History Of Thailand

Thailand was known as Siam until 1939, it was then changed to Thailand. Strangely it was renamed Siam from 1945 to 1949, after which it was renamed Thailand again.

Facts about thailand

• Thailand is approximately 513,000 km2.
• The world’s 51st-largest country.
• It is the 21st-most populated country; around 64 million people live in Thailand.
• The capital is Bangkok, which is the largest city.

Thailand is the only South-East Asian country to have never been colonised. During World War II, Japan conquered all of Southeast Asia, except Thailand was only not conquered because of the very smart political moves.

Thailand became a US ally following the conflict. But then had various military dictatorships, Thailand finally become stable in a democratic way and the economy has since started booming through tourism and industry.

Thailand has the longest reigning and presiding King – King Bhumibol Adulyadej, this monarch is a highly respected figure in Thailand.

In September 2006, Thailand was hit by a military coup which overthrew Thaksin Shinawatra’s who had been democratically elected but who ran a widely criticized government. After the coup Thaksin went into exile and a number of fairly unstable governments followed.

There were two parties that took over from Thaksin’s – the Thai Rak Thai party and the royalist-conservative People’s Alliance for Democracy – this caused further unrest and fighting broke out behind the scenes as well as sometimes on the streets, this then caused Bangkok’s airport being closed for a week in November 2008.

Some people worry that when the ailing King passes that further unrest might happen.