Ancient Indian Colonization in South-East Asia c7.9

c7.9

Northern Siam, laying between the Salween and the Upper Mekong, is a land of narrow valleys separated by steep longitudinal spurs rising occasionally to a height of more than 8,000 ft., but Central Siam is mostly an alluvial plain watered by the Menam and a number of smaller rivers. The northern part of Malay Peninsula, up to the Isthmus of Kra, is politically part of Siam and is generally referred to as Southern Siam. But geographically Malay Peninsula extends from the head of the Gulf of Siam to Singapore Strait. Its most characteristic physical features are the long range of granite mountains running along its whole length, and the ever-green forests, mostly dense jungles, which cover a large part of the country and the major part of which is yet untrodden by human foot.