King Amphoe
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An amphoe (sometimes also ''amphur'', th, อำเภอ, )—usually translated as "district"—is the second level administrative subdivision of
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 ...
. Groups of ''amphoe'' or districts make up the
provinces A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outsi ...
, and are analogous to
counties A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...
. The chief district officer is ''Nai Amphoe'' (). ''Amphoe'' are divided into ''tambons'', ( th, ตำบล), or sub-districts. Altogether Thailand has 928 districts, including the 50
districts of Bangkok Bangkok is subdivided into 50 districts (''khet'', , , also sometimes wrongly called ''amphoe'' as in the other provinces, derived from Pali ''khetta'', cognate to Sanskrit ''kṣetra''), which are further subdivided into 180 subdistricts (''khwa ...
, which are called '' khet'' (เขต) since the Bangkok administrative reform of 1972. The number of districts in provinces varies, from only three in the smallest provinces, up to the 50 urban districts 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 ...
. Also the sizes and population of districts differ greatly. The smallest population is in
Ko Kut Ko Kut ( th, เกาะกูด, ), also known as Koh Kood, is an island in the 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 s ...
( Trat province) with just 2,042 citizens, while
Mueang Samut Prakan Mueang Samut Prakan district ( th, อำเภอเมืองสมุทรปราการ, ) or colloquially as ''Paknam Samut Prakan'' ( th, ปากน้ำสมุทรปราการ) is the capital district ('' amphoe mueang' ...
( Samut Prakan province) has 509,262 citizens. The ''khet'' of Bangkok have the smallest areas—Khet Samphanthawong is the smallest, with only 1.4 km2—while the ''amphoe'' of the sparsely populated mountain regions are bigger than some provinces. Umphang (
Tak province Tak ( th, ตาก, , Burmese: တာ့ခ် pronounced ak is one of Thailand's seventy-seven provinces (''changwat'') and lies in lower northern Thailand. Neighbouring provinces are (from north clockwise) Mae Hong Son, Chiang Mai, Lamphun, ...
) at 4,325.4 km2 is the largest and also has the lowest population density. The names of ''amphoe'' are usually unique, but in a few cases different Thai names have the same form in English due to the flaws of the romanization system. The notable exception, however, is the name Amphoe Chaloem Phra Kiat, which was given to five districts created in 1996 in celebration of the 50th anniversary of King
Bhumibol Adulyadej Bhumibol Adulyadej ( th, ภูมิพลอดุลยเดช; ; ; (Sanskrit: ''bhūmi·bala atulya·teja'' - "might of the land, unparalleled brilliance"); 5 December 192713 October 2016), conferred with the title King Bhumibol the Great ...
's accession to the throne. ''Chaloem Phra Kiat'' (เฉลิมพระเกียรติ) means 'in commemoration of' or 'in honour of' a royal family member.


Local administration

Each district is led by a district chief officer (''nai amphoe'', นายอำเภอ), who is appointed by the
Ministry of Interior An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministry ...
. The officer is a subordinate of the provincial governor.


