Lopburi ( th, ลพบุรี, , ) is the capital city of
Lopburi Province in
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 about northeast of
Bangkok
Bangkok, officially known in 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 estimated populati ...
. It has a population of 58,000. The town (''
thesaban mueang
Thesaban ( th, เทศบาล, , ) are the municipalities of Thailand. There are three levels of municipalities: city, town, and sub-district. Bangkok and Pattaya are special municipal entities not included in the ''thesaban'' system.
The mu ...
'') covers the whole ''
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 '' khwaen ...
'' Tha Hin and parts of Thale Chup Son of
Mueang Lopburi District
Mueang Lopburi ( th, เมืองลพบุรี, , ) is the capital district (''amphoe mueang'') of Lopburi province, central Thailand. The district is home to Khok Kathiam Air Force Base.
History
Lopburi is an ancient city. In the K ...
, a total area of 6.85 km
2.
Etymology
It was originally known as
Lavo or Lavapura, meaning "city of
Lava
Lava is molten or partially molten rock (magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a fracture in the crust, on land or un ...
" in reference to the ancient South Asian city of
Lavapuri
Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city ...
(present-day
Lahore
Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city ...
,
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...
).
History
The city has a history dating back to the
Dvaravati
The Dvaravati ( th, ทวารวดี ; ) was an ancient Mon kingdom from the 7th century to the 11th century that was located in the region now known as central Thailand. It was described by the Chinese pilgrim in the middle of the 7th cent ...
period more than 1,000 years ago.
[Higham, C., 2014, ''Early Mainland south-east Asia'', Bangkok: River Books Co., Ltd., ] According to the ''Northern Chronicles,''
Lavo was founded by Phraya Kalavarnadishraj, who came from Takkasila in 648 CE. According to Thai records, Phraya Kakabatr from Takkasila (it is assumed that the city was
Tak or
Nakhon Chai Si) set the new era,
Chula Sakarat
Chula Sakarat or Chulasakarat ( pi, Culāsakaraj; my, ကောဇာသက္ကရာဇ်, ; km, ចុល្លសករាជ "''Chulasakarach''"; th, จุลศักราช, , , abbrv. จ.ศ. ''Choso'') is a lunisolar calendar deri ...
in 638 CE, which was the era used by the Siamese and the Burmese until the 19th century. His son, Phraya Kalavarnadishraj founded the city a decade later. Lopburi, or Lavapura as it then was, was under the rule of the rising
Angkor regime and became one of the most important centers in the
Chao Phraya
The Chao Phraya ( or ; th, แม่น้ำเจ้าพระยา, , or ) is the major river in Thailand, with its low alluvial plain forming the centre of the country. It flows through Bangkok and then into the Gulf of Thailand.
E ...
Basin from then on.
Epigraphic evidence indicates that the dominant population of the city was
Mon.
The earliest confirmed occurrence of the name Lavapura is on silver coins inscribed "lava" on the obverse and "pura" on the reverse in a Pallava-derived script of the seventh or eighth century; several such coins were recovered in 1966 from a hoard found in an ancient jar in
U Thong
King U-thongThe Royal Institute. List of monarchs Ayutthaya''. ( th, พระเจ้าอู่ทอง) or King Ramathibodi I ( th, สมเด็จพระรามาธิบดีที่ ๑ ; 1314–1369) was the first king of ...
.
Inscriptions say that Lopburi was incorporated into the administration structure of the
Khmer Empire during the reign of
Suryavarman I
Suryavarman I ( km, សូរ្យវរ្ម័នទី១; posthumously ''Nirvanapada'') was king of the Khmer Empire from 1006 to 1050. Suryavarman usurped King Udayadityavarman I, defeating his armies in approximately 1002. After a protra ...
. Control of Lopburi gave the
Khmer Empire access to trade going through the
Kra Isthmus
The Kra Isthmus ( th, คอคอดกระ, ) in Thailand is the narrowest part of the Malay Peninsula. The western part of the isthmus belongs to Ranong Province and the eastern part to Chumphon Province, both in Southern Thailand. The ...
.
