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 Bulgaria term "област" ("oblast") is preferably translated into English as "province", in order to avoid disambiguation and distinguish from the former unit called "окръг" ("okrag", translated as "district") and the term "регион" (always translated as "region"). At any rate, "district" and "region" are sometimes still used to name these contemporary 28 units. On 1 January 1999, the old districts were restored, but the designation ("oblast") "province" was kept. Provinces of Bulgaria The provinces of Bulgaria ( Oblasti na Bǎlgarija) are the first level administrative subdivisions of the country. Since 1999, Bulgaria has been divided into 28 provinces ( – "oblasti;" singular: