Nakhon Pathom

Pathom province is home to the Phra Pathommachedi, a chedi commissioned by King Mongkut (Rama IV) and completed by King Chulalongkorn (Rama V) in 1870. The Dvaravati civilization once flourished here, and by tradition Nakhon Pathom is where Buddhism first reached Thailand. The province is known for its fruit orchards.

• Name — Nakhon Pathom • Native Name — จังหวัดนครปฐม • Native Name Lang — th • Type — Province • Translit Lang1 Info1 — 佛統 / 佛统 hug8 tong2 (Teochew Peng'im) pu̍t thóng (Hokkien POJ) • Translit Lang1 Type1 — Chinese • Translit Lang1 — Other • Nickname — Mueang Chedi Yai (เมืองเจดีย์ใหญ่) (Big Cetiya City) • Mottoes — ส้มโอหวาน ข้าวสารขาว ลูกสาวงาม ข้าวหลามหวานมัน สนามจันทร์งามล้น พุทธมณฑลคู่ธานี พระปฐมเจดีย์เสียดฟ้า สวยงามตาแม่น้ำท่าจีน ("Sweet pomelos. White rice. Beautiful women. Sweet and rich Khao Lam. Stunning Sanam Chan (Palace). Home of Phutthamonthon. Sky-high Phra Pathommachedi. Attractive Tha Chin River.") • Image Flag — Flag of Nakhon Pathom.svg • Image Seal — Seal of Nakhon Pathom province (colour version).svg • Image Map — Thailand Nakhon Pathom locator map.svg • Map Size — frameless • Map Caption — Map of Thailand highlighting Nakhon Pathom province • Subdivision Type — Country • Subdivision Name — Thailand • Seat Type — Capital • Seat — Nakhon Pathom • Leader Title — Governor • Leader Name — Arocha Nanthamontri • Leader Title1 — PAO Chief Executive • Leader Name1 — Jirawat Sasomsap • Area Total Km2 — 2,142 • Area Rank — 66th • Population Total — 925,758 • Population As Of — 2024 • Population Rank — 25th • Population Density Km2 — 432 • Population Density Rank — 8th • Demographics Type2 — GDP • Demographics2 Title1 — Total • Demographics2 Info1 — baht 333 billion (US$11.3 billion) (2019) • Time Zone1 — ICT • Utc Offset1 — +7 • Demographics Type1 — Human Achievement Index • Demographics1 Title1 — HAI (2022) • Demographics1 Info1 — 0.6698 "high" Ranked 6th • Postal Code Type — Postal code • Postal Code — 73xxx • Area Code Type — Calling code • Area Code — 034 & 02 • Iso Code — TH-73 • Website — nakhonpathom.go.th nkppao.go.th Nakhon Pathom (pron, (Pronunciation)) is one of the central provinces (changwat) of Thailand. Neighbouring provinces are (from north clockwise) Suphan Buri, Ayutthaya, Nonthaburi, Bangkok, Samut Sakhon, Ratchaburi, and Kanchanaburi. The capital city of Nakhon Pathom province is Nakhon Pathom. Nakhon Pathom province is home to the Phra Pathommachedi, a chedi commissioned by King Mongkut (Rama IV) and completed by King Chulalongkorn (Rama V) in 1870. The Dvaravati civilization once flourished here, and by tradition Nakhon Pathom is where Buddhism first reached Thailand. The province is known for its fruit orchards.

