Administrative divisions of Thailand
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Thailand is divided into 75 provinces (จังหวัด, changwat), and one municipality - the capital Bangkok (Krung Thep Maha Nakhon in Thai). Some Thai people still count Bangkok as one province which it was until 1972, making Thailand a 76-province country.
Each province is divided into districts - as of 2006 there are 796 districts (อำเภอ, amphoe), 81 minor districts (กิ่งอำเภอ, king amphoe) and 50 districts of Bangkok (เขต, khet). Each of the provinces has one capital district (อำเภอเมือง, amphoe mueang), e.g. for Chiang Mai it's Amphoe Mueang Chiang Mai. The exception is Ayutthaya, were both the province as well as the central district have the full name Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya.
Los Angeles, California is sometimes jokingly referred to as "The 77th Province" of Thailand, because the city has a Thai population of roughly 200,000.
In Bangkok the districts are called khet (เขต), and their subdivisions kwaeng (แขวง) which are roughly equivalent to the tambon (communes or sub-districts) in the other provinces.
The tambon are further subdivided into muban (หมู่บ้าน) usually translated as villages.
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[edit] Municipalities
Additionally to these subdivision, there are also cities and towns, which take over some of the responsibilities of the districts and communes on the area covered by the municipality.
There are three different levels of municipalities (Thai: เทศบาล):
- thesaban nakhon (city): More than 50,000 citizens, population density higher than 3,000 per km²
- thesaban mueang (town): More than 10,000 citizens, population density higher than 3,000 per km² - or a provincial capital
- thesaban tambon (village): More than 5,000 citizens, population density higher than 1,500 per km²
Despite its name, a thesaban tambon does not necessarily coincide with a single tambon.
In addition to the population numbers the municipality needs to have enough income to be able to perform the tasks assigned for the level.
Towns and cities are subdivided into chumchon (communities), similar to the villages (muban) of rural areas.
Some towns have the word Nakhon in their name already, e.g. Nakhon Ratchasima Province has one district named Amphoe Mueang Nakhon Ratchasima, as well as the city Thesaban Nakhon Nakhon Ratchasima.
The City of Pattaya is a special kind of municipality, it is a specially governed area. Also the metropolitan city of Bangkok (officially called Bangkok Metropolitan Administration) is out of this division.
- See also: List of cities in Thailand
[edit] Historical subdivisions
From the beginning of the 20th century until 1932 there was an additional subdivision called monthon (มณฑล, circle), with some of the larger ones subdivided into boriwen (บริเวณ). The first provinces were named mueang as those developed from the historical city-states. There were both Mueang directly dependent from Bangkok (thus similar to the modern province), as well as Mueang under supervision of a more powerful neighbor Mueang, or part of the semi-independent tributary states.
In 1906 the transition to the term changwat started, which was finalized in 1916.
A former municipal level were the sukhaphiban (sanitation districts, สุขาภิบาล), which were mostly responsible for sanitary tasks like waste disposal. The administrative level was created in 1898, in May 1999 all were converted into thesaban tambon.
[edit] Informal subdivisions
The provinces surrounding Bangkok are referred to as Greater Bangkok (ปริมณฑล, pari monthon), as the urban sprawl of the capital already spread into these areas.
The 4 regions of Thailand - north, northeast, south and central are usually only used for statistical purposes.
[edit] See also
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