Trat (, ), also spelt Trad, is a town in

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

, capital of

Trat province Trat province (, ), also spelt Trad province, is one of Thailand's seventy-six provinces (''changwat''), and is located in the region of eastern Thailand. It borders Chanthaburi province to the northwest, and Cambodia's provinces of Pailin, B ...

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, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. It is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, and Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline ...

Etymology

''Trat'' is believed to derive from ''Krat'' (), the Thai name for the tree '' Dipterocarpus intricatus,'' 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 or the Empire of Ayutthaya was a Thai kingdom that existed in Southeast Asia from 1351 to 1767, centered around the city of Ayutthaya, in Siam, or present-day Thailand. European travellers in the early 16th century call ...

. Under King

Chulalongkorn Chulalongkorn (20 September 1853 – 23 October 1910), posthumously honoured as King Chulalongkorn the Great, was the fifth king of Siam from the Chakri dynasty, titled Rama V. Chulalongkorn's reign from 1868 until his death in 1910 was cha ...

(Rama V), Trat and Chanthaburi province were briefly occupied by the

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

. 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 The Khmer Rouge is the name that was popularly given to members of the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK), and by extension to Democratic Kampuchea, which ruled Cambodia between 1975 and 1979. The name was coined in the 1960s by Norodom Sihano ...

out of

in 1985,

Pol Pot Pol Pot (born Saloth Sâr; 19 May 1925 – 15 April 1998) was a Cambodian politician, revolutionary, and dictator who ruled the communist state of Democratic Kampuchea from 1976 until Cambodian–Vietnamese War, his overthrow in 1979. During ...

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 Trat province (, ), also spelt Trad province, is one of Thailand's seventy-six provinces (''changwat''), and is located in the region of eastern Thailand. It borders Chanthaburi province to the northwest, and Cambodia's provinces of Pailin, B ...

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 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 estim ...

Climate

Trat experiences a

tropical monsoon climate An area of tropical monsoon climate (occasionally known as a sub-equatorial, tropical wet climate or a tropical monsoon and trade-wind littoral climate) is a tropical climate subtype that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification category ' ...

, with the dry season taking place from November to April and the wet season lasting from May to October.

Economy

Its proximity to the Cambodian border gives Trat 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 (economics), market. Traders generally negotiate throu ...

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 The durian () is the edible fruit of several tree species belonging to the genus ''Durio''. There are 30 recognized species, at least nine of which produce edible fruit. ''Durio zibethinus'', native to Borneo and Sumatra, is the only species ...

rambutan Rambutan ( ; ; ''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 several other ed ...

and

mangosteen Mangosteen (''Garcinia mangostana''), also known as the purple mangosteen, is a tropical evergreen tree with edible fruit native to Island Southeast Asia, from the Malay Peninsula to Borneo. It has been cultivated extensively in tropical Asia ...

are the main products. For tourists, Trat is more interesting as a starting point to the large islands of

Ko Chang Ko Chang (, ) is an amphoe (district) in Trat province, Thailand. It is on the Gulf of Thailand's eastern seaboard, from Bangkok, near the border with Cambodia., archive-url=//web.archive.org/web/20200113104227/https://www.tourismthailand.org/ ...

and Ko Mak. The city of Trat had 10,207 inhabitants .

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Populated places in Trat province