About Thailand

The red stripes on the flag represent Thailand's nation.

The white stripes on the flag represents the Countries main religion.

The big blue stripe represents the national colour and the Thai monarchy/royal family.

Thailand is a wonderful Country full of beaches and heaps of tourist attractions. It is the 51st largest Country in the world with an area of about 513, 000 square kilometres (198, 000 square miles). Also the 20th most populous country with around 64 million people.  The main city to visit in Thailand is Bangkok, it has a population of 5, 713, 288 people. The Country is located in the Indochina peninsula South East Asia. It is a constitutional monarchy and led by King Rama IX, the ninth king of the House of Chakri. The king has reigned since 1946  and is the world's longest-serving head of state. According to Thai history, he is also the longest-reigning monarch. Thailand’s population make up of 75% ethnically Thai, 14% Chinese origin and 3% ethnically Malay. The population experienced a rapid economic growth between 1985-1996, the currency used is Thai Baht. The official language spoken in Thailand is Thai, it is a Tai-Kadai Language very closely related to Lao, Shan in Burma. There are a whole variety of languages spoken in an arc from Hanain and Yunnan, south to the Chinese border. Southern Thai is also spoken in the southern area, also having Northern Thai spoken in the Northern area, which were in the past, a part of Lannathai. The North Eastern Area also speak a Lao dialect of Isan, it is sometimes considered as a Thai dialect. The far south of Thailand speak Yawi, a dialect of Malay, it is a primary language spoken by the Muslim Malay. A very high variety of Chinese is also spoken by the large amount of Chinese people, Teochew being the most spoken. Theravada Buddhism is the National religion practiced by many Thai's. Thai Buddhism ranks as on of the highest in the world, in 2000 94.6% of the population were Buddhists of the Theravada tradition. Muslim make up 4.6% of the religion and Christians make up 0.7%.

 

Religious composition
religion			percent
Buddhism			94.6%
Islam			4.6%
Christianity			0.7%
Others			0.1%

The culture in Thailand is made up from Indian, Lao, Burmese,  Cambodian and Chinese. The national sports played in Thailand are Muay Thai, Takraw and Sepak Takraw. Muay Thai is Thai boxing, it is a native form of kickboxing. Fighters use kicks, punches, knees, and elbow strikes to attack the opposing fighter in a ring with gloves. In the past Muay Thai was played without gloves, the ending result left nasty cuts and bruises to each fighter. Instead of gloves, they used a white cloth wrapped around their hands to fight. Since it got too brutal, the rules changed and gloves were introduced.
Takraw is played with a rattan ball. Players are only allowed to use feet, chest, head and knees to hit the ball. Sepak Takraw is another form of Takraw, but the only difference is, it is played with a volleyball net. The game applying the same rules, but only having to hit the ball over the net.

Tavaradee- The Tavaradee has been around since the buddhist century 11-16, the style was influenced by indian's. Men wear a silk top or no top and Indian loincloths. Women wear one cloth brace on the shoulder, with a long skirt from waist to ankle.
Lopburee- It is influenced by the khmer people, men wear short sarongs around the waist down to their knees. Women wore short sarongs with or without a top.
Sukhothai- Men wore a long v neck shirt with a cloth brace over their shoulders, and a loincloth made of silk. Women wore long sarongs with painted flowers on it with a long sleeved silk cloth.
Ayudhaya- Men wore a loincloth with a longsleeved or turtleneck shirt. Women wore t-shirts made out of silk or other fabric.