Nong Bua Lamphu ( th, หนองบัวลำภู, , ) is one of Thailand's seventy-six

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 ...

(''changwat'') lies in upper northeastern Thailand also called

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 provi ...

. Neighbouring provinces are (from north clockwise) Udon Thani,

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 Loei.

Geography

Nong Bua Lamphu is in the heart 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 acces ...

. The total forest area is , or 11.7 percent of the area of the province.

National parks

There is one national park and one national park (preparation), along with five other national parks, make up region 10 (Udon Thani) of Thailand's protected areas. * Phu Kao–Phu Phan Kham National Park, *

Phu Hin Chom That–Phu Phra Bat National Park Phu or ''variation'', may refer to: Places *Phủ, prefecture in 15th–19th century Vietnam People Given name *Phu Dorjee (died 1987), first Indian to climb Mount Everest without oxygen *Phu Dorjee Sherpa (died 1969), first Nepali to climb Mount ...

Paleontological remains

'' Chalawan'', an extinct

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...

of crocodylin, is known solely from its

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of seve ...

collected in the early-1980s from a road-cut near the town of Nong Bua Lam Phu, in the upper part of the

Phu Kradung Formation The Early Cretaceous Phu Kradung Formation is the lowest member of the Mesozoic Khorat Group which outcrops on the Khorat Plateau in Isan, Thailand. This geological formation consists of micaceous, brown to reddish-brown siltstone beds with minor ...

. This single specimen is the most well preserved vertebrate fossil that has been found from the formation. It contains a single species, ''Chalawan thailandicus''.

History

Nong Bua Lam Phu is famous as the spot where in the 16th century

Naresuan King Naresuan the Great (( th, สมเด็จพระนเรศวรมหาราช, , ) or Sanphet II ( th, สรรเพชญ์ที่ ๒), ( my , နရဲစွမ် (သို့) ဗြနရာဇ်); 1555/1556 – ...

, the king-liberator of Siam, came to learn of the outcome of a war between the Lao and

Burmese Burmese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Myanmar, a country in Southeast Asia * Burmese people * Burmese language * Burmese alphabet * Burmese cuisine * Burmese culture Animals * Burmese cat * Burmese chicken * Burmese (hor ...

in the area of

Vientiane Vientiane ( , ; lo, ວຽງຈັນ, ''Viangchan'', ) is the capital and largest city of Laos. Vientiane is divided administratively into 9 cities with a total area of only approx. 3,920 square kilometres and is located on the banks of ...

. This place was long a Lao stronghold. During the existence of the Lao Kingdom of Lan Xang (1354–1707), Nong Bua Lam Phu was traditionally given to the crown prince ( Uparat) to rule. It was the birthplace of the principal wife of Chao Siribunyasan (), the last independent king of Vientiane. In 1827, Chao Anou of

designated Phagna Narin to be governor at the onset of the Laotian Rebellion of 1826–1828. Under Thai rule, the province originally consisted of five

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 coun ...

(districts) in Udon Thani province. In 1993 Udon was decentralized and a separate province of Nong Bua Lam Phu was created. It is one of the newest provinces of Thailand, together with Amnat Charoen province, Sa Kaeo province, and Bueng Kan province. On 6 October 2022, a mass murder occurred at and near a daycare center in Uthai Sawan, a town located in the province. A total of 36 people were killed, and 10 others were injured, before the attacker committed suicide. It was the deadliest mass murder by a single perpetrator in the modern history of Thailand.

Economy

Nong Bua Lamphu is the poorest province in Thailand according to the ''Bangkok Post''. Incomes, as of 2018, average 41,000 baht annually. The province is largely agricultural. Sticky rice has long been the area's traditional crop, although there has been a shift to sugarcane due to low rice prices and sugarcane's resistance to flooding. In 2016, more than one third of the available agricultural land in Nong Bua Lamphu was used for sugarcane plantations. According to the provincial Office of Agricultural Economics, sugarcane cultivation is expected to rise. In contrast, the area devoted to rice farming shrunk by 73 percent from 2000 to 2016.

Symbols

Administrative divisions

Provincial government

The province is divided into six districts (''

''). The districts are further divided into 59 subdistricts (''

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 ...

'') and 636 villages (''

muban Muban ( th, หมู่บ้าน; , ) is the lowest administrative sub-division of Thailand. Usually translated as 'village' and sometimes as ' hamlet', they are a subdivision of a tambon (subdistrict). , there were 74,944 administrative m ...

'').

Local government

As of 26 November 2019 there are: one Nong Bua Lamphu Provincial Administration Organisation (') and 24 municipal (''thesaban'') areas in the province. Nong Bua Lamphu has 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 ...

'') status. Further 23 subdistrict municipalities (''

thesaban tambon 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 ...

''). The non-municipal areas are administered by 43 Subdistrict Administrative Organisations – SAO (''ongkan borihan suan tambon'').

Human achievement index 2017

Since 2003, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Thailand has tracked progress on human development at the sub-national level using the Human Achievement Index (HAI), a composite index covering eight key areas of human development. The National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB) has taken over this task since 2017.

References

External links

Province page from the Tourist Authority of Thailand
Golden Jubilee Network province guide
currently empty-->
Website of province
(Thai only)

{{Coord, 17, 10, N, 102, 23, E, region:TH_type:adm2nd_source:dewiki, display=title Isan Provinces of Thailand