Cities Guide

From the beginning of the 20th century until 1932 there was an additional subdivision called monthon - มณฑล, circle -, with some of the larger ones subdivided into boriwen บริเวณ, area. The first provinces were named mueang - เมือง, township - as those developed from the historical city-states. There were both Mueang directly dependent from Bangkok - thus similar to the modern province, as well as Mueang under supervision of a more powerful neighbor Mueang, or part of the semi-independent tributary states.

In 1906 the transition to the term changwat started, which was finalized in 1916.

A former municipal level were the sukhaphiban (sanitation districts, สุขาภิบาล), which were mostly responsible for sanitary tasks like waste disposal. The administrative level was created in 1898, in May 1999 all were converted into thesaban tambon.

Until 2007 minor districts (King Amphoe) were a special kind of districts, still partially a subordinate of another district. Usually newly created districts at first became minor districts and were upgraded to full districts after a few years. Becoming effective on August 24 2007 all 81 minor districts were upgraded to full districts, despite many still not reaching the prerequisites for becoming a full district.

Bangkok and its vicinity (ปริมณฑล, pari monthon), including five surrounding provinces are referred to as Greater Bangkok (Thai : กรุงเทพมหานครและปริมณฑล), as the urban sprawl of the capital already spread into these areas.

The 4 regions of Thailand - north, northeast, south and central are usually only used for statistical purposes.

List of provinces- From the beginning of the 20th century until 1932 there was an additional subdivision called monthon - มณฑล, circle -, with some of the larger ones subdivided into boriwen -บริเวณ, area. The first provinces were named mueang - เมือง, township - as those developed from the historical city-states. There were both Mueang directly dependent from Bangkok (thus similar to the modern province), as well as Mueang under supervision of a more powerful neighbor Mueang, or part of the semi-independent tributary states.

In 1906 the transition to the term changwat started, which was finalized in 1916.

A former municipal level were the sukhaphiban - sanitation districts, สุขาภิบาล, which were mostly responsible for sanitary tasks like waste disposal. The administrative level was created in 1898, in May 1999 all were converted into thesaban tambon.

Until 2007 minor districts - King Amphoe - were a special kind of districts, still partially a subordinate of another district. Usually newly created districts at first became minor districts and were upgraded to full districts after a few years.

Becoming effective on August 24 2007 all 81 minor districts were upgraded to full districts, despite many still not reaching the prerequisites for becoming a full district.

Bangkok and its vicinity - ปริมณฑล, pari monthon -, including five surrounding provinces are referred to as Greater Bangkok - กรุงเทพมหานครและปริมณฑล , as the urban sprawl of the capital already spread into these areas.

The 4 regions of Thailand - north, northeast, south and central are usually only used for statistical purposes.

http://www.Thailand-World.com/spip....]