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Etymology

Thailand, formally the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, with Bangkok being its capital. Bangkok is also the largest city in Thailand. Thailand is surrounded by Laos and Cambodia to its east; the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia to its south; and the Andaman Sea and Myanmar to its west.

Prior to 1949, Thaliand was known as Siam. The word Thai is derived from the word Tai meaning freedom in the Thai language. Thai is also the name of the main ethnic group in Thailand.

Thailand has been populated ever since the dawn of civilization in Asia. There are conflicting opinions of the origins of the Thais. It presumed that about 4,500 years. the Thais originated in north-western Szechuan in China and later migrated down to Thailand along the southern part of China. They split into two main groups. One settled down in the North and became the kingdom of Lan Na and the other one is in further south, which afterward was defeated by the Khmers and became the kingdom of Sukhothai.

However, the Thai history has been changed by the archaeological excavations in the village of Ban Chiang in the Nong Han District of Udon Thani province in the Northeast. From the evidence of bronze metallurgy, it now appears that the Thais might have originated here in Thailand and later scattered to various parts of Asia, including China.

The controversy over the origin of the Thais shows no sign of definite conclusion as many more theories have been put forward and some even go further to say that Thais were originally of Austronesian rather than Mongoloid. Whatever may be the outcomes of the dispute, by the 13th century the Thais had already settled down within the south-east Asia.