Location, Size, and Extent
Comprising an area of 514,000 sq km (198,456 sq mi) in Southeast Asia, Thailand (formerly known as Siam) extends almost two-thirds down the Malay Peninsula, with a length of 1,648 km (1,024 mi) N–S and a width of 780 km (485 mi) E–W. Comparatively, the area occupied by Thailand is slightly more than twice the size of the state of Wyoming. It is bordered on the NE and E by Laos, on the SE by Cambodia and the Gulf of Thailand (formerly the Gulf of Siam), on the S by Malaysia, on the SW by the Andaman Sea, and on the W and NW by Myanmar, with a total boundary length of 8,082 km (5,022 mi), of which 3,219 km (2000 mi) is coastline.
Thailand's capital city, Bangkok, is located on the Gulf of Thailand coast.
Topography
Thailand may be divided into five major physical regions: the central valley, the continental highlands of the north and northwest, the northeast, the southeast coast, and the peninsula. The heartland of the nation is the central valley, fronting the Gulf of Thailand and enclosed on three sides by hills and mountains. This valley, the alluvial plain of the Chao Phraya River and of its many tributaries and distributaries, is 365 km (227 mi) from north to south and has an average width of 160–240 km (100– 150 mi).
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