Southern Thailand

Southern Thailand is a distinct region of Thailand, connected with the central region by the narrow Kra Isthmus.

Geography

Southern Thailand is on the Malay Peninsula, with an area around 70,713 km², bounded to the north by Kra Isthmus, the narrowest part of the peninsula. The western part has steeper coasts, while on the east side river plains dominate. The largest river of the south is the Tapi in Surat Thani, which together with the Phum Duang in Surat Thani drains more than 8,000 km², more than 10% of the total area of Southern Thailand. Smaller rivers include the Pattani, Saiburi, Krabi, and the Trang. The biggest lake of the south is Songkhla Lake (1,040 km² altogether). The largest artificial lake is the Chiao Lan (Ratchaprapha Dam), occupying 165 km² of Khao Sok National Park in Surat Thani.

Surat Thani

Running through the middle of the peninsula are several mountain chains, with the highest elevation at Khao Luang, 1,835 m, in Nakhon Si Thammarat Province. Ranging from the Kra Isthmus to Phuket island is the Phuket chain, which connects to the Tanao Si Mountain Range further north. Almost parallel to the Phuket chain, but 100 km to the east is the Nakhon Si Thammarat or Banthat chain, which begins with Samui island, Ko Pha Ngan, and Ko Tao in Surat Thani and ends at the Malaysian border at the Ko Ta Ru Tao archipelago. The border with Malaysia is formed by the Sankalakhiri range, sometimes subdivided into the Pattani, Taluban, and Songkhla chain. At the Malaysian border the Titiwangsa chain rises up.

Thai

When used as an adjective, Thai refers to anything that originates from Thailand. As a noun it may refer to:

See also

Thai people

The Thai people, formerly known as Siamese, are the main ethnic group of Thailand and are part of the larger Tai ethnolinguistic peoples found in Thailand and adjacent countries in Southeast Asia as well as southern China and northeastern India. Their language is the Thai language, which exists in different regional variants, and is classified as part of the Tai–Kadai family of languages, and the majority of Thai are followers of Theravada Buddhism.

"Thai people" usually includes central and southern Thai (Siamese proper, or Tai Siam), northern Thai (Lanna) and Isan people.

The term Thai people has a loose meaning and sometimes also refers to the population of Thailand in general, and not only to ethnic Thais.

History

There have been many theories proposing the origin of the Tai peoples, of which the Thai are a subgroup. Especially the association of the Tai people with the Kingdom of Nanzhao that has been proved to be invalid. Linguistic studies suggested that the origin of the Tai people lies around the Chinese Province of Guangxi, where the Zhuang people are still a majority. The ancient Tai people should be the part of Chinese Nanyue, referred to by Han leaders as "foreign servant" (Chinese: 外臣), synecdoche for a vassal state. The Qin dynasty founded Guangdong in 214 BC, initiating the successive waves of Chinese migrations from the north for hundred years to come.

Tamil calendar

The Tamil calendar is a sidereal Hindu calendar used in Tamil Nadu, India. It is also used in Puducherry, and by the Tamil population in Malaysia, Singapore, Mauritius and Sri Lanka. Tamil Nadu farmers greatly refer to this. It is used today for cultural, religious and agricultural events, with the Gregorian calendar largely used for official purposes both within and outside India. The Tamil calendar is based on the classical Hindu solar calendar also used in Assam, West Bengal, Kerala, Manipur, Nepal, Odisha, Rajasthan and Punjab.

There are several festivals based on the Tamil Hindu calendar. The Tamil New Year follows the nirayanam vernal equinox and generally falls on 14 April of the Gregorian year. 14 April marks the first day of the traditional Tamil calendar and this remains a public holiday in both Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka. Tropical vernal equinox fall around 22 March, and adding 23 degrees of trepidation or oscillation to it, we get the Hindu sidereal or Nirayana Mesha Sankranti (Sun's transition into nirayana Aries). Hence, the Tamil calendar begins on the same date in April which is observed by most traditional calendars of the rest of India - Assam, Bengal, Kerala, Odisha, Manipur, Punjab etc. This also coincides with the traditional new year in Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh Nepal and Thailand. The 60-year cycle is also very ancient and is observed by most traditional calendars of India and China, and is related to 5 revolutions of Jupiter according to popular belief, or to 60-year orbit of Nakshatras (stars) as mentioned in Surya Siddhanta.