it consumes. It is the second largest importer of oil in SE Asia. Thailand is a large producer of natural gas, with reserves of at least 10 trillion cubic feet. After Indonesia, it is the largest coal producer in SE Asia, but must import additional coal to meet domestic demand.

Thailand has an diverse and robust informal labor sector—in , it was estimated that informal workers comprised The Ministry of Labor defines informal workers to be individuals who work in informal economies and do not have employee status under a given country's Labor Protection Act LPA. The informal sector in Thailand has grown significantly over the past 60 years over the course of Thailand's gradual transition from an agriculture-based economy to becoming more industrialized and service-oriented.

It is estimated that between —, the number of factory workers in the country doubled from two to four million, as Thailand's GDP tripled. These reforms implemented an agenda of increased privatization and trade liberalization in the country, and decreased federal subsidization of public goods and utilities, agricultural price supports, and regulations on fair wages and labor conditions. Many migrant farmers found work in Thailand's growing manufacturing industry, and took jobs in sweatshops and factories with few labor regulations and often exploitative conditions.

Those that could not find formal factory work, including illegal migrants and the families of rural Thai migrants that followed their relatives to the urban centers, turned to the informal sector to provide the extra support needed for survival—under the widespread regulation imposed by the structural adjustment programs, one family member working in a factory or sweatshop made very little. Scholars argue that the economic consequences and social costs of Thailand's labor reforms in the wake of the Asian Financial Crisis fell on individuals and families rather than the state.

This can be described as the "externalization of market risk", meaning that as the country's labor market became increasingly deregulated, the burden and responsibility of providing an adequate livelihood shifted from employers and the state to the workers themselves, whose families had to find jobs in the informal sector to make up for the losses and subsidize the wages being made by their relatives in the formal sector.

The weight of these economic changes hit migrants and the urban poor especially hard, and the informal sector expanded rapidly as a result. Today, informal labor in Thailand is typically broken down into three main groups: Not included in these categories are those that work in entertainment, nightlife, and the sex industry. Individuals employed in these facets of the informal labor sector face additional vulnerabilities, including recruitment into circles of sexual exploitation and human trafficking.

In general, education levels are low in the informal sector. Many informal workers are also migrants, only some of which have legal status in the country.

Thailand - Wikipedia

Education and citizenship are two main barriers to entry for those looking to work in formal industries, and enjoy the labor protections and social security benefits that come along with formal employment. Because the informal labor sector is not recognized under the Labor Protection Act LPA , informal workers are much more vulnerable labor to exploitation and unsafe working conditions than those employed in more formal and federally recognized industries.

While some Thai labor laws provide minimal protections to domestic and agricultural workers, they are often weak and difficult to enforce. Furthermore, Thai social security policies fail to protect against the risks many informal workers face, including workplace accidents and compensation as well as unemployment and retirement insurance. Many informal workers are not legally contracted for their employment, and many do not make a living wage. Thailand had a population of 68,, [8] as of [update]. Thailand's population is largely rural, concentrated in the rice-growing areas of the central, northeastern, and northern regions.

Thailand had an urban population of Thailand's government-sponsored family planning program resulted in a dramatic decline in population growth from 3. In , an average of 5. At the time of the census, the average Thai household size was 3. Thai nationals make up the majority of Thailand's population, Twenty million Central Thai together with approximately , Khorat Thai make up approximately 20,, The Thailand Country Report provides population numbers for mountain peoples 'hill tribes' and ethnic communities in the Northeast and is explicit about its main reliance on the Mahidol University Ethnolinguistic Maps of Thailand data.

In descending order, the largest equal to or greater than , are a 15,, Lao Increasing numbers of migrants from neighbouring Myanmar, Laos, and Cambodia, as well as from Nepal and India, have pushed the total number of non-national residents to around 3. The official language of Thailand is Thai , a Tai—Kadai language closely related to Lao , Shan in Myanmar, and numerous smaller languages spoken in an arc from Hainan and Yunnan south to the Chinese border.

