BANGKOK

Thai Krung Thep city, capital, and chief port of Thailand. As the only cosmopolitan city in a country of small towns and villages, it is Thailand's cultural and commercial centre. Bangkok is located on the Chao Phraya River, about 25 miles (40 km) from the Gulf of Thailand. In l971 the original city merged with the former municipality of Thon Buri on the west bank of the Chao Phraya, and in 1972 the unified city was merged with other outlying areas to form a single city-province, Krung Thep Mahanakhon (Bangkok Metropolitan City). The climate of Bangkok is hot throughout the year, with high humidity. The city has traditionally relied on a system of canals to drain its site, which annually receives 60 inches (1,520 mm) of rain. A principal and worsening problem of the city is the subsidence, or sinking, which is exacerbated by the filling of many canals. The city's economy is centred on its port, which handles nearly all of the country's exports and imports, and on its commerce and industry. Principal industries include food processing and the production of textiles and building materials. Bangkok houses a majority of the country's bank deposits and also is the base for several insurance firms. Bangkok has been expanding outward into surrounding agricultural areas. The inner city, formerly enclosed by a wall, has become an institutional and commercial centre, while industrial and residential areas have been shifting to the port and suburbs. Governmental offices are located around the 18th-century Grand Palace. The city houses various international agencies as well, including the headquarters of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). The Chinese quarter of Sam Peng is an important commercial district. Though the city's residents are predominantly Thai, there are small concentrations of other Asians and of Westerners. Numerous wats, or Buddhist temples, represent classic Thai architecture and are important cultural features in the city. Ancient art relics and royal objects are housed in the National Museum. Jim Thompson's Thai House contains a major collection of Thai religious paintings assembled by the American silk magnate and art collector. The National Library and the Thai National Documentation Centre are also located in Bangkok. Among the several universities are Chulalongkorn (1917) and Kasetsart (1943). Bangkok's inner-city trafficconsisting of three-wheeled taxis, private automobiles, and busesis extremely congested. Some canals, or klongs, remnants of the city's originally water-based transportation system, still exist, especially in Thon Buri. Highways and railways run north, east, and south from the city, reaching Laos, Cambodia, and Malaysia. The city's Don Muang airport is one of the busiest in Southeast Asia. Area Bangkok Metropolis, 604 square miles (1,565 square km). Pop. (1989 est.) Bangkok Metropolis, 6,256,000. Additional reading William Warren and Marc Riboud, Bangkok (1972), gives a panorama of life in the city through imaginative text and evocative photographs. Erik Seidenfaden, Guide to Bangkok, with Notes on Siam, 2nd ed. (1928, reprinted 1985), is a beautifully illustrated guide with a wealth of historical data. Three useful works are Larry Sternstein, Planning the Developing Primate City: Bangkok 2000 (1971), a translation and critique of three Thai plans, Thailand: The Environment of Modernisation (1976), a profusely illustrated study that includes a long section on Bangkok, and Portrait of Bangkok (1982), a series of 11 essays, with rare pictures and maps, on historical and contemporary affairs, published on the occasion of the bicentenary of the city. Lawrence Sternstein History Bangkok became the capital of Siam (as Thailand was previously known) in 1782, when General Chao Phraya Chakkri, the founder of the ruling Chakkri dynasty, assumed the throne as Rama I and moved the court from the west to the east bank of the Chao Phraya River. The move appears to have been dictated by strategic considerations: the wide westward bend in the river constituted a wide moat guarding the northern, western, and southern perimeters of the new site. To the east stretched a vast, swampy delta called the Sea of Mud, which could be traversed only with extreme difficulty. Rama I modeled the new city on the former capital, Ayutthaya, 40 miles to the north. By the end of his reign the city was established. The walled Grand Palace complex and Bangkok's oldest temple, Wat Po, were completed. A new city wall, perhaps the most imposing structure, skirted the river and Khlong Ong Ang to the east; it was four and a half miles long, 10 feet thick, and 13 feet high, and it had 63 gates and 15 forts. The area enclosed amounted to one and a half square miles. More wats were built during the reigns of Rama II (180924) and Rama III (182451). They served as schools, libraries, hospitals, and recreation areas, as well as religious centres. During these years Wat Arun, noted for its tall spire, Wat Yan Nawa, and Wat Bowon Niwet were completed, Wat Po was