Bang Khun Thian ( th, บางขุนเทียน, ) is one of the 50 districts (''khet'') of

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estima ...

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

. Its neighbors, clockwise from the north, are

Bang Bon Bang Bon ( th, บางบอน, ) is one of the 50 districts (''khet'') of Bangkok, Thailand. Its neighbours, clockwise from north, are Bang Khae, Phasi Charoen, Chom Thong, and Bang Khun Thian districts of Bangkok, Mueang Samut Sakhon distri ...

, Chom Thong, and Thung Khru Districts of Bangkok, Phra Samut Chedi district of Samut Prakan province and

Mueang Samut Sakhon district Mueang Samut Sakhon ( th, เมืองสมุทรสาคร, ) is the capital district ('' amphoe mueang'') of Samut Sakhon province, central Thailand. History ''Mueang'' Tha Chin dates back to the Ayutthaya Kingdom. The city was ...

of Samut Sakhon province. Bang Khun Thian is Bangkok's southernmost district, and the only one bordering the

Bay of Bangkok The Bay of Bangkok ( th, อ่าวกรุงเทพ, , ), also known as the Bight of Bangkok, is the northernmost part of the Gulf of Thailand, roughly extending from Hua Hin District to the west and Sattahip District to the east. Three o ...

(upper

Gulf of Thailand The Gulf of Thailand, also known as the Gulf of Siam, is a shallow inlet in the southwestern South China Sea, bounded between the southwestern shores of the Indochinese Peninsula and the northern half of the Malay Peninsula. It is around in l ...

History

Bang Khun Thian is an old district, believed to have been established in 1867 as an ''

amphoe An amphoe (sometimes also ''amphur'', th, อำเภอ, )—usually translated as "district"—is the second level administrative subdivision of Thailand. Groups of ''amphoe'' or districts make up the provinces, and are analogous to countie ...

'' of

Thonburi __NOTOC__ Thonburi ( th, ธนบุรี) is an area of modern Bangkok. During the era of the Kingdom of Ayutthaya, its location on the right (west) bank at the mouth of the Chao Phraya River had made it an important garrison town, which is ...

. In 1972, Thonburi and Phra Nakhon Provinces were combined into Bangkok metropolis. Administrative units in the newly combined capital province were renamed from

and

tambon ''Tambon'' ( th, ตำบล, ) is a local governmental unit in Thailand. Below district (''amphoe'') and province (''changwat''), they form the third administrative subdivision level. there were 7,255 tambons, not including the 180 ''khwaeng'' ...

to "district" (''khet'') and "sub-district" (''khwaeng''). Thus, Bang Khun Thian became a district of Bangkok, composed of seven sub-districts: Bang Khun Thian, Bang Kho, Chom Thong, Bang Mot, Tha Kham, Bang Bon, and Samae Dam. Due to population increases, a portion of Bang Khun Thian district was set up with its own district office and called Bang Khun Thian Branch 1. This new unit oversaw four sub-districts: Bang Khun Thian, Bang Kho, Bang Mot, and Chom Thong. In 1989, Bang Khun Thian Branch 1 was made a full district called Chom Thong District. In 1997, Bang Bon sub-district was separated from Bang Khun Thian and became its own district.

Economy

Bang Khun Thian (Bangkhuntien), particularly its Tha Kham Sub-district, is a centre of seafood

aquaculture Aquaculture (less commonly spelled aquiculture), also known as aquafarming, is the controlled cultivation ("farming") of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, algae and other organisms of value such as aquatic plants (e.g. lot ...

, mostly shrimp. Most of Tha Kam's residents—70 to 80%—are aquaculture farmers and aquaculture occupies much of the district's land area. The industry is jeopardised by

coastal erosion Coastal erosion is the loss or displacement of land, or the long-term removal of sediment and rocks along the coastline due to the action of waves, currents, tides, wind-driven water, waterborne ice, or other impacts of storms. The landward ...

—the shoreline has retreated more than a kilometre since 1952—and since 2009,

wastewater Wastewater is water generated after the use of freshwater, raw water, drinking water or saline water in a variety of deliberate applications or processes. Another definition of wastewater is "Used water from any combination of domestic, industr ...

pollution has negatively impacted cultivation and farmer incomes have declined by 30–90 percent.

Administration

The district is divided into two sub-districts (''khwaeng'').

Places

Bang Khun Thian has Bangkok's only seashore. The coastline, about five km long, is muddy, containing

mangrove forest Mangrove forests, also called mangrove swamps, mangrove thickets or mangals, are productive wetlands that occur in coastal intertidal zones. Mangrove forests grow mainly at tropical and subtropical latitudes because mangroves cannot withstand fr ...

s and

shrimp farm Shrimp farming is an aquaculture business that exists in either a marine or freshwater environment, producing shrimp or prawns (crustaceans of the groups Caridea or Dendrobranchiata) for human consumption. Marine Commercial marine shrimp farm ...

s. The only way to access the Bay of Bangkok is via boat. A group of

crab-eating macaque The crab-eating macaque (''Macaca fascicularis''), also known as the long-tailed macaque and referred to as the cynomolgus monkey in laboratories, is a cercopithecine primate native to Southeast Asia. A species of macaque, the crab-eating macaqu ...

(''Macaca fascicularis'', Thai ลิงแสม), a kind of monkey, inhabits the coast near the sea. A fishing community is located there and the sea coast is known for its

seafood Seafood is any form of sea life regarded as food by humans, prominently including fish and shellfish. Shellfish include various species of molluscs (e.g. bivalve molluscs such as clams, oysters and mussels, and cephalopods such as octopus an ...

restaurants. Besides, Bang Khun Thian's mangrove forests are also the habitat for the last group of

smooth-coated otter The smooth-coated otter (''Lutrogale perspicillata'') is an otter species occurring in most of the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, with a disjunct population in Iraq. It is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List since 1996 and is thre ...

s (''Lutrogale perspicillata'', Thai นากใหญ่ขนเรียบ) in Bangkok. Bangkok, as seen from KMUTT Bang Khun Thian

Important temples in the district include Wat Kamphaeng (วัดกำแพง), Wat Kok (วัดกก), Wat Tha Kham (วัดท่าข้าม), Wat Hua Krabue (วัดหัวกระบือ), and Wat Bang Kradi (วัดบางกระดี่). Bang Kradi in Samae Dam is reputed to be the residence of Thai Mon people. CentralPlaza Rama II is only large shopping mall in the district. Taweethapisek Bangkhunthain School (a branch of Taweethapisek School) and Khlong Pittayalongkorn School are the dominant schools in the area.

References

External links

District website
(Thai only)
BMA website with the tourist landmarks of Bang Khun Thian
{{Authority control Districts of Bangkok