ASIA/THAILAND - info:

Vatican City (Fides Service) - On the occasion of Cardinal Sepe’s pastoral visit to Myanmar, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia, here is some information on Thailand.

Area 513,115 sq. km
Population: 63,500,000 (density 123.7 people per sq. km)
Capital: Bangkok (5.680.000 pop)
Other cities: Khon Kaen (1.637.029 pop), Chiang Mai (1,590,000 pop), Nakhon Ratchasima (2,540,000 pop)
Nakorn Srithammarat (1,520,000 pop), Ubon Ratchathani (1,770,000 pop), Ratchaburi (783.286 pop.), Saraburi (558,073 pop)
Rayong (463,738 pop.).
Language: Thai, English widely spoken
Currency: Baht (Bt) (Thb). (15 March 2004) 48,6522 Baht = 1 Euro
GNP 140.5 billion dollars (2003)
GNP contribution (2002): farming and fishing 9.4%, industry 42.7%, Services 48%
Religion: Buddhism 85.3%; Islam 6.8%; Christianity 2.2%; other 5.7%
Culture: The country is a crossroads of peoples and culture. It has a millennial history and incarnates the ‘magic East’ made of golden temples ancient cities immersed in forests. Thai people are courteous, spontaneous and hospitable. The country as it is today is the result of migrations of people from Yunnan (China), in the 13th century who gradually mixed with Mon and Khmer, predominant in Cambodia.
After the reigns of Sukhothai (until 1438) and Ayutthaya (destroyed by the Burmese in 1767) at the end of the 18th century the present Chakri dynasty emerged. The reign of the present monarch, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, crowned in 1946, is the longest in Thai history.
Catholic Church
development
Christianity arrived with Portuguese missionaries in the 16th century. In the 17th century Jesuits came and opened schools, colleges and built churches. In 1669 the Catholic Mission of Siam was established. At the beginning of the 19th century, thanks to modernisation of the country and alliances with western powers, Christianity spread thanks to missionaries although with some difficulty. The Catholic hierarchy was established in 1965. In 1983 Archbishop Michai Kitbunchu of Bangkok was created cardinal. In 1989 Pope John Paul II beatified seven Thai martyrs who died for the faith in 1942 in the Laos border region.
Today Catholics 292,000; dioceses 10; bishops 13; diocesan priests 427; religious priests 251; Brothers 123; Sisters 1.403; lay missionaries 34, catechists 1,759; major seminarians 216
(Agenzia Fides 23/11/2004)