further enlarged, and Wat Sutat was begun. There were, however, few other substantial buildings and fewer paved streets; the river and the network of interconnected canals served as roadways. Rama IV (185168) developed the city while continuing, at a reduced rate, the traditional building of wats. The Grand Palace was improved, a number of substantial dwellings were constructed for members of the royal family, several new streets were laid down, and a reduction was made in the large number of floating houses anchored along the river front. A new route, Charoen Krung (New Road), leading southward was constructed, and a new city moat, Khlong Phadung Krung Kasem, parallel to the city's first canal, was dug and fortified; a long canal led from it to the present port area (Khlong Toei), thus allowing small boats to bypass the large bend in the river immediately south of the city. A pony path, now Phra Ram Thi 4 Road, was laid atop the mud heaped up beside this waterway. During the long reign of Rama V, King Chulalongkorn (18681910), the city was transformed through a program of public works. The great triple-spired Chakkri Building in the Grand Palace was completed by 1880; the Dusit Palace and an ancillary garden city were later built beyond the wall, being connected to the Grand Palace by the European-inspired Ratchadamnoen Nok Road. A road- and bridge-building program was embarked on in earnest, because King Chulalongkorn, an early automobile enthusiast, foresaw the effect that the motor vehicle would have on city development. Most of the now obsolete city wall was pulled down to build the roads, but two forts, a large gate, and a section of the wall were preserved. The centenary of the city, in 1882, was marked by the inauguration of many social reforms, manifested in the public buildings used for their administration, as well as by the completion of the great royal temple, Wat Phra Kaeo, which housed the Emerald Buddha. A post and telegraph service was organized in the 1880s, an electric tram service was instituted on Charoen Krung in 1892, and the first line of the State Railway, running from Bangkok to Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya, opened in 1900. Nor were aesthetic considerations forgotten, for other new buildings included the marble temple of Wat Benchamabopit (1900), elegant bridges in the French style, and the Italian-inspired National Assembly Hall (Throne Hall). Rama VI (191025) continued the program of public works. He established Chulalongkorn University in 1916, built a system of locks to control the level of waterways throughout the city, and gave the public its first and largest recreational areaLumphini Park. During Rama VII's reign (192535) municipal areas were delimited as part of a general administrative reorganization aimed at decentralization. In 1937 Bangkok was formally divided into the municipalities of Krung Thep and Thon Buri. At the time of their establishment, the two municipalities, approximately equal in area, together covered about 37 square miles; about four-fifths of the city's population lived in Krung Thep. Since World War II Bangkok has grown with unprecedented rapidity. As a result of this growth, problems with transportation, communication, housing, water supply, drainage, and pollution have become acute. That those responsible for modernizing the metropolis are coping with these problems suggests the appropriateness of its official emblem: the God Indra seated atop a sacred white elephant, the four tusks of which denote its celestial status and its ability to accomplish the impossible. The city's uniquely Thai character, while perhaps diminishing, provides a vibrant backdrop for Bangkok's increasingly cosmopolitan image. Physical and human geography The landscape Climate The climate of Bangkok is hot throughout the year, ranging from 77 F (25 C) in the cold season in December to 86 F (30 C) at the height of the hot season in April. The mean annual rainfall totals 60 inches (1,500 millimetres), four-fifths of which falls in brief torrential downpours during the late afternoons of the rainy season, which lasts from mid-May through September; the dry season lasts from December to February. Mean monthly relative humidity varies from a low of 60 percent in the cold season to more than 80 percent during the rainy season. The city layout Modern Bangkok has undergone explosive growth, which the authorities have only recently attempted to direct by means of a series of master plans. The city centre, formerly enclosed by a wall, has long been densely developed, while later expansion has sprawled outward well beyond the administrative boundaries into the surrounding agricultural areas. Some districts have evolved into functional units as the inner city has become more institutional and commercial and the outer city more residential and industrial. Throughout the city, walled Buddhist temples and monasteries called wats, often sumptuously ornamented, serve as focal points for religious, cultural, and even commercial life.