Chapter · Thailand · Land
An elephant’s head on the map
North to south, the delta, the monsoon
A country drawn like an elephant’s head, a capital built on clay and going down every year, a calendar with two seasons. This chapter draws the map Thai people carry in their heads, with the institutions that measure it.
Context first
A lesson to read before the others, to set the scene.
- The place
- The era
- The people
The lessons in this chapter
- 1Two seasons, and a plain that fills upTwo six-month monsoons, and a wind that circles the compass in a year. The river covers the plain from August to November, the rice grows with the water, and you get about by boat. The flood is not the accident: it is the system.9 min
- 2Bangkok is sinking, and we know by how muchTwo to seven millimetres a year over most of the city, up to twenty elsewhere, measured from a satellite between 2009 and 2012. The cause is not the sea but the water pumped from under the city, in a silt the river is still laying down.9 min
- 3Isan, a third of the country behind a forestA third of the country, behind six days of forest with a deadly name. The plateau looked towards the Mekong, which you cross, rather than the plain, which you could not reach: that is why the language there is close to Lao.9 min
How these lessons are written
Each lesson starts from first-hand sources: Wikisource, Gallica, Persée, archives, museums and institutes. A fact without a source does not get written, and every lesson lists its own as direct links.
The rhythm
A lesson is five minutes of cards and four questions. Those questions then come back the next day, then at 3, 7, 21 and 60 days, and that return is what makes it stick. One a day is enough, and you can do several in a row.