ABSTRACT
Bordered by Burma, Cambodia, and Malaysia, Thailand is slightly more than twice the size of Wyoming. The lowest spot is the Gulf of Thailand, and the highest spot is Doi Inthanon in the province of Chiang Mai. Archaeological evidence indicates a thriving Paleolithic culture in the region and continuous human habitation for at least 20,000 years. The pace of economic and social development was uneven and conditioned by climate and geography. The dense forests of the Chao Phraya Valley in the central part of Thailand and the Malay Peninsula in the south produced such an abundance of food that for a long time there was no need to move beyond a hunting-and-gathering economy. The control for cadastral surveying was extended from each origin by traverse loops measured with theodolite and steel tape.