There is some evidence the Khmer Empire, under
Suryavarman II
Suryavarman II ( km, សូរ្យវរ្ម័នទី២), posthumously named Paramavishnuloka, was a Khmer king from 1113 AD to 1145/1150 AD and the builder of Angkor Wat, the largest religious monument in the world which he dedicated t ...
, fought against the Mons in the 12th century over
suzerainty. Lopburi sent embassies to China in 1115 and 1155.
Lopburi (Lavo) is described in Book III of
Marco Polo's ''
Travels'', where it is called ''
Locach Lochac, Locach or Locat is a country far south of China mentioned by Marco Polo. The name is widely believed to be a variant of ''Lo-huk'' 罗斛: the Cantonese name for the southern Thai kingdom of Lopburi (also known as Lavapura and Louvo), whic ...
''. This came from the Chinese (Cantonese) pronunciation of Lavo, "Lo-huk". The city is referred to as "Lo-ho" in chapter 20 of the
History of Yuan
The ''History of Yuan'' (''Yuán Shǐ''), also known as the ''Yuanshi'', is one of the official Chinese historical works known as the ''Twenty-Four Histories'' of China. Commissioned by the court of the Ming dynasty, in accordance to political ...
(元史 : ''Yuán Shǐ''), the official history of the Mongol, or
Yuan Dynasty
The Yuan dynasty (), officially the Great Yuan (; xng, , , literally "Great Yuan State"), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after its division. It was established by Kublai, the fift ...
of China. Due to a scribal error in
Book III of Marco Polo's travels treating of the route southward from
Champa, where the name Java was substituted for Champa as the point of departure, Java Minor was 1,300 miles to the south of
Java Major
La grande isle de Java ("the great island of Java") was, according to Marco Polo, the largest island in the world; his Java Minor was the actual island of Sumatra, which takes its name from the city of Samudera (now Lhokseumawe) situated on its ...
, instead of from Champa, on or near an extension of the
Terra Australis
(Latin: '"Southern Land'") was a hypothetical continent first posited in antiquity and which appeared on maps between the 15th and 18th centuries. Its existence was not based on any survey or direct observation, but rather on the idea that ...
. As explained by Sir
Henry Yule
Sir Henry Yule (1 May 1820 – 30 December 1889) was a Scottish Orientalist and geographer. He published many travel books, including translations of the work of Marco Polo and ''Mirabilia'' by the 14th-century Dominican Friar Jordanus. ...
, the editor of an English edition of Marco Polo's ''Travels'': "Some geographers of the 16th century, following the old editions which carried the travellers south-east of Java to the land of ''
Boeach'' (or Locac), introduced in their maps a continent in that situation".
After the foundation of the
Ayutthaya Kingdom in the 14th century, Lopburi was a stronghold of Ayutthaya's rulers. It became the capital of the kingdom during the reign of King
Narai
King Narai the Great ( th, สมเด็จพระนารายณ์มหาราช, , ) or Ramathibodi III ( th, รามาธิบดีที่ ๓ ) was the 27th monarch of Ayutthaya Kingdom, the 4th and last monarch of the P ...
the Great in the mid-17th century and the king resided there about eight months a year.
File:WaterBuffaloLopburiThailand2300BCE.jpg, Water buffalo
The water buffalo (''Bubalus bubalis''), also called the domestic water buffalo or Asian water buffalo, is a large bovid originating in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. Today, it is also found in Europe, Australia, North America, So ...
, Lopburi, 2300 BCE
File:CeramicLopburiThailand2300BCE.jpg, Ceramic, Lopburi, 2300 BCE
Archeological finds
* several flaked stone tools were discovered in
Ban Mi district dated back to the Paleolithic Age in 1931.
* a number of tools, human burial sites and bronze accessories belong to Iron Age were found in
Lop Buri river Basin in 1964.
* Bracelets and beads dated back 2700–3500 years were revealed at Ban Khok Charoen in 1966–1970.
* Prehistoric human skeletons and clay jugs were found in Ban Tha Kae in 1979.
* A Copper source was discovered in Khao Wong Phrachan in 1986–1994.
Geography
Lopburi lies on the
Lopburi River
The Lopburi River ( th, แม่น้ำลพบุรี, , ) is a tributary of the Chao Phraya River in central Thailand. It splits from the Chao Phraya river at Tambon Bang Phutsa, Singburi. Passing through Tha Wung district and the town of ...
at an elevation of mostly surrounded by
alluvial plains, although some hills rise to between and to the north-east.