Amphoe mueang

The district which contains the administrative office of the province is the ''amphoe mueang'' (lit. ''town district''). The district should not to be confused with the capital town itself, which is a different administrative entity usually much smaller than the district. Until the 1930s, most of the capital districts had names just like other districts, whereas districts dating back to old provinces had the word ''mueang'' in their name. In 1938 all the capital districts were renamed ''amphoe mueang'', whereas in all non-capital districts ''mueang'' was removed from the name. The notable exception to this rule is
Ayutthaya Ayutthaya, Ayudhya, or Ayuthia may refer to: * Ayutthaya Kingdom, a Thai kingdom that existed from 1350 to 1767 ** Ayutthaya Historical Park, the ruins of the old capital city of the Ayutthaya Kingdom * Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya province (locally ...
, where the capital district is named
Amphoe Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya ( th, พระนครศรีอยุธยา, ) is the capital district (''amphoe Mueang'') of Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya province, central Thailand. Its former name as the capital city of Ayutthaya Kingdom was "Krun ...
(instead of ''Amphoe Mueang Ayutthaya''), the same as the province, which is fully named ''Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya''. Also the capital districts of Thonburi and Phra Nakhon Provinces had the same name as the province, which they kept when the two provinces were merged to form Bangkok metropolis. In most cases the capital district is also the most populous district of the province, as the provincial administration is usually in the largest town of the province. Songkhla province is the most striking exception, as the town (and thus also the district) Hat Yai grew much faster than the capital Mueang Songkhla due to its better transport connections. There are four districts in Thailand (
Chan Chan may refer to: Places *Chan (commune), Cambodia *Chan Lake, by Chan Lake Territorial Park in Northwest Territories, Canada People *Chan (surname), romanization of various Chinese surnames (including 陳, 曾, 詹, 戰, and 田) *Chan Caldwel ...
, Pan, Suang, and
Yang Yang may refer to: * Yang, in yin and yang, one half of the two symbolic polarities in Chinese philosophy * Korean yang, former unit of currency of Korea from 1892 to 1902 * YANG, a data modeling language for the NETCONF network configuration ...
) which contain the term ''mueang'' in their name as well, even though they are not capital districts. All of these were created relatively recently, between 1973 and 1995.


King amphoe

Minor districts (''king amphoe'', กิ่งอำเภอ — กิ่ง literally 'branch') are set up when the administration of areas remote from the district center is inconvenient for citizens. Most of the tasks of the ''amphoe'' are transferred to the ''king amphoe'', but it is still partially a subordinate of the ''amphoe'' it was created from. When the ''king amphoe'' meets the necessary qualifications to become an ''amphoe'', it is usually promoted. However, not every newly created ''amphoe'' begins as a ''king amphoe'': if the qualifications are met directly, this phase is skipped. While usually a minor district is upgraded after a few years, in some cases it remains a minor district for decades. For example, Ko Yao was a minor district for 85 years until it was upgraded in 1988. Sometimes a district is downgraded to a minor district. Thung Wa lost a lot of its population to neighboring La-ngu minor district, so finally La-ngu was upgraded and Thung Wa downgraded. Another example is Chumphon Buri, which was reduced after the more developed part was split off to form a new district and the remaining district was downgraded. The criteria required for an ''amphoe'' are a population of at least 30,000 people and at least five ''tambon'', or, if the area is more than from the district office, a population of at least 15,000 and four ''tambon''. A minor district is led by a chief officer (''Hua Na King Amphoe'', หัวหน้ากิ่งอำเภอ). The Thai word ''king'' (กิ่ง) means 'branch' and should not be confused with the English word "king". The officially recommended translation is "minor district" —however they are also quite commonly translated as sub-district, which is the recommended translation for ''tambon'', and also wrongly suggests that they are at a lower administrative level than the ''amphoe''. The Thai government upgraded all remaining 81 minor districts to full districts on 15 May 2007 in order to streamline administration. With publication in the ''Royal Gazette'' on 24 August the order became official.


District office

The administration of the district is housed in an office building called ''thi wa kan amphoe'' (ที่ว่าการอำเภอ), which also marks the center of each district. Distances on road signs are always calculated to this office building. The office is usually in the largest settlement of the district, to make it easily accessible to the majority of the population —one of the tasks of the amphoe is the
civil registry Civil registration is the system by which a government records the vital events (births, marriages, and deaths) of its citizens and residents. The resulting repository or database has different names in different countries and even in differen ...
, which makes the district the most important of the administrative levels for the Thai public.


List of amphoe


See also

*
Administrative divisions of Thailand Thailand is a unitary state in Southeast Asia. The administrative services of the executive branch of the government are regulated by the ''National Government Organisation Act, BE 2534 (1991)'' (พระราชบัญญัติระเ ...


References


Organizational structure of districts within the Department of Provincial Administration (DOPA)


External links


http://www.amphoe.com
* {{Articles on second-level administrative divisions of Asian countries Subdivisions of Thailand Types of administrative division