Trat ( th, ตราด, ), also spelt Trad, is a town 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 ...

, capital of Trat province and the Mueang Trat district. The town is in the east of Thailand, at the mouth of the Trat River, near the border with

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 Thailan ...

Etymology

''Trat'' is believed to derive from ''Krat'' (), the Thai name for the tree ''

Dipterocarpus intricatus ''Dipterocarpus intricatus'' ( Khmer: ''tra:ch(ត្រាច), tra:ch sa, tra:ch snaèng, tra:ch sra:'',DY PHON Pauline, 2000, ''Plants Used in Cambodia'', self-published, printed by Imprimerie Olympic, Phnom Penh Thai: ''yang-krat'') is a sp ...

,'' common to the region and used to make brooms. It is also spelt ''Trad''.

History

Thai Traditional House On Stilts Trat Thailand

Trat was already an important seaport in the

Kingdom of Ayutthaya The Ayutthaya Kingdom (; th, อยุธยา, , IAST: or , ) was a Siamese kingdom that existed in Southeast Asia from 1351 to 1767, centered around the city of Ayutthaya, in Siam, or present-day Thailand. The Ayutthaya Kingdom is consid ...

. Under King Chulalongkorn (Rama V), Trat and Chanthaburi province were briefly occupied by the French. In a complicated exchange of territory, Trat (and Chanthaburi) was returned on March 23, 1906, but Thailand relinquished the area around Siem Reap and Sisophon in present-day Cambodia. When the Vietnamese pushed the Khmer Rouge out of

in 1985, Pol Pot fled to Thailand and made his headquarters in a plantation villa near Trat. It was built for him by the Thai Army and nicknamed "Office 87".

Geography

Trat Province is located in the eastern part of the central region of Thailand, in the extreme southeast of Thailand near the border with

. It is just over 300 km from the capital

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 ...

Economy

Trat, favored by its proximity to the Cambodian border, is of some importance as a

trading Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market. An early form of trade, barter, saw the direct excha ...

city. The area around Trat is rich in gemstone mines, whose yield (rubies and sapphires) is processed right in the town. Fruit growing is also important: durian,

rambutan Rambutan (; taxonomic name: ''Nephelium lappaceum'') is a medium-sized tropical tree in the family Sapindaceae. The name also refers to the edible fruit produced by this tree. The rambutan is native to Southeast Asia. It is closely related to s ...

and

mangosteen Mangosteen (''Garcinia mangostana''), also known as the purple mangosteen, is a tropical evergreen tree with edible fruit native to tropical lands surrounding the Indian Ocean. Its origin is uncertain due to widespread prehistoric cultivation. ...

are the main products. For tourists, Trat is more interesting as a starting point to the large islands of Ko Chang and Ko Mak. The city of Trat had 10,207 inhabitants .

References

External links

* {{Authority control Populated places in Trat province