The town of Nakhon Pathom is often described as having stood on the coast, on the route between China and India, the coastline having since moved seaward through sedimentation from the Chao Phraya River. The reconstruction is disputed. Phōngsi Wanasin and Thiwa Supcanya found the ancient towns of the plain in two rows above the 3.5-metre contour, which David K. Wyatt reads as the fringes of a plain then largely under water rather than as an open coast. Trongjai Hutangkura's reconsideration of the old shoreline finds that their survey overestimated the height of the mean sea level, and that what it mapped as coast was a floodplain. The ancient town measured about 3,700 by 2,000 m, some 740 ha, although Karen Mudar's measurement of the moated area gives 602 ha. It stood on the west bank of the Tha Chin, about 60 km west of present-day Bangkok. Two large stupas stood at its centre, Chula Pathon Chedi, excavated by Pierre Dupont, and Phra Pathon Chedi, while Wat Phra Men lies about 1 km outside the moat to the southwest. Supitchar Jindawattanaphum describes five stucco figures from Chula Pathon Chedi, seated with the knees raised, bare above the waist and each clasping a sword. She reads them as warriors and reports them in the Phra Pathommachedi National Museum. In his Tamnan Phutthachedi Damrong Rajanubhab held that Dvaravati stupas stand at Nakhon Pathom in greater numbers than anywhere else, that they are the oldest in Siam, and that their form came from Magadha. He inferred from this that Buddhism reached Siam before about 43 BCE, and that the earliest images made there, among them the Buddha seated with the legs pendent, follow Magadhan models of the Gupta period. Excavation at Hor-Ek, about 500 m northwest of the Phra Pathommachedi, found occupation from the 3rd to the 11th centuries. Its pottery resembles material from Chan Sen and includes a burnished ware close to Phimai Black, and a sherd painted with a sun pattern like one from Phum Snay in Cambodia dated to the 5th century. The excavators divide the sequence into three phases and propose pre- or proto-Dvaravati for the first, of the 3rd to 6th centuries. Saritpong Khunsong, Phasook Indrawooth and S. Natapintu published the excavation in 2011. Earlier work in Phra Prathon subdistrict by Phasook Indrawooth produced a single inconclusive radiocarbon date, and she placed the material in the 8th and 9th centuries on the pottery and on art-historical comparison. Tang ceramics, glass beads of the lead composition treated as diagnostic of Chinese production, and stucco and terracotta figures identified as foreign merchants have all been recorded from the ancient town. The moated site of Kamphaeng Saen lies roughly midway between Nakhon Pathom and U Thong and may have been a satellite of both. Radiocarbon dates from Matthew Gallon's excavations put its first occupation in the early 5th century, its most intensive phase from the 5th or 6th to the mid-7th, and its abandonment by the 9th. Its 5th- and 6th-century layers hold Dvaravati pottery, saddle querns and beads but lack stamped earthenware and blue-green glazed Persian ware, and substantial Buddhist building appears only in the 7th and 8th centuries.

When the Tha Chin River changed its course, Nakhon Pathom lost its main water source and thus was for hundreds of years deserted, the population moving to a city called Nakhon Chai Si (or Sri Wichai). King Mongkut (Rama IV) ordered the restoration of the Phra Pathommachedi, which was then crumbling and abandoned in the jungle. A city gradually formed around it, bringing new life to Nakhon Pathom. A museum presents the archaeological record of the city's history. Settlement of the province drew on immigration from the reign of King Buddha Loetla Nabhalai (Rama II). It brought Khmer villages such as Don Yai Hom, a Lan Na-settled village (Baan Nua) and Lao Song villages such as Don Kanak, and a large influx of southern Chinese in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Today Nakhon Pathom attracts people from all over Thailand, most notably from Bangkok and Isan, plus Burmese migrant workers. The province includes industrial zones, major university towns, government offices relocated from Bangkok, and agricultural and transport hubs.

Nakhon Pathom is a small province 56 km from Bangkok. It is in the alluvial plain of central Thailand and is drained by the Tha Chin River (known locally as the Nakhon Chai Si), a tributary of the Chao Phraya River. There are many canals that have been dug for agriculture. The total forest area is just 1.6 km2 or 0.8 per mille of provincial area. The Thai capital Bangkok has grown until it borders Nakhon Pathom.

Nakhon Pathom province has a tropical savanna climate (Köppen climate classification category Aw). Winters are dry and warm. Temperatures rise until May. Monsoon season runs from May through October, with heavy rain and somewhat cooler temperatures during the day, although nights remain warm. Climatological data for the years 2012–2013: Its maximum temperature is 40.1 °C (104.2 °F) in April 2013 and the lowest temperature is 12.0 °C (53.6 °F) in December 2013. The highest average temperature is 37.4 °C (99.3 °F) in April 2013 and the minimum average temperature is 16.5 °C (61.7 °F) in December 2013. The average relative humidity is 75% and the minimum relative humidity is 22%. Annual rainfall is 1,095 millimetres. The number of rainy days was 134 days for the year 2013.

The name derives from the Pali words Nagara Pathama, meaning 'first city', and Nakhon Pathom is often referred as Thailand's oldest city. Archaeological remains have been linked to the (pre-Thai) Dvaravati kingdom, dating to the 6th through 11th centuries.