Climate
Lopburi has a
tropical savanna climate
Tropical savanna climate or tropical wet and dry climate is a tropical climate sub-type that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification categories ''Aw'' (for a dry winter) and ''As'' (for a dry summer). The driest month has less than of p ...
(
Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...
''Aw''). Winters are dry and very warm. Temperatures rise until April, which is very hot with the average daily maximum at . The
monsoon
A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal osci ...
season runs from late April through October, with heavy rain and somewhat cooler temperatures during the day, although nights remain warm.
Transportation
The main road through Lobpuri is Route 1 (
Phahonyothin Road), which starts in
Bangkok
Bangkok, officially known in 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 estimated populati ...
, and continues through Lopburi,
Chai Nat
Chai Nat ( th, ชัยนาท, ) is a town (''thesaban mueang'') in central Thailand, capital of Chai Nat province. It covers the whole ''tambon'' tambon Nai Mueang and parts of Ban Kluai, Tha Chai and Khao Tha Phra, all in Mueang Chai Nat ...
,
Nakhon Sawan,
Kamphaeng Phet
Kamphaeng Phet is a town (''thesaban mueang'') in central Thailand, former capital of the Kamphaeng Phet Province. It covers the complete ''tambon'' Nai Mueang of the Mueang Kamphaeng Phet district. As of 2020, it has a population of 28,817.
...
,
Tak,
Lampang
Lampang, also called Nakhon Lampang ( th, นครลำปาง, ) to differentiate from Lampang province, is the third largest city in northern Thailand and capital of Lampang province and the Mueang Lampang district. Traditional names for L ...
,
Chiang Rai
Chiang Rai ( th, เชียงราย, ; nod, , เจียงฮาย, ) is the northernmost major city in Thailand, with a population of about 200,000 people. It is located in Mueang Chiang Rai District, Chiang Rai Province. Chiang Rai ...
, and the border with
Burma
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
at
Mae Sai. Route 311 leads west to
Sing Buri
Sing Buri () is a town (''thesaban mueang'') in Thailand, capital of the Sing Buri Province. It lies 141 km north of Bangkok. The town covers the whole ''tambon
''Tambon'' ( th, ตำบล, ) is a local governmental unit in Thailand. Be ...
, and Route 3196 leads south-west to
Ang Thong.
Lopburi is a station of the
State Railway of Thailand's
Northern Line
The Northern line is a London Underground line that runs from North London to South London. It is printed in black on the Tube map. The Northern line is unique on the Underground network in having two different routes through central London, tw ...
, forming the end of Bangkok's suburban service. Train service from
Bangkok railway station (Hua Lamphong) in Bangkok usually takes about 2 hours. The third class train costs less than $1 and is a great way to experience the local culture and the "Real Thailand".
Lopburi is served by the
Khok Kathiam
KHOK is a radio station airing a country music format licensed to Hoisington, Kansas, broadcasting on 100.7 MHz FM. The station serves the Great Bend
Great Bend is a city in and the county seat of Barton County, Kansas, United States. ...
airport, north of the town.
Culture
Today the city is best known for the thousands of
crab-eating macaques (''Macaca fascicularis'') that live in the middle of the city, especially around the Khmer temple, ''Prang Sam Yot'' and a Khmer shrine, ''Sarn Phra Karn''. It is suspected that urban expansion caused the monkeys to adapt to city life. They are fed by the local people, especially during the
Monkey Festival. This festival usually occurs on the last Sunday of November. The monkeys can be aggressive, are not afraid of humans, and often steal whatever items or food they can find from unwary visitors. Most of the hotels and guesthouses in Lopburi are "monkey-proofed", using screen wire, or by screwing the windows shut.
In the city signs are posted reading:
During the 2020–21
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
, lack of tourists prompted hungry monkeys to harass local residents.
Monkey gangs return to terrorize Thailand streets
/ref>
References
External links
*
{{Coord, 14, 48, 0, N, 100, 37, 37, E, type:city(26000)_region:TH, display=title
Populated places in Lopburi province
Cities and towns in Thailand
Populated places established in the 1st millennium