The Chi River (, , ) is the longest

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of w ...

flowing wholly within

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 b ...

. It is long but carries less water than the second longest river, the Mun. The name of the river is "Mae Si" () in the

Isan Northeast Thailand or Isan ( Isan/ th, อีสาน, ; lo, ອີສານ; also written as Isaan, Isarn, Issarn, Issan, Esan, or Esarn; from Pali ''īsānna'' or Sanskrit ईशान्य ''īśānya'' "northeast") consists of 20 prov ...

and

Lao language Lao, sometimes referred to as Laotian (, 'Lao' or , 'Lao language'), is a Kra–Dai language of the Lao people. It is spoken in Laos, where it is the official language for around 7 million people, as well as in northeast Thailand, where i ...

s of the region, being transliterated as "Chi" in Bangkok-Thai. In

wet season The wet season (sometimes called the Rainy season) is the time of year when most of a region's average annual rainfall occurs. It is the time of year where the majority of a country's or region's annual precipitation occurs. Generally, the sea ...

s there are often flash floods in the

floodplain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge.Goudi ...

of the Chi River basin.

Course

The river rises in the

Phetchabun mountains The Phetchabun mountains ( th, ทิวเขาเพชรบูรณ์, , ) are a mountain massif in Phetchabun, Phitsanulok, Loei and Chaiyaphum Provinces, Thailand. It consists of two parallel mountain chains, with the valley of the Pa Sa ...

, then runs east through the central Isan provinces of

Chaiyaphum Chaiyaphum ( th, ชัยภูมิ, ) is a town (''thesaban mueang'') in northeastern Thailand, capital of Chaiyaphum Province. it had a population of 58,350, and covers the full ''tambon'' Nai Mueang of Mueang Chaiyaphum District. Chaiyaph ...

Khon Kaen Khon Kaen ( th, ขอนแก่น, ) is one of the four major cities of Isan, Thailand, also known as the "big four of Isan", the others being Udon Thani, Nakhon Ratchasima, and Ubon Ratchathani. It is the capital of Khon Kaen province and ...

, and

Maha Sarakham Sarakham is the capital city of Maha Sarakham Province in Thailand's northeastern (Isan) region. Sarakham, as it is known to its inhabitants, is in a rice-growing area on the southern Khorat plain, straddling the Chi River. Mahasarakham is 475 ...

, then turns south in

Roi Et Roi Et (, ) is a town (''thesaban mueang'') in north-eastern Thailand, capital of Roi Et Province. It covers the whole ''tambon'' Nai Mueang of Mueang Roi Et district. As of 2006 it had a population of 34,229. Roi Et is 514 km from Ban ...

, runs through

Yasothon Yasothon ( th, ยโสธร, ) is a town on the Chi River in the north-eastern region of Thailand. It is the capital and administrative center of Yasothon province and seat of its city district. In this district, subdistrict Nai Mueang ( 'in ...

and joins the Mun in the Kanthararom district of Sisaket Province. The river carries approximately of water per annum. The river was an 18th-century migration route for the re-peopling of the

Khorat Plateau The Khorat Plateau ( th, ที่ราบสูงโคราช) is a plateau in the northeastern Thai region of Isan. The plateau forms a natural region, named after the short form of Nakhon Ratchasima, a historical barrier controlling access ...

by ethnic

Lao people The Lao people are a Tai ethnic group native to Southeast Asia, who speak the eponymous language of the Kra–Dai languages. They are the majority ethnic group of Laos, making up 53.2% of the total population. The majority of Lao people adhere ...

from the left (east) bank of the

Mekong The Mekong or Mekong River is a trans-boundary river in East Asia and Southeast Asia. It is the world's twelfth longest river and the third longest in Asia. Its estimated length is , and it drains an area of , discharging of water annual ...

resettling on the right bank. This began in 1718 when the first king of the left bank

Kingdom of Champasak The Kingdom of Champasak (Lao: ຈຳປາສັກ ɕàmpàːsák or Bassac, (1713–1904) was a Lao kingdom under Nokasad, a grandson of King Sourigna Vongsa, the last king of Lan Xang and son-in-law of the Cambodian King Chey Chet ...

, King

Nokasad Nokasad (full name Somdetch Brhat Chao Jaya Sri Samudra Buddhangkura; alternate names Soi Si Samout Phouthong Koun; King of Champa Nagapurisiri or Nakhon Champa Nakhaburisi) (reckoned posthumously to have been born in 1693 as Prince ( Chao) Nakasatr ...

, sent a group of some 3,000 subjects led by an official in his service to found the first settlement in the Chi River valley—and indeed anywhere in the interior of the

—

Muang Mueang ( th, เมือง ''mɯ̄ang'', ), Muang ( lo, ເມືອງ ''mɯ́ang'', ; Tai Nuea: ᥛᥫᥒᥰ ''muang''), Mong ( shn, ''mə́ŋ'', ), Meng () or Mường (Vietnamese), were pre-modern semi-independent city-states or principali ...

Suwannaphum in present-day Roi Et Province (a history recorded and remembered, largely in terms of the struggle to expand wet-rice cultivation in the river valley). Their descendants are now regarded as a separate ethnic group from the Lao to the north and the central Thai to the southwest.

Pop culture

Chi river is the setting of a Thai TV drama on Channel 7 HD, titled ''Chart Lam Chi'' (ชาติลำชี; The River Chi's Protector). It was an action-drama TV series that aired from March 14 to April 25, 2018, remake from namesake film in 1969 (starred by

Mitr Chaibancha Mitr Chaibancha ( Thai มิตร ชัยบัญชาpronunciation, 28 January 1934 in Phetchaburi, Thailand - 8 October 1970) was a Thai film actor who acted 266 films from 1956 to 1970. He died on 8 October 1970 at Dongtan Beach, Jomt ...

and Petchara Chaowarat).

References

External links

Ostracods (Crustacea) from floodplain of the Chi River basin
Isan Rivers of Thailand Geography of Chaiyaphum province Geography of Khon Kaen province Geography of Maha Sarakham province Geography of Phetchabun province Geography of Roi Et province Geography of Sisaket province Geography of Yasothon province {{Thailand-river-stub

Course

Pop culture

References

Further reading

External links