In mid-2019, the Department of Airports (DOA) proposed the construction of a new airport in the province, to relieve pressure on Bangkok's two existing airports. The 20 billion baht airport would occupy 3,500 rai of land in Bang Len District and Nakhon Chai Si District. Its capacity would be 25 million passengers annually. If approved, construction would start in 2023 and the airport would be operational by 2025 or 2026. When fully built-out, the airport will accommodate 80-100 seat aircraft flying between Bangkok and second-tier provinces to ease congestion at Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang airports. The project site has low population density, only 200 households on 400 plots of land. In terms of agriculture, Nakhon Pathom is a province that has long been known as a source of pig farming. Most of the original farmers were Thai-Chinese. Its amount of pig farming is ranked among the top in the country. The breeds of pigs that are popularly raised are exotic breeds, such as Landrace, Large White, Duroc, and various crossbreed varieties.

Nakhon Pathom's main hospital is Nakhon Pathom Hospital, operated by the Ministry of Public Health.

The provincial seal shows Phra Pathommachedi. It is in the centre of the city of Nakhon Pathom, and has been an important Buddhist centre since the 6th century. The current building was created by King Mongkut in 1860. On the pagoda a royal crown is depicted, the symbol for King Mongkut's work on reconstructing the pagoda. The provincial flag is blue with the yellow provincial seal in the middle of the flag. The provincial tree Diospyros decandra (known as "chan" in Thai). The provincial aquatic life is the giant river prawn (Macrobrachium rosenbergii) (known as "kung mae-nam" or "kung kam-kram" in Thai). The provincial slogan is "sweet pomelos, delicious rice, beautiful young ladies".

• Illustration — Map of Nakhon Pathom province with districts The province is divided into seven districts (amphoes). The districts are further subdivided into 106 subdistricts (tambons) and 904 villages (mubans). • | #Mueang Nakhon Pathom #Kamphaeng Saen #Nakhon Chai Si #Don Tum — | Bang Len Sam Phran Phutthamonthon

As of 10 October 2020 there are: one Nakhon Pathom Provincial Administrative Organization - PAO (ongkan borihan suan changwat) and twenty-six municipal (thesaban) areas in the province. The capital Nakhon Pathom has city (thesaban nakhon) status. Further five have town (thesaban mueang) status and twenty subdistrict municipalities (thesaban tambon). • — City municipality — people — • 1 — Nakhon Pathom — 74,446 — • — Town municipalities — people — 3 — Sam Phran — 17,329 • 1 — Rai Khing — 32,819 — 4 — Nakhon Pathom — 14,004 • 2 — Krathum Lom — 27,587 — 5 — Sam Khwai Phueak — 11,139 • — Subdistrict mun. — people — — — • 1 — Om Yai — 24,027 — 11 — Khun Kaeo — 7,915 • 2 — Sam Ngam — 13,956 — 12 — Sisa Thong — 7,221 • 3 — Bang Kratheuk — 13,056 — 13 — Thammasala — 7,086 • 4 — Sala Ya — 11,180 — 14 — Kamphaeng Saen — 7,009 • 5 — Phrong Maduea — 10,896 — 15 — Ta Kong — 6,785 • 6 — Khlong Yong — 10,526 — 16 — Don Yai Hom — 6,519 • 7 — Bo Phlap — 9,519 — 17 — Huai Phlu — 2,217 • 8 — Map Khae — 8,630 — 18 — Bang Luang — 2,163 • 9 — Bang Len — 8,429 — 19 — Rang Krathum — 2,162 • 10 — Nakhon Chai Si — 8,226 — 20 — Lam Phaya — 1,949 The non-municipal areas are administered by 91 Subdistrict Administrative Organizations (SAO) (ongkan borihan suan tambon). • — Municipalities — Communities — Groups • — Rai Khing — 28 — 3 • — Krathum Lom — 29 — - • — Om Yai — 26 — -

• Health — Education — Employment — Income • — — — • 6 — 4 — 19 — 9 • Housing — Family — Transport — Participation • — — — • 74 — 33 — 11 — 56 • Province Nakhon Pathom, with an HAI 2022 value of 0.6698 is "high", occupies place 6 in the ranking. Since 2003, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Thailand has tracked progress on human development at sub-national level using the Human achievement index (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. • |Rank — Classification • | 1–13 — "High" • |14–29 — "Somewhat high" • |30–45 — "Average" • |46–61 — "Somewhat low" • |62–77 — "Low" role= "presentation" • Map with provinces and HAI 2022 rankings *