Thailand

Thailand / formerly known as Siam is a country located in Southeast Asia on the Indo-Chinese Peninsula bordered by Laos and Cambodia to the east, the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia to the south, and the Andaman Sea and Myanmar to the west

Thailand includes many regions of varying terrain, and their administrative divisions have been adopted accordingly. The mountainous terrain is predominant in the north of the country, and there is the highest peak in the country: Doi in Tanon, which has a height of 2,565 meters. The Kurat Plateau is also located in the north-east of the country, and is bounded on the east by the Mekong River. The "Chao Phraya" Valley stretches across the center of the country, continuing its course until it empties into the Gulf of Thailand. In the south lies the Strait of "Kra Eastmus", which overlooks the Malaysian Peninsula

The central plain extends between the foothills of the northern mountains and the Gulf of Thailand. The presence of fertile soil in this region helps farmers grow rice in more quantities than is grown in any other region in Thailand. Four rivers meet in the north of the plain, namely, Nan Weitq and Wang Wim. To form what is known as the Chao Phraya River, which is the main means of transportation in the country

The southern peninsula is part of the Malay Peninsula, and it consists mostly of forests and some mountains and hills, and contains many small rivers between the valleys that flow into the coastal plains. Thailand and Burma divide the Malay Peninsula in the northern part of this region, and there is a narrow slice of land belonging to Thailand in this region. As for the southern part of the region, it occupies every width of the Malay Peninsula, and the soil is fertile in this mountainous region, where rubber trees grow, in addition to the presence of large deposits of tin

Thailand is characterized by the existence of wide networks of rivers in it, including two main rivers, the Chao Phraya and the Mekong, which together are considered the main supporter of the agricultural economy in Thailand

The climate in Thailand is of a hot tropical type, and generally there are three seasons in the country: a hot spring, a hot rainy summer and a little cold winter. Average temperatures in Bangkok are 17 ° C in January and 37 ° C in May. In the northern mountains, the temperature drops, reaching 0 ° C in January and 32 ° C in May. The southwest monsoon blows between May and October, causing precipitation across Thailand

As for the period between December and February, the northeast monsoon blows, causing rain in the southern peninsula only, as the average rainfall there reaches 255 cm per year, while the average rainfall in Bangkok is 140 cm per year

The Thai economy is one of the modern industrial economies as it relies heavily on exports, accounting for two-thirds of the gross domestic product, and Thailand recently witnessed a GDP growth of 8% in 2010, making it one of the fastest growing economies in Asia, specifically the fastest growing in East Asia. Thailand occupies the 24th largest economy in the world and the second at the level of Southeast Asia after Indonesia, and it ranks fourth in the Southeast Asia region in terms of local success per capita after Singapore, Brunei and Malaysia

As of June 2010, the nominal economic output in Thailand reached 313.8 billion US dollars, while Thailand possesses foreign currency reserves estimated at 172 billion dollars, placing it in the 11th place in the world. The auto industry in Thailand is rapidly growing, as it achieved a growth rate of 63% in In 2010, with a number of one million and 600 thousand cars produced, it puts it in the thirteenth place according to production worldwide, and experts expect that in 2015 it will be one of the ten largest car producing countries in the world

The country witnessed the highest growth rates in the world between the years 1985-1995 AD, during which it was stabilized at about 9% annually. In the year 1997 AD, increased speculation in the Thai currency, the baht, led to a crisis that exposed the fragility of some financial sectors and pushed the government to float the currency. After its price remained related to the dollar until 1998, the baht reached its lowest level in 1988, when it fell to 56 points, the economy contracted by 10.2% in the same year. The economic crisis has spread to all of Southeast Asia. Thailand entered the recovery phase in 1999, and the growth rate rose to 4.4%

The big credit for this is due to the increase in the country's exports, which increased by 20% in the following year (2000). The growth achieved by the Chinese economy in the same period had a major role in reviving the Thai economy, and the new trends led by the government of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra also contributed to that. In the year 2003 AD, the growth rate was 6.3%, and experts expected it to reach the level of 8-10% in the year 2005AD

Thai farmers exploit about 45% of the land. The predominant crop is rice, in addition to the presence of other crops, including: cassava, maize, pineapple, rubber, sugar cane, tobacco, almonds, silk, soybeans and jute fibers, which are used in the manufacture of ropes. The average farm area is about 4 hectares, and free farm ownership is more than 75% of the farmers