Visit the Beautiful Country of Thailand!
Background of Thailand
The country of Thailand is located in southwest Asia. Before May 11, 1949, the country was known as Siam. After that date it became Thailand. The word thai in the Thai language means freedom. Thailand was greatly influenced culturally by China and India. It was never colonized by a European country; in fact, it was used as a buffer zone between France and England.
A mostly bloodless revolution in 1932 lead to a constitutional monarchy. This means that there is a King, but he has no direct power over the Constitution. The King is highly respected; in fact, it is illegal to insult the royal family.
Thailand follows a different calendar system than the Western countries. They follow the Buddhist Era calendar, which is 543 years ahead of the Gagorian Calendar. This means the year AD 2006 is equal to the year 2549 BE.
According to the July 2005 population estimate, there are 64,233,000 people in Thailand. The largest city is Bangkok, which is also the capital. The official language is Thai. The official currency is the Baht.
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