The known early history of Thailand begins with the earliest major archaeological site at Ban Chiang; dating of artefacts from this site is controversial, but there is a consensus that at least by 3600 BC, the inhabitants had developed bronze tools and had begun to cultivate wet rice, providing the impetus for social and political organization.
The Thai are part of a larger ethno-linguistic group known as the Tai, a group which includes the Lao, the people of the Shan region of north-eastern Burma, the Zhuang people of Guangxi Province in China and the Tho and Nung people of northern Vietnam. Migrations from southern China to Southeast Asia took place primarily during the first millennium AD, most likely via northern Laos.
During the first millennium AD the Tai peoples were loosely organised in small entities known as muang. They were heavily influenced by the more advanced cultures around them: the Khmer to the east, and the Hindu cultures of India to the west. Most of the Tai were converted to a form of Hinduism, traces of which can still be seen in Thai religious practice today. Between the 6th and 9th centuries AD Buddhism was introduced into the Tai-speaking lands, probably via Burma, and became the dominant religion. The Theravada Buddhism now practised in Thailand was introduced by missionaries from Sri Lanka in the 13th century.
References
Charles Higham. Prehistoric Thailand. ISBN 9748225305
Occupying a central position on the Southeast Asia peninsula, Thailand is bordered by Myanmar on the west and northwest, by Laos on the north and east (the Mekong River forms much of the line), by Cambodia on the southeast, and by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia on the south.
Thailand is governed under the constitution of 1997, its 17th since 1932.
Thailand has received huge military grants from the United States and was the seat (1954–77) of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization.
The history of Thailand begins with the migration of the Thais into what is now Thailand during the first millennium.
Its independent history ended in 1558, when it fell to the Burmese; thereafter it was dominated by Burma and Ayutthaya in turn before falling to the army of the Siamese King Taksin in 1775.
Thailand was not occupied by the Allies, but it was forced to return the territory it had gained to the British and the French.
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