Isan
Northeast Thailand or Isan consists of 20 provinces in northeastern Thailand. Isan is Thailand's largest region, on the Khorat Plateau, bordered by the Mekong River to the north and east, by Cambodia to the southeast and the Sankamphaeng Range south of Nakhon Ratchasima. To the west, it is separated from northern and central Thailand by the Phetchabun Mountains. Isan covers, making it about half the size of Germany and roughly the size of England and Wales. The total forest area is or 15 percent of Isan's area.
Since the beginning of the 20th century, northeastern Thailand has been generally known as Isan, while in official contexts the term phak tawan-ok-chiang-nuea may be used. The majority population of the Isan region is ethnically Lao, but distinguish themselves not only from the Lao of Laos but also from the Central Thai by calling themselves khon Isan or Thai Isan in general. But some refer to themselves as simply Lao, and academics have recently been referring to them as Lao Isan or as Thai Lao, with the main issue with self-identification as Lao being stigma associated with the Lao identity in Thai society.
The Lao Isan people are aware of their Lao ethnic origin, but Isan has been incorporated as a territory into the modern Thai state through over 100 years of administrative and bureaucratic reforms, educational policy, and government media. Despite this, since the election of Thaksin Shinawatra as prime minister in the 2001 Thai general election, the Lao Isan identity has reemerged, and the Lao Isan are now the main ethnolinguistic group involved in the pro-Thaksin "Red Shirt movement" of the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship. Several Thai prime ministers have come from the region.
History
Isan has a number of important Bronze Age sites, with prehistoric art in the form of cliff paintings, artifacts and early evidence of rice cultivation. Iron and bronze tools such as those found at Ban Chiang may predate similar tools from Mesopotamia.The region later came under the influence of the Dvaravati culture, followed by the Khmer Empire. The latter built dozens of prasats throughout Isan. The most significant are at Phimai Historical Park and Phanom Rung Historical Park. Preah Vihear was also considered to be in Isan, until the International Court of Justice in 1962 ruled that it belonged to Cambodia.
After the Khmer Empire began to decline in the 13th century, Isan was dominated by the Lao kingdom of Lan Xang, which had been established by Fa Ngum. Due to a scarcity of information from the periods known as the post-Angkor period, the plateau seems to have been largely depopulated. There were few if any lines of demarcation, because until the 19th-century introduction of modern mapping, the region fell under what 20th-century scholars called the "mandala system". Accordingly, in 1718 the first Lao mueang in the Chi River valley—and indeed anywhere in the interior of the Khorat Plateau—was founded at Suwannaphum District by an official in the service of King Nokasad of the Kingdom of Champasak.
Thaification
The region was increasingly settled by both Lao and Thai emigrants. Thailand held sway from the 17th century, and carried out forced population transfers from the more populous left bank of the Mekong to the right bank in the 18th and 19th centuries. This custom of forced population transfers was endemic in pre-modern Mainland Southeast Asian warfare. This became more severe following the Lao rebellion, during which Anouvong, the last of the kings of Vientiane, rebelled against Siamese suzerainty, and lost a war that lasted two years. Khorat was then repopulated by forced migration of Mekong Valley Lao, with a heavy influx of voluntary Chinese migrants. In the wake of the Franco-Siamese crisis of 1893, the resulting treaty with France and the Anglo-Siamese Treaty of 1909 made the plateau a border region between Thailand and the Laos of French Indochina. Roi Et was established early in the 20th century to further Siamese control, and to further assimilation of the population into the kingdom.In the mid-20th century, the state-supported assimilation policy called Thaification promoted Isan's ethnic integration into the modern conception of Thai nationality and de-emphasized the use of ethnic markers, for ethnic Laos and Khmers, as it was deemed uncivilized and to prevent ethnic discrimination among the Thai people.
This policy extended to the use of the name "Isan" itself: the name is derived from the Pali word, meaning "northeast", in turn from the name of Iśāna, a manifestation of Shiva as deity of the northeast. The name therefore reinforces the area's identity as northeastern Thailand, rather than as a part of the Lao kingdom, which had recently been created by the French colonial discourse, as "race was then an important ideological tool for French colonialists in the attempt to seize the 'Laotian' and 'Cambodian' portions of Siam."
