Sa Kaeo ( th,
สระแก้ว, ) is one of the 76
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 ou ...
(''changwat'') and lies in
eastern Thailand
Eastern Thailand is a region of Thailand bordering Cambodia on the east, Northeastern Thailand in the north, and central Thailand on the west.
Geography
Eastern Thailand lies between the Sankamphaeng Range, which forms a natural border with t ...
about 200 km from Bangkok. Neighboring provinces are (from south clockwise)
Chanthaburi
Chanthaburi ( th, จันทบุรี, ) is a town ('' thesaban mueang'') in the east of Thailand, on the banks of the Chanthaburi River. It is the capital of the Chanthaburi Province and the Mueang Chanthaburi District.
The town covers ...
,
Chachoengsao
Chachoengsao ( th, ฉะเชิงเทรา, ) is a town (''thesaban mueang'') in central Thailand, capital of Chachoengsao Province. It is on the banks of the Bang Pakong River. It includes ''tambon'' Na Mueang and parts of Ban Mai, Bang Ti ...
,
Prachinburi
Prachinburi ( th, ปราจีนบุรี, , ) is a town (''thesaban mueang'') in central Thailand, capital of Prachinburi Province. It covers the entire tambon Na Mueang of the Mueang Prachinburi District (city district). As of 2000, the ...
,
Nakhon Ratchasima
Nakhon Ratchasima ( th, นครราชสีมา, ) is one of the four major cities of Isan, Thailand, known as the "big four of Isan". The city is commonly known as Korat (, ), a shortened form of its name. It is the governmental seat o ...
, and
Buriram
Buriram (, , , 'city of happiness') is a town (''thesaban mueang'') in Thailand, capital of Buriram Province, about northeast of Bangkok. The town occupies ''tambon'' Nai Mueang of Mueang Buriram District. In 2012 it had a population of 27,86 ...
. To the east it borders
Banteay Meanchey and
Battambang
Battambang ( km, បាត់ដំបង, UNGEGN: ) is the capital of Battambang Province and the third largest city in Cambodia.
Founded in the 11th century by the Khmer Empire, Battambang is the leading rice-producing province of the cou ...
of
Cambodia
Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand ...
.
History
Sa Kaeo became a province in 1993, when the six districts Sa Kaeo, Khlong Hat, Wang Nam Yen, Aranyaprathet, Ta Phraya, and Watthana Nakhon of
Prachinburi province
Prachinburi province ( th, ปราจีนบุรี, , ) is one of Thailand's seventy-seven provinces (''changwat''), it lies in eastern Thailand. Neighboring provinces are (from north clockwise) Nakhon Ratchasima, Sa Kaeo, Chachoengsao, an ...
were elevated to provincial status. It is thus one of the four newest provinces of Thailand, together with
Amnat Charoen
Amnat Charoen ( th, อำนาจเจริญ, ) is a town in Thailand, the capital of Amnat Charoen Province. It occupies parts of the sub-district Bung of Mueang Amnat Charoen District. The town is 590 km east-northeast of Bangkok. ...
,
Nong Bua Lamphu
Nong Bua Lam Phu () is a town in Thailand, capital of Nong Bua Lamphu Province. It is on the central eastern border of the province, approximately 45 kilometers south-west of the city of Udon Thani and from there, accessed by route 210. The town ...
, and most recently,
Bueng Kan
Bueng Kan ( th, บึงกาฬ, ) is a town (''thesaban mueang'') in Mueang Bueng Kan district, in Bueng Kan province, far northeastern Thailand. It is the district capital and is on the Mekong River, opposite the Laotian town of Pakxan of ...
.
The province is overwhelmingly
Theravada
''Theravāda'' () ( si, ථේරවාදය, my, ထေရဝါဒ, th, เถรวาท, km, ថេរវាទ, lo, ເຖຣະວາດ, pi, , ) is the most commonly accepted name of Buddhism's oldest existing school. The school ...
Buddhist (99.4 percent).
In 1979
Sa Kaeo Refugee Camp was established northwest of Sa Kaeo town. It closed in 1989, but the legacy of the border clashes of the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s is ever present. The largest
land mine
A land mine is an explosive device concealed under or on the ground and designed to destroy or disable enemy targets, ranging from combatants to vehicles and tanks, as they pass over or near it. Such a device is typically detonated automati ...
field in the world was planted along the Thai-Cambodia border according to some experts. Almost 4,000 people have been injured or killed by landmines in Thailand since the border battles—19 persons in 2017 alone. According to a survey conducted in 2001, 27 of Thailand's 76 provinces were plagued with land mines, impacting more than 530 communities and some 500,000 people. Thailand still has approximately 409 km
2 of mined area to clear scattered around the country. With an annual clearance rate of about one km
2 between 2011 and 2015 the problem will not soon disappear.
left, 250px, ''Sa Kaeo Sa Khwan''
The name ''Sa Kaeo'', literally 'crystal pond', refers to two ponds (''Sa Kaeo Sa Khwan'') containing water thought to be sacred once used for the
coronation ceremony
A coronation is the act of placement or bestowal of a crown upon a monarch's head. The term also generally refers not only to the physical crowning but to the whole ceremony wherein the act of crowning occurs, along with the presentation of ot ...
. The name of the province originated with this place, now the ponds lie inside a public park next to Mueang Sa Kaeo Municipality Office.
Geography
The north of the province is covered with the forested mountains of the
Sankamphaeng Range
The Sankamphaeng Range, also Sankambeng Range or Sungumpang Range ( th, ทิวเขาสันกำแพง, , ) is one of the mountain ranges separating eastern Thailand from the northeast or Isan. It is in Nakhon Nayok, Prachinburi, Sa ...
and the
Dangrek Mountains. The total forest area in 2021 is or 22 percent of provincial area. To the south are the foothills of the
Cardamom Mountains
The Cardamom Mountains ( km, ជួរភ្នំក្រវាញ, ; th, ทิวเขาบรรทัด, ), or the Krâvanh Mountains, is a mountain range in the south west of Cambodia and Eastern Thailand. The majority of the range ...
, which are mostly
deforested
Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. The most concentrated d ...
.
National parks
There are two national parks, along with two other national parks, make up
region 1 (Prachinburi) of Thailand's protected areas.
*
Pang Sida National Park
Pang Sida National Park ( th, อุทยานแห่งชาติปางสีดา, , ) is a national park in the Sankamphaeng Range, covering 527,500 rai ~ in the eastern Thai province of Sa Kaeo. It is 28 kilometres north of Sa ...
,
[
]
*
Ta Phraya National Park,
Symbols
The
provincial seal shows the sun rising over archaeological ruins, ''Prasat Khao Noi Si Chompu'', a significant
Khmer temple. The rising sun symbolizes the location of the province in the east. In the front is a
Buddha
Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism.
According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in L ...
image in a pond with
lotus flowers.
The
provincial tree is ''
Phyllanthus emblica
''Phyllanthus emblica'', also known as emblic, emblic myrobalan, myrobalan, Indian gooseberry, Malacca tree, or amla, from the Sanskrit आमलकी (āmalakī), is a deciduous tree of the family Phyllanthaceae. Its native range is tropical a ...
''. The provincial flower is the
Orange Jessamine (''Murraya paniculata'').
The provincial slogan is "Frontier of the east, beautiful forests, splendid waterfalls, ancient civilisations, Thai-Cambodian commerce".
Administrative divisions
Provincial government
Sa Kaeo is divided into nine districts (''
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 count ...
''). 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 ...
s'') and 619 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 mu ...
s'').
Local government
As of 26 November 2019 the province had one Provincial Administration Organisation (PAO) (') and 16 municipalities (''thesaban''): Sa Kaeo, Aranyaprathet, and Wang Nam Yen had 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 m ...
'') status, with a further 13 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 ...
'').
(Non-municipal areas are administered by 49 Subdistrict Administrative Organisations (SAO) (''ongkan borihan suan tambon'').
Human achievement index 2017
Since 2003, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Thailand has tracked progress on human development at sub-national level using the
Human achievement index
Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, culture, an ...
(HAI), a composite index covering all the eight key areas of human development. National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB) has taken over this task since 2017.
References
External links
*
Golden Jubilee Network province guidecurrently empty-->
{{Coord, 13, 47, 49, N, 102, 8, 14, E, type:adm1st_region:TH, display=title
Provinces of Thailand