It is the principal language of education and government and spoken throughout the country. The standard is based on the dialect of the central Thai people, and it is written in the Thai alphabet , an abugida script that evolved from the Khmer alphabet. For the purposes of the national census, which does not recognise all 62 languages recognised by the Royal Thai Government in the Country Report, four dialects of Thai exist; these partly coincide with regional designations. The largest of Thailand's minority languages is the Lao dialect of Isan spoken in the northeastern provinces.

Although sometimes considered a Thai dialect, it is a Lao dialect, and the region where it is traditionally spoken was historically part of the Lao kingdom of Lan Xang. Varieties of Chinese are also spoken by the large Thai Chinese population, with the Teochew dialect best-represented. Hmong is a member of the Hmong—Mien languages , which is now regarded as a language family of its own. English is a mandatory school subject, but the number of fluent speakers remains low, especially outside cities. Thailand's prevalent religion is Theravada Buddhism , which is an integral part of Thai identity and culture.

This can be done mainly by food and in-kind donations to monks, contributions to the renovation and adornment of temples, releasing captive creatures fish, birds , etc. Moreover, many Thais idolise famous and charismatic monks, [54] who may be credited with thaumaturgy or with the status of a perfected Buddhist saint Arahant.

Other significant features of Thai popular belief are astrology , numerology , talismans and amulets [55] often images of the revered monks [56]. Besides Thailand's two million Muslim Malays , there are an additional two million ethnic Thais who profess Islam , especially in the south, but also in greater Bangkok. As a result of missionary work , there is also a minority of approximately , Christian Thais: Catholics and various Protestant denominations.

Stephen Pheasant , who taught anatomy , biomechanics and ergonomics at the Royal Free Hospital and the University College, London , said that Far Eastern people have proportionately shorter lower limbs than European and black African people. Pheasant said that the proportionately short lower limbs of Far Eastern people is a difference that is most characterized in Japanese people , less characterized in Korean and Chinese people , and least characterized in Vietnamese and Thai people.

Supakit Rooppakhun et al. The study said that the skull dimensions of Thai male craniometric data are larger than those of Thai female craniometric data, and the study said that there was a statistically significant difference in the craniometric data between the skulls of Thai males when compared to the skulls of Thai females. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. This article is about Thailand's ethnic majority. For other Tai ethnic groups, which Thais are part of, see Tai peoples.

Ayutthaya Kingdom

For the population of Thailand in general, see Demographics of Thailand. Tai languages and Thai language. Tai peoples and Peopling of Thailand. Includes Northern Thai and Southern Thai. Retrieved February 14, Retrieved 26 December Retrieved April 6, Retrieved July 14, They are part of our society". Archived from the original on 8 January Retrieved 10 January Ministry of Foreign Affairs Japan in Japanese. Year - ". Retrieved 4 March Retrieved 5 July Retrieved February 21, Popolazione residente per sesso e cittadinanza al 31 dicembre ".

Retrieved 14 July A history of Laos. Historical Dictionary of Laos 3rd ed. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. The word 'Thai' is today generally used for citizens of the Kingdom of Thailand, and more specifically for the 'Siamese'. Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand , Springer, pp. Formation of Ethnonyms in Southeast Asia. An Introduction to Thai Ethnonymy: Examples from Shan and Northern Thai. Journal of the American Oriental Society Vol. Retrieved May 28, By integrating linguistic information and physical geographic features in a GIS environment, this paper maps the spatial variation of terms connected with wet-rice farming of Tai minority groups in southern China and shows that the primary candidate of origin for proto-Tai is in the region of Guangxi-Guizhou, not Yunnan or the middle Yangtze River region as others have proposed Journal of the Siam Society.

Retrieved March 17, The Thai people in the north as well as in the south did not in any sense "migrate en masse to the south" after Kublai Khan 's conquest of the Dali Kingdom. Journal of Humanities, Special Issue No Retrieved 12 December A History of Thailand. Cambridge University Press , p. Cornell Southeast Asia Program, pp. Business Networks in Asia: Promises, Doubts, and Perspectives. National University of Singapore. Essays Presented to Benedict R. Anderson , Ithaca, NY: Cornell Southeast Asia Program, p. Desai , Hinduism in Thai Life , Bombay: Hoare , Thailand: Anthropometry, ergonomics and the design of work 2nd.

Retrieved March 14, , from Google Books.