The Chi River (, , ; , ) is the longest
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 ...
flowing wholly within
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 ...
. It is long but carries less water than the second longest river, the
Mun. The name of the river is "Mae Si" () in the
Isan and
Lao language
Lao (Lao: , ), sometimes referred to as Laotian, is the official language of Laos and a significant language in the Isan region of northeastern Thailand, where it is usually referred to as the Isan language. Spoken by over 3 million people in ...
s of the region, being transliterated as "Chi" in Bangkok-Thai. In
wet season
The wet season (sometimes called the rainy season or monsoon season) is the time of year when most of a region's average annual rainfall occurs. Generally, the season lasts at least one month. The term ''green season'' is also sometimes used a ...
s there are often
flash floods in the
floodplain
A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river. Floodplains stretch from the banks of a river channel to the base of the enclosing valley, and experience flooding during periods of high Discharge (hydrolog ...
of the Chi River basin.
Course
The river rises in the
Phetchabun mountains, then runs east through the central Isan provinces of
Chaiyaphum,
Khon Kaen, and
Maha Sarakham, then turns south in
Roi Et, runs through
Yasothon and joins the Mun in the
Kanthararom district of
Sisaket Province. The river carries approximately of water per annum.
The river was an 18th-century migration route for the re-peopling of the
Khorat Plateau by ethnic
Lao people
The Lao people are a Tai peoples, Tai ethnic group native to Southeast Asia, primarily inhabiting Laos and northeastern Thailand. They speak the Lao language, part of the Kra–Dai languages, Kra–Dai language family, and are the dominant ethni ...
from the left (east) bank of the
Mekong resettling on the right bank. This began in 1718 when the first king of the left bank
Kingdom of Champasak, King
Nokasad, sent a group of some 3,000 subjects led by an official in his service to found the first settlement in the Chi River valley—and indeed anywhere in the interior of the
Khorat Plateau—
Muang Suwannaphum in present-day
Roi Et Province (a history recorded and remembered, largely in terms of the struggle to expand
wet-rice cultivation in the river valley). Their descendants are now regarded as a separate
ethnic group
An ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of people with shared attributes, which they collectively believe to have, and long-term endogamy. Ethnicities share attributes like language, culture, common sets of ancestry, traditions, society, re ...
from the Lao to the north and the central Thai to the southwest.
Pop culture
Chi river is the setting of a
Thai TV drama on
Channel 7 HD, titled ''Chart Lam Chi'' (ชาติลำชี; The River Chi's Protector). It was an action-drama TV series that aired from March 14 to April 25, 2018,
remake from namesake
film
A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...
in 1969 (starred by
Mitr Chaibancha and
Petchara Chaowarat).
References
Further reading
*
*
External links
Ostracods (Crustacea) from floodplain of the Chi River basin
Isan
Rivers of Thailand
Geography of Chaiyaphum province
Geography of Khon Kaen province
Geography of Maha Sarakham province
Geography of Phetchabun province
Geography of Roi Et province
Geography of Sisaket province
Geography of Yasothon province
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