A unified Thai kingdom was established in the mid-14th century. Known as Siam until 1939, Thailand is the only Southeast Asian country never to have been taken over by a European power. A bloodless revolution in 1932 led to a constitutional monarchy. In alliance with Japan during World War II, Thailand became a US ally following the conflict.

tin, rubber, natural gas, tungsten, tantalum, timber, lead, fish, gypsum, lignite, fluorite, arable land

arable land: 32.88%
permanent crops: 7%
other: 60.12% (1998 est.)

64,265,276
note: estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality and death rates, lower population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2003 est.)

Thai 75%, Chinese 14%, other 11%

Buddhism 95%, Muslim 3.8%, Christianity 0.5%, Hinduism 0.1%, other 0.6% (1991)

Thai, English (secondary language of the elite), ethnic and regional dialects

definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 96%
male: 97.5%
female: 94.6% (2003 est.)

Bangkok

constitutional monarchy

1238 (traditional founding date; never colonized)

Birthday of King PHUMIPHON, 5 December (1927)