The Bang Pakong (, , ) is a

river A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...

in east

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 ...

. The river originates at the confluence of the Phra Prong River and the Hanuman River near Kabin Buri, Prachinburi Province. It empties after 231 kilometres into the

Gulf of Thailand The Gulf of Thailand (), historically known as the Gulf of Siam (), is a shallow inlet adjacent to the southwestern South China Sea, bounded between the southwestern shores of the Indochinese Peninsula and the northern half of the Malay Peninsula. ...

at the northeastern tip of the

Bay of Bangkok The Bay of Bangkok (, , , sometimes informally อ่าวตัว ก), also known as the Bight of Bangkok, is the northernmost part of the Gulf of Thailand, roughly extending from Hua Hin District to the west and Sattahip District to the e ...

. The watershed of the Bang Pakong is about . The river powers a power station near its mouth, near Highway 7. To protect the

Irrawaddy dolphin The Irrawaddy dolphin (''Orcaella brevirostris'') is a euryhaline species of oceanic dolphin found in scattered subpopulations near sea coasts and in estuaries and rivers in parts of the Bay of Bengal and Southeast Asia. It closely resembles the ...

s, fishermen on the Bang Pakong River have been persuaded by authorities to stop shrimping and 30 to 40 fishing boats have been modified so they can offer dolphin sightseeing tours. Endangered sheatfish '' Ceratoglanis pachynema'' is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to the Bang Pakong. Dvaravati settlements include Muang Phra Rot, Dong Si Maha Phot, Dong Lakhon, and Ban Khu Muang. Dvaravati coins have been found at U-Tapao.Higham, C., 2014, ''Early Mainland Southeast Asia''. Bangkok: River Books Co., Ltd.,

Toponymy

Its name "Bang Pakong" is believed to be distorted from the word "Bang Mangkong" (บางมังกง), refers to "place of Mangkong", for "Mangong" is Thai word meaning long whiskers catfish (''Mystus gulio''), a species of brackish water

catfish Catfish (or catfishes; order (biology), order Siluriformes or Nematognathi) are a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Catfish are common name, named for their prominent barbel (anatomy), barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, though not ...

that used to be found in this river. This name has been mentioned in

Sunthorn Phu Phra Sunthorn Vohara (Phu) (, , ; 26 June 1786 – 1855), known as Sunthorn Phu (, , ), was a Thai poet. He is often referred to as the "Shakespeare of Thailand." Born four years after the founding of the Rattanakosin Kingdom, he entered royal ...

's poem ''Nirat Mueang Klaeng'' (นิราศเมืองแกลง, "journey to Klaeng") since early Rattanakosin period. Anyway, it is also proposed that the name may have a Khmer origin as a mixture of "Bang" in Thai, meaning "estuary community", and the word "Bongkong" (បង្កង) in Khmer meaning "

prawn Prawn is a common name for small aquatic crustaceans with an exoskeleton An exoskeleton () . is a skeleton that is on the exterior of an animal in the form of hardened integument, which both supports the body's shape and protects the intern ...

". Overall, it means "the river full of prawn". Moreover, this river is known locally in Chachoengsao Province as Jolo River (แม่น้ำโจ้โล้, zh, 左鲈河,

pinyin Hanyu Pinyin, or simply pinyin, officially the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet, is the most common romanization system for Standard Chinese. ''Hanyu'' () literally means 'Han Chinese, Han language'—that is, the Chinese language—while ''pinyin' ...

: ''zuǒ lú hé''), from the Teochew name for the barramundi (''Lates calcarifer'') because of the abundance of this species of fish. Famous temples along the river include Wat Pak Nam Jolo and Wat Sothonwararam with Wat Saman Rattanaram.

History

Located in modern-day Na Phra That Subdistrict in Phanat Nikhom District, Chonburi province, the city of Mueang Phra Rot (Phra That Noen That) was established closed to the Bang Pakong river's mouth during the Dvaravati period. The city was in the shape of an irregular rectangle and was surrounded by a moat. Excavations from archeology sites in the former city revealed that it was inhabited from the 600s to the 1000s, and had ceramics imported from the Tang and Song dynasties, and early Islamic turquoise-blue glazed earthenware jars from either

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

lower Mesopotamia Lower Mesopotamia is a historical region of Mesopotamia. It is located in the alluvial plain of Iraq from the Hamrin Mountains to the Faw Peninsula near the Persian Gulf. In the Middle Ages it was also known as the '' Sawad'' and al-Jazira al-s ...

. To the east of Phra Rot was Mueang Sri Phalo, established near the end of Phra Rot in the 11th century. The settlement was located near the river's mouth and became a wealthy port and fishing town as such. Sri Phalo served as a stopping point for Khmer, Vietnamese and Chinese

barques A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing vessel with three or more masts of which the fore mast, mainmast, and any additional masts are rigged square, and only the aftmost mast (mizzen in three-masted barques) is rigged fore and aft. Som ...

before they ventured into the

Chao Phraya river The Chao Phraya River is the major river in Thailand, with its low alluvial plain forming the centre of the country. It flows through Bangkok and then into the Gulf of Thailand. Etymology Written evidence of the river being referred to by the ...

. But during the 1300s, its prominence declined as the mouth of the Bang Pakong became shallower and moved away from the settlement. As a result of its economy declining, the inhabitants of Sri Phalo relocated south to

Bang Pla Soi Bang Pla Soi (, ) is a ''tambon'' (sub-district) of Mueang Chonburi district, Chonburi province, eastern Thailand. Bang Pla Soi can be regarded as downtown Chonburi, due to it being the location of various important buildings such as the Provinc ...

along the Gulf of Thailand. Construction of Sukhimvit road erased the town's eastern wall.

Tributaries

* Nakhon Nayok River

References

Rivers of Thailand Bay of Bangkok {{Thailand-river-stub