Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
areas. Vietnam provides an alternative, and a less-
policed shipping route. Addiction is becoming prob-
lematic in Hanoi among wealthy teens and the
disadvantaged.
Profits are huge. A poppy farmer earns US$330 for
7,000 grams of raw opium, which is then converted into
a 700-gram heroin brick, worth US$4,250, at a Burmese
refinery . In Sydney , the brick will be worth US$53,050. In
New Y ork, the brick will be valued at US$80,000 and will
be converted into 28,000 packets of adulterated heroin
with a total retail value of US$280,000.
Clearly , drug production in the Golden T Triangle has
widespread international implications. Chinese-organized
crime families from Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, and Sin-
gapore show great interest in Cambodia. V arious African
groups ferry drugs to Nigeria by sea and then on to Eu-
rope. The Tamils deal in arms and heroin to finance their
war in Sri Lanka.
Democracy alone will not alleviate the drug crisis in
northern Burma. Even with a new government, present
and past drug lords are unlikely to listen to calls for rec-
onciliation and stop their lucrative activities. In the ab-
sence of a comprehensive policy , the fracturing of
northern Burma into small, well-armed, and violent
drug-trafficking states will continue to create instability
in the region and serious drug problems abroad.
and now is one of the tigers of Asia. A brief look at Thai-
land' s history will set the scene for the discussion of this
Bangkok-centered economy .
THE TAIS
The Tais were the principal ancestors of the Thai, Lao,
and Shan peoples. Tai is a cultural and linguistic term
used to denote the various Tai people who became differ-
entiated into a larger number of separate identities. Over
many centuries, the Tai migrated southward from west-
ern China.
The Tai were wet-rice farmers organized in muang
one or more villages under a chieftain. By the thirteenth
century , further expansion and alliances transformed
muang into kingdoms that adapted many of the beliefs of
peoples they came into contact with. For example, the
Tai probably adopted Theravada Buddhism from the
Mon people of central Thailand and the Burmans at Pa-
gan. Angkor served as a blueprint for Tai state builders.
From Angkor came the concept of society as a divinely
ordained hierarchy under a ruler incarnate of a Hindu
deity or Buddhist boddhisattva . Angkor also provided a
model for administering large and scattered populations
as well as a range of arts and technologies. Cultural bor-
rowings increased as a result of Tai attacks on Angkor in
the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.
Thailand: Tiger in the Metropolis
SUKOTHAI
Meanwhile, in the thirteenth century the Tai kingdom of
Sukothai had arisen. Modern Thais regard Sukothai as
the birthplace of the Thai nation. The people of Sukothai
adopted the name “Thai” to distinguish themselves from
other Tai-speaking people. The Khmer system of writing
was adopted and modified for a Tai written language.
This is the predecessor of today' is Thai writing system.
Ultimately , Sukothai faded. In 1351 a new kingdom
emerged to the south, Ayuthaya, which eventually be-
came known as Siam.
Like an elephant with its trunk drooping down the Malay
Peninsula, Thailand sits in the heartland of mainland
Southeast Asia. Because the north-south distance
stretches 16 latitudinal degrees, Thailand' s climate ex-
hibits great diversity . Mountains in the north give way to
limestone-encrusted tropical islands in the south. Rivers
and tributaries drain into the Gulf of Thailand via the
Chao Praya Delta near Bangkok (Figure 15-8).
The country is divided into four main zones: the fer-
tile central region dominated by the Chao Praya; the
drought and flood-prone, poor, northeast plateau; the
rugged northern region dominated by mountains and
fertile valleys; and the southern peninsular region char-
acterized by rain forest.
Thailand' is population is relatively homogeneous. It
is unique in Southeast Asia in that it avoided the disrup-
tions of Western colonial rule and the upheavals of de-
colonization. After World War II, which produced
minimal effects on the landscape, Thailand pursued cap-
italist development. By the 1990s it was deemed an NIC
AYUTHAYA
Ayuthaya lasted until 1757, prospering from its strategic
position only 43 miles (70 km) up the Chao Praya from
the sea. Commanding the vast Chao Praya plain,
Ayuthaya provided rice for export. Ayuthaya was seen by
the Europeans as a great trading power. However,
Ayuthaya had to face a challenge from the Burmans, who
 
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