Kengtung
| Kengtung Kyaingtong | |
|---|---|
| Town | |
 | |
  Kengtung | |
| Coordinates: 21°17′30″N 99°36′30″E / 21.29167°N 99.60833°ECoordinates: 21°17′30″N 99°36′30″E / 21.29167°N 99.60833°E | |
| Country |
 Burma |
| Region | Shan State |
| District | Kengtung District |
| Township | Kengtung Township |
| Time zone | MST (UTC+6.30) |
Kengtung (Shan: ၵဵင်းတုင်; Burmese: ကျိုင်းတုံမြို့; MLCTS: kyuing: tum mrui., pronounced: [tɕáɪɴtòʊɴ mjo̰]; Thai: เชียงตุง, RTGS: Chiang Tung, pronounced [t͡ɕʰīaŋ tūŋ]; also spelled Kyaingtong, Chiang Tung, Cheingtung, and Kengtong) is a town in Shan State, Burma. It is the principal town of Kengtung Township. Kengtung is located on the National Highway 4 (NH4) and at the AH2 and AH3 of the Asian Highway.
There is an airport in Kengtung.
History
Kengtung was founded by the grandson of King Mangrai on the location of an older city of the Lawa people, the original inhabitants of the region.[1] This migration of the Chiangmai dynasty, made in the 13th century with the idea of founding a new kingdom which called Lanna in Chiang Mai, has resulted in Kengtung having a different type of Tai population from the rest of the Shan State.
Kengtung, like other major towns in the Shan Plateau, was home to a Shan Saopha. Kengtung was the base of the Kengtung Sawbwanate, and had a Sawbwa palace, built by Sao Kawng Kiao Intaleng in 1905.
The city was occupied by the Thai Phayap Army from 1942 until the end of the Second World War.
It is home to the Kyaingtong Degree College.
Geography
Kengtung contains several lakes. The largest, Naung Tung Lake, lies in the western part of the city, followed by Naung Kham Lake and Naung Yarng Lake to the south of the Kentung Roman Catholic Mission.
Climate
Taunggyi has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen climate classification Cwa). Temperatures are very warm throughout the year, although the winter months (December-February) are milder and nights can be quite cool. There is a winter dry season (December-April) and a summer wet season (May-November).
| Climate data for Kengtung | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Average high °C (°F) | 26.7 (80.1) |
29.2 (84.6) |
32.0 (89.6) |
33.0 (91.4) |
32.3 (90.1) |
30.4 (86.7) |
29.6 (85.3) |
29.4 (84.9) |
29.6 (85.3) |
28.7 (83.7) |
27.2 (81) |
25.7 (78.3) |
29.48 (85.08) |
| Average low °C (°F) | 9.6 (49.3) |
10.8 (51.4) |
14.0 (57.2) |
18.2 (64.8) |
21.2 (70.2) |
22.1 (71.8) |
21.7 (71.1) |
21.5 (70.7) |
20.6 (69.1) |
18.6 (65.5) |
15.2 (59.4) |
11.0 (51.8) |
17.04 (62.69) |
| Precipitation mm (inches) | 16.0 (0.63) |
8.0 (0.315) |
16.0 (0.63) |
43.0 (1.693) |
160.0 (6.299) |
175.0 (6.89) |
236.0 (9.291) |
243.0 (9.567) |
171.0 (6.732) |
128.0 (5.039) |
79.0 (3.11) |
23.0 (0.906) |
1,298 (51.102) |
| Source: HKO (1961-1990)[2] | |||||||||||||
See also
Bibliography
- Forbes, Andrew ; Henley, David (2011). Traders of the Golden Triangle. Chiang Mai: Cognoscenti Books. ASIN: B006GMID5
- J. G. Scott, Gazetteer of Upper Burma and the Shan States. 5 vols. Rangoon, 1900-1901.
- Sao Sāimöng Mangrāi, The Pādaeng Chronicle and the Kengtung State Chronicle Translated. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 1981
External links
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kengtung. |
- The Happy City, a 1959 film on a remote leper colony run by Father Cesare Columbo in Kengtung, Shan State
- pictures from Kengtung
