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Thailand – Geography
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_Thailand
Geography of
Thailand
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Thailand's 514,000 square kilometers lie in the middle of
mainland Southeast Asia. The nation's axial position
influenced many aspects of Thailand's society and
culture—it controls the only land route from Asia to
Malaysia and Singapore.
Geographic coordinates
• 15°00′ N 100°00′ E
History
Main article: History of Thailand
The earliest speakers of the Tai language migrated from
what is now China, following rivers into northern Thailand
and southward to the Mekong and the Chao Phraya
Valley.
The fertile floodplain and tropical monsoon climate,
ideally suited to wet-rice (thamna) cultivation, attracted
settlers to this central area rather than to the marginal
uplands and mountains of the northern region or the
Khorat Plateau to the northeast.
Contents
• 1 Geographic coordinates
• 2 History
• 3 Boundaries
o 3.1 Land boundaries
o 3.2 Coastline
o 3.3 Maritime claims
o 3.4 Border issues
� 3.4.1 History
� 3.4.2 Cambodia
� 3.4.3 Laos
� 3.4.4 Malaysia
� 3.4.5 Myanmar
• 4 Area
• 5 Topography and drainage
• 6 Elevation extremes
• 7 Regions
o 7.1 North Thailand
o 7.2 Northeast
o 7.3 Central Thailand
o 7.4 South Thailand
o 7.5 Provinces
• 8 Climate
• 9 Resources and land use
o 9.1 Natural resources
o 9.2 Land use
o 9.3 Irrigated land
• 10 Environmental concerns
o 10.1 Natural hazards
o 10.2 Current environmental
issues
o 10.3 International
•
environmental agreements
11 See also
• 12 References
By the 12th century, a number of loosely connected rice-growing and trading states flourished in the
upper Chao Phraya Valley. Starting in the middle of the 14th century, these central chiefdoms gradually
came under the control of the Ayutthaya kingdom at the southern extremity of the floodplain.
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