Geography of Thailand political development of this region. International access through the Andaman Sea and the Gulf of Thailand made the south a crossroads for both Theravada Buddhism, centered at Nakhon Si Thammarat, and Islam, especially in the former Pattani Kingdom on the border with Malaysia. Thailand's regions are divided politically into a total of 76 provinces plus Bangkok, which is a special administrative area. Thailand's climate is influenced by monsoon winds that have a seasonal character (the southwest and northeast monsoon). The southwest monsoon, which starts from May until October is characterized by movement of warm, moist air from the Indian Ocean
Provinces of Korea Gabo Reform, the country was redivided into 23 districts ("Bu;" 부; ), which were replaced a year later by thirteen new provinces. The thirteen provinces of 1896 included three of the original eight provinces, with the five remaining original provinces divided into north and south halves ("Bukdo" (북도; ) and "Namdo" (남도; ) respectively). The thirteen provinces remained unchanged throughout the period of Japanese annexation. With the liberation of Korea in 1945, the Korean peninsula was divided into Northern Korea and Southern Korea under trusteeship from Soviet Union and America, with the dividing line established along the 38th parallel. As