Introduction
Thailand is situated in heart of the Southeast Asian mainland – covering a land mass of 513,115 sq. km. Its extreme latitudinal co-ordinates are 20°28’N and 5°36’S, and its extreme longitudinal co-ordinates are 105° 38’ E and 97°22 W. To the north Thailand borders the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) and the Union of Myanmar; to the east it borders the Lao PDR and the Kingdom of Cambodia; to the south it borders Malaysia; and to the west it borders the Union of Myanmar. The country’s land-based maximum north-south extent is approximately 1,600 km, and its maximum east-west extent measures approximately 870 km. The country’s coastline along the Gulf of Thailand is 1,875 km. long, compared to 740 km along the Andaman Sea; not included are the coastlines of some 400 islands, most of them in the Andaman Sea.
