Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand, and formerly known as Siam, is a country located in Mainland Southeast Asia. It shares land borders with Myanmar to the west and northwest, Laos to the east and northeast, Cambodia to the southeast, and Malaysia to the south. Its maritime boundaries include the Gulf of Thailand and the Andaman Sea, and it shares maritime borders with Vietnam, Indonesia, and India. Thailand has a population of nearly 66 million people and covers an area of approximately 513,115km2 (198,115 sq mi). The capital and largest city is Bangkok.
After the fall of Ayutthaya, King Taksin reunified the kingdom and established the Thonburi Kingdom, which lasted only 15 years before he was overthrown by Phutthayotfa Chulalok (Rama I), the founder of the Chakri dynasty. King Rama I established the Rattanakosin Kingdom and moved the capital to Bangkok in 1782. During the era of Western imperialism, Siam remained the only country in Southeast Asia to avoid colonisation by European powers, although it ceded territory, trade rights, and legal privileges through several unequal treaties. The governance system evolved into an absolute monarchy centralised under the rule of King Chulalongkorn (Rama V). Siam adapted to international relations during the imperialist era and joined World War I on the side of the Allies, a political decision aimed at revising the effects of unequal treaties and enhancing Siam's international status.
The Siamese cat (Thai: แมวไทย, Maeo Thai; แมวสยาม, Maeo Sayam; แมววิเชียรมาศ, Maeo Wichien Maat) is one of the first distinctly recognised breeds of domestic cat. It is selectively bred since the end of the 19th-century from the Wichianmatlandrace, one of several varieties of cats native to Thailand (known as Siam before 1939), and is pedigreed in all major cat fancier and breeder organisations. Siamese cats have a distinctive colourpoint coat, resulting from a temperature-sensitive type of albinism. Distinct features like blue almond-shaped eyes, a triangular wedged head shape, large wide-set ears, an elongated, slender, and muscular body, and various colours of point colouration characterise the breed.
The breed was one of the most popular cat breeds in Europe and North America in the 19th century. Around the 1950s, the modern-style body with slender and angular features became the preferred type by Siamese enthusiasts. From the 1980s onwards, the traditional "old-style" (rounder-built) cats started to officially split off from the (modern-style) Siamese breed and were re-established by multiple registries as the separate Thai cat breed. The terms "Siamese" or "Thai" are used for cats from these specific breeds, which are by definition all purebred cats with a known and formally registeredancestry, also known as the cat's pedigree or "paperwork". (Full article...)
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Scene of a declaration of Siam as a democratic nation on 24 June 1932
The Thonburi Kingdom was a major Siamese kingdom which existed in Southeast Asia from 1767 to 1782, centred on the city of Thonburi, in Siam or present-day Thailand. The kingdom was founded by Taksin, who reunited Siam following the collapse of the Ayutthaya Kingdom, which saw the country separate into five warring regional states. The Thonburi Kingdom oversaw the rapid reunification and reestablishment of Siam as a preeminient military power within mainland Southeast Asia, overseeing the country's expansion to its greatest territorial extent up to that point in its history, incorporating Lan Na, the Laotian kingdoms (Luang Phrabang, Vientiane, Champasak), and Cambodia under the Siamese sphere of influence.
The Thonburi Kingdom saw the consolidation and continued growth of Chinese trade from Qing China, a continuation from the late Ayutthaya period (1688-1767), and the increased influence of the Chinese community in Siam, with Taksin and later monarchs sharing close connections and close family ties with the Sino-Siamese community. (Full article...)
Siege of the French fortress (A) by Siamese troops and batteries (C), in Bangkok, 1688. The enclosure of the village of Bangkok represented in the lower left corner (M) is today's Thonburi.
The siege of Bangkok was a key event of the Siamese revolution of 1688, in which the Kingdom of Siam ousted the French from Siam. Following a coup d'état, in which the pro-Western king Narai was replaced by Phetracha, Siamese troops besieged the French fortress in Bangkok for four months. The Siamese were able to muster about 40,000 troops, equipped with cannon, against the entrenched 200 French troops, but the military confrontation proved inconclusive. Tensions between the two belligerents progressively subsided, and finally a negotiated settlement was reached allowing the French to leave the country.
The Siege of Bangkok would mark the end of French military presence in Siam, as France was soon embroiled in the major European conflicts of the War of the League of Augsburg (1688–1697), and then the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1713/14). With the end of the siege, a long period started during which Siam would remain suspicious of Western intervention. Only a few French missionaries were allowed to remain, while trade continued on a limited level with other European countries such as Portugal, the Dutch Republic and England. (Full article...)
Graph showing homicide rate in Thailand from 1995 to 2015 Crime in Thailand has been a defining issue in the country for decades, inspiring years of policy and international criticism. Drug use and corruption make up the majority of the crime in Thailand and due to this, many Thai administrations attempted to curtail the drug trade, most notably Thaksin Shinawatra with the 2003 War on Drugs. Since 2003 crime has been decreasing with the crime rate decreasing from 9.97 to 2.58. Despite this, juvenile delinquency has been increasing in recent years. The Murder rate In Thailand per 100,000 populations was 1.84 in 2021, 1.9 in 2022, 2.2 in 2023 and 2.6 in 2024. In November 2015, The New York Times reported that in the fiscal year ending September 2015, the national police have seen a surge in thefts, burglaries, and robberies, more than 75,557 thefts and other property crimes in the fiscal year, 10.5 percent higher than the previous year. Violent crime was up 8.6 percent during the same period. These figures have been contested by the police and by Amorn Wanichwiwatana, a criminologist at Chulalongkorn University, who said he was not aware of any significant uptick in crime since the military came to power. "I don’t think that’s the case. It's not possible," he said of the 60 percent increase reported by the Times. Crime statistics from the Royal Thai Police (RTP) show a statistically negligible increase of 1.9 percent over the same period, with 920 additional crimes reported after an overall decline since 2009. (Full article...)
Ko Samui or Koh Samui (Thai: เกาะสมุย, pronounced[kɔ̀ʔsāmǔj]), often locally shortened to Samui, is an island off the east coast of Thailand. Geographically in the Chumphon Archipelago, it is part of Surat Thani Province, though as of 2012, Ko Samui was granted municipal status and thus is now locally self-governing. Ko Samui, with an area of 228.7 square kilometres (88.3sqmi), is Thailand's second largest island after Phuket. In 2018, it was visited by 2.7 million tourists. (Full article...)
Image 15Wat Arun was originally a small temple called Wat Makok built in the 17th century. The central prang was completed around 1851. (from History of Thailand)
Image 17Ananta Samakhom Throne Hall, the royal reception hall built in European architectural style. Construction was started by Rama V, but was completed in 1915. (from History of Thailand)
Image 40Map showing linguistic family tree overlaid on a geographic distribution map of Tai-Kadai family. This map only shows general pattern of the migration of Tai-speaking tribes, not specific routes, which would have snaked along the rivers and over the lower passes. (from History of Thailand)
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A Man Will Rise (originally known as Local Hero) is an incomplete comedy Western film directed by Tony Jaa and Vitidnan Rojanapanich, and starring Jaa, Dolph Lundgren, Conan Stevens, and Byron Gibson. Set in 1950s Thailand, the film follows a local gangster who terrorizes a town. When a young man opposes him, the gangster hires a group of foreign hit men to kill the rebel and silence the town.
In January 2013, Jean-Claude Van Damme was rumored to be co-starring alongside Jaa; in reality, he was never available due to scheduling issues, and as a result, Lundgren was cast as an alternative. The film entered production in April 2013, but came to an abrupt halt after three months of filming. Sahamongkol Film International filed a $49–50 million lawsuit against Jaa, Universal Pictures, and United International Pictures, claiming Jaa was in breach of his contract by accepting a role in Fast and Furious 7. After two years of legal proceedings, Sahamongkol dropped the lawsuit in July 2015. Despite this, production of A Man Will Rise has not continued, and the film remains incomplete. (Full article...)
Credit:ooboyoo (uploaded by Manop)
The interior of the new Suvarnabhumi Airport, also known as (New) Bangkok International Airport (Thai: ท่าอากาศยานสุวรรณภูมิ).
... that the neighborhood Phahurat, before it became Bangkok's Little India, was an enclave of Vietnamese immigrants until a fire burned it down in 1898?
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