|
|
| Krabi
is a southern province
on Thailand's Andaman seaboard with perhaps the country's
oldest history of continued settlement. After dating
stone tools, ancient coloured pictures, beads, pottery
and skeletal remains found in the province's many cliffs
and caves, it is thought that Krabi has been
home to homo sapiens since the period 25,000 - 35,000
B.C.In recorded times it was |
|
called the 'Ban Thai Samor', and was one of twelve towns
that used, before people were widely literate, the monkey
for their standard. At that time, c. 1200 A.D., Krabi
was tributary to the Kingdom of Ligor, a city on the
Kra Peninsula's east coast better known today as Nakhon
Si Thammarat.At the start of the Rattanakosin period,
about 200 years ago, when the capital was finally settled
|
|
|
|
at Bangkok,
an elephant kraal was established in Krabi by order
of Chao Phraya Nakorn (Noi), the governor of Nakhon
Si Thammarat, which was by then a part of the Thai Kingdom.
He sent his vizier, the Phra Palad, to oversee this
task, which was to ensure a regular supply of elephants
for the larger town. So followers many emigrated in
the steps of the Phra Palad that soon Krabi had a large
community in three different boroughs : Pakasai, Khlong
Pon, and Pak Lao. In 1872, King Chulalongkorn graciously
elevated these to |
town status, called Krabi,
a word that preserves in its meaning the monkey symbolism
of the old standard. The town's first governor was Luang
Thep Sena, though it continued a while as a dependency
of Nakhon Si Thammarat. This was changed in 1875, when
Krabi was raised to a fourth-level town in the old system
of Thai government. Administrators then reported directly
to the central government in Bangkok, and Krabi's history
as a unique entity separated from the other provinces,
had begun.
During the present reign, the corps of civil servants,
the merchants, and the population generally of Krabi
and nearby provinces have together organized construction
of a royal residence at Laem Hang Nak Cape for presentation
to His Majesty the King. This lies thirty kilometers
to the west of Krabi Town on the Andaman coast.
Population
Krabi's estimated population, as of September 1999,
is 344,610.
|
|
Geography
Krabi's mountainous physical geography is broken by
highlands and plains on the mainland.The provincial
administration also covers more than 130 islands in
the Andaman Sea. Natural forest cover is chiefly mangrove
and Cassia trees. Krabi's sandy clay soil conditions
are perfect for a variety of agricultural products,
including rubber trees, palms, mangos, coconuts, and
coffee.
|
|
The Krabi River flows 5 kilometers
through the city and falls into the Andaman at Tambon
Pak Nam. There are other streams as well : the Khlong
Pakasai, the Khlong Krabi Yai and the Khlong Krabi
Noi in the province's highest range of mountains,
the Khao Phanom Bencha.
|
|
|
Climate
Weather in Krabi is typically that of the tropical
monsoon, providing the province with just two seasons,
the hot season, and the rainy season. Monsoon winds,
which change according to season, blow from the southeast,
the southwest, and the northeast. Temperatures range
between 16.9 and 37.3 degrees Celsius and the yearly
rainfall averages 2,568.5 millimeters.
|
|
|
