Page 3 - Thailand Destination Guide - Alluring Asia

HISTORY Thailand is a Southeast Asian, predominantly Buddhist kingdom almost equidistant between India and China. For centuries known by outsiders as Siam, Thailand has been something of a Southeast Asian migratory, cultural and religious crossroads. POPULATION Thailand has a rich historical background. Archaeological Thailand has a population of discoveries around the northeast hamlet of Ban Chiang approximately 66 million with 12 suggest that the world's oldest Bronze Age was flourishing in million people living in the greater Thailand some 5,600 years ago. Bangkok area. Successive waves of immigrants, including Mons, Khmers TIME and Thais, gradually entered the land mass now known as Thailand is GMT plus 7 Thailand, most slowly traveling along fertile river valleys from southern China. By the 11th and 12th centuries, Khmers VISAS ruled much of the area from Angkor. Thailand's earliest United States Citizens are allowed to recorded inhabitants were Buddhist Mons who formed the stay in Thailand up to 30 days. Stays loosely knit Dvaravati kingdom in the Chao Praya basin from longer than 30 days require a visa. A the 6th to 11th centuries. From the 8th to 12th centuries, visa is valid for a 60-day period from Hindu Khmers expanded westward from Kampuchea the date of issue. (Cambodia) and absorbed the Mons into their powerful empire. Mons today have largely disappeared in Thailand, INSURANCE although a sizable Mon community still exists in Myanmar. It is advisable to purchase in addition The Thai (Tai) people arrived later; two theories speculate as to normal medical insurance, to take to their origins. Most believe they migrated from southern out a policy which covers evacuation. China during the 11th and 12th centuries and settled among the Khmers and Mons already residing in the central plains. Others argue that Neolithic cave settlements near Kanchanaburi and recent discoveries of a 6,000 year old Bronze culture at Ban Chiang prove that the Thais preceded the Mons and Khmers. SUKHOTHAI PERIOD (1220-1378) The brief but brilliant kingdom of Sukhothai marks the true beginning of the Thai nation and remains to this day a source of great pride. While Sukhothai's preeminence lasted less than 200 years, it gave rise to uniquely personified forms of architecture, sculpture, and even political structure. Under the leadership of King Ramkamheng (1278-1318), revered today as the father of Thailand, Sukhothai fused Khmer and Mon traditions into a dynamic kingdom that ruled Southeast Asia from Laos to Malaysia. Military power and economic prosperity allowed the development of highly refined artistic achievements, including the world-renowned Sawankalok celadon and Buddha styles of great creativity and sensitivity. In 1238, two Thai chieftains rebelled against Khmer suzerainty and established the first truly independent Thai kingdom in Sukhothai (literally, 'Dawn of Happiness').