Before the central government introduced the Thai alphabet and language in regional schools, the people of Isan wrote in the Tai Noi script, which is very similar to the one that Thai adopted. Many people speak Isan, a variety of Lao, as their first language. A significant minority in the south also speak Northern Khmer.
The Kuy people, an Austroasiatic people concentrated around the core of what was once called "Chenla" and known as the Khmer Boran, are a link to the region's pre-Tai history.
Geography
Isan is roughly coterminous with the Khorat Plateau, which tilts gently from its northwestern corner, where it is about above sea level, to the southeast, where the elevation is only about. Except for a few hills in the northeastern corner, the region is primarily gently undulating land, most of it varying in elevation from, tilting from the Phetchabun Mountains in the west down to the Mekong River. The plateau consists of two plains: the southern Khorat plain is drained by the Mun and Chi rivers, while the northern Sakon Nakhon plain is drained by the Loei and Songkhram rivers. The two plains are separated by the Phu Phan Mountains. The soil is mostly sandy, with substantial salt deposits.The Mekong forms most of the border between Thailand and Laos to the north and east of Isan, while the south of the region borders Cambodia. The Mekong's main Thai tributary is the Mun River, which rises in the Khao Yai National Park near Nakhon Ratchasima Province and runs east, joining the Mekong in Ubon Ratchathani Province. Isan's other main river is the Chi, which flows through central Isan before turning south to meet the Mun in Sisaket Province. The smaller Loei and Songkhram rivers are also tributaries of the Mekong, the former flowing north through Loei Province and the latter east through Udon Thani, Sakon Nakhon, Nakhon Phanom, and Nong Khai Provinces.
The average temperature range is from. The highest temperature recorded was in Udon Thani, the lowest at Sakhon Nakhon Agro Station.
Rainfall is unpredictable, but is concentrated in the rainy season from May to October. Average annual precipitation varies from in some areas to in the southwestern provinces of Nakhon Ratchasima, Buriram, Maha Sarakham, Khon Kaen, and Chaiyaphum. The rainy season begins with occasional short but heavy showers, eventually raining heavily for longer periods almost every day, usually in the late afternoon or at night, until it ends abruptly at the onset of the cool season.
The cool season runs from October to February and the hot season from February to May with the peak of high temperatures in April.
National parks
Isan has around 26 national parks. Province Khon Kaen has four national parks, of which Phu Pha Man National Park is notable for its large daily exodus of bats at dusk, making a formation about long. Siam tulip fields are in Sai Thong National Park and Pa Hin Ngam National Park, both in Chaiyaphum Province. Phu Phan National Park in Sakon Nakhon Province includes the long Tang Pee Parn natural stone bridge. Among Thailand's best-known national parks are Khao Yai National Park in Nakhon Ratchasima Province and Phu Kradueng National Park in Loei Province.Biodiversity
Isan has high biodiversity and many endemic species. Both wildlife and plant species are exploited illegally. Valuable hardwood tree species, in particular Siamese Rosewood, are being extracted for sale, especially in the Chinese furniture market. These trees are so valuable that poachers, coming across the border from Cambodia, are heavily armed, and both rangers and poachers have been killed over them. In national parks such as Ta Phraya, rangers have been trained since 2015 in military-style counter-poaching measures by the elite ranger squad Hasadin.Economy
Isan is home to one-third of Thailand's population of 67 million, but contributes only ten per cent to the national GDP.In terms of regional value-added per capita, Isan is Thailand's poorest region. Bangkok is the richest, followed by central Thailand, southern Thailand, then northern Thailand. This ordering has been unchanged for decades. Thailand's highly centralized fiscal system reinforces the status quo. An example of this Bangkok-centric policy is the allocation of budgets: Bangkok accounts for about 17 percent of the population and 25.8 percent of GDP, but benefits from about 72.2 percent of total expenditures. Isan accounts for about 34 percent of the population and 11.5 percent of GDP, but receives only 5.8 percent of expenditures.
Agriculture is the largest sector of the economy, generating around 22 percent of the gross regional product. Sticky rice, the staple food of the region, is the main agricultural crop. It thrives in poorly drained paddy fields, and where fields can be flooded from nearby streams, rivers, and ponds. Often two harvests are possible each year. Farmers are increasingly diversifying into cash crops such as sugarcane and cassava, which are cultivated on a vast scale, and to a lesser extent, rubber. Silk production is an important cottage industry and contributes significantly to the economy.
Nong Khai Province, which stretches along the Mekong River, is noted for the production of pineapples, tobacco, and tomatoes, which are grown on an industrial scale, particularly in Si Chiang Mai District.
Despite its dominance of the economy, agriculture in the region is problematic. The climate is prone to drought, while the flat terrain of the plateau often floods in the rainy season. The tendency to flood renders a large proportion of the land unsuitable for cultivation. In addition, the soil is highly acidic, saline, and infertile from overuse. Since the 1970s, agriculture has been declining in importance as trade and the service sector have been increasing.
Very few farmers still use water buffalos rather than tractors. Nowadays, water buffalos are mainly kept by almost all rural families as status symbols. The main piece of agricultural equipment in use today is the "rot tai na", colloquially called "kwai lek", or more generally by its manufacturer's name of "Kubota", a mini-tractor composed of a small diesel engine mounted on two wheels with long wooden or metal handlebars for steering. It is usually attached to a trailer or a plow. Buffalo are now mainly used for grazing on the stubble in the rice paddy, which they in turn fertilize with their manure. The main animals raised for food are cattle, pigs, chickens, ducks, and fish.
Most of Thailand's rural poor live in Isan. The region's poverty is reflected in its infrastructure: eight of the ten provinces in Thailand with the fewest physicians per capita are in Isan. Sisaket Province has the fewest, with one physician per 14,661 persons in 2001, with the national average being 3,289. It also has eight of the ten provinces with the fewest hospital beds per head. Chaiyaphum Province has the fewest, with one per 1,131 in 2001. Nevertheless, as in the rest of Thailand, all districts have a hospital, and all sub-districts have clinics providing primary health care. The introduction of the "30 baht" health card has dramatically changed the numbers of those attending hospitals for treatment, as it has meant that full health care is available to all who register for only 30 baht per visit. The few who can afford it travel to the modern private hospitals and clinics in the large cities for non-urgent specialist consultations and care.
The region lags in new technology: there was only one Internet connection per 75 households in 2002 , but by 2006 every district town had at least one publicly accessible Internet connection, either in a local computer shop or in the district office.
Extension of landline telephones to remote areas not previously served has been largely superseded by the use of mobile phones, primarily of GSM format, which now covers the entire region with the exception of a few sparsely populated mountainous areas and large national parks. Many people, even the poorest and frequently also children, have cellular telephones, although they have no fixed-line telephone. In this sense, Isan has led advanced nations where landline service is now being superseded by cellular technology. The region also has the nation's lowest literacy rate.
By the beginning of 2008, most amphoe had been provided with ADSL by the TOT, leaving the majority of the rural population dependent on dial-up connections for those few who have landline telephones. This results in slow service that does not adequately meet modern needs. Most rural people rely on smartphones for data services. Internet shops with high-speed connections have for many years provided service to those who cannot afford or do not have access to high-speed Internet. They are heavily patronized by primary and secondary school children who come not only to use the Internet but also to play online games, use VOIP, or just to use the computer and printers. Resident Western expatriates and foreign tourists are also frequent customers. For those outside the district towns who require a serious use of the Internet in their homes, the mobile phone or an iPstar broadband satellite connection is the only alternative, although more expensive than a DSL connection. It is far less reliable and suffers considerable downtime due to overloading, heavy cloud cover, and rain. Despite, in theory, being "always on", it often lacks adequate stability for streaming and clarity of VOIP.
Many Isan people seek higher-paying work outside the region, particularly in Bangkok. Some of these people have settled permanently in the city, while some migrate to and fro. Others have emigrated in search of better wages. Rather than relocate as a family, they often leave their children in the care of relatives, friends, or neighbors.
Average wages in Isan were the lowest in the country in 2002 at 3,928 baht per month.
A Khon Kaen University study found that marriages with foreigners by Thai northeastern women boosted the gross domestic product of the northeast by 8.67 billion baht. According to the study, after a northeastern woman married a foreigner, she will send 9,600 baht a month on average to her family to help with its expenses. The activity also created 747,094 jobs, the study found. The 2010 census found that 90 percent of the slightly more than 27,000 foreigners living in the northeastern region were married to women from there.