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 Papua New Guinea Provinces of Papua New Guinea For administrative purposes, Papua New Guinea is divided into administrative divisions called provinces. Provincial governments are branches of the national government – Papua New Guinea is not a federation of provinces. There are 22 provinces, that includes the autonomous region (Bougainville) and the National Capital District. In 2009, the PNG parliament created two additional provinces, that officially came into being on 17 May 2012. They were Hela Province, which was split from Southern Highlands Province, and Jiwaka Province, which was split from Western Highlands Province. Each province forms a provincial electorate, called a